Radio host sacked for airing public domain piece

Siva is concerned at the firing of a radio show host for airing "a clip of Condoleeza Rice’s nomination questioning" which he apparently recorded from C-SPAN off his own TV.

"The WRPI Executive Committee, which does much of the decision making for WRPI, heard from someone (not C-SPAN) who heard Karius’ Jan.19 show, saying that he improperly used material from C-SPAN. At a meeting of the E-Comm about a week later, the committee voted for his permanent removal as a result of “gross violation of federal copyright law and consequently WRPI’s policy.”...

Karius began contacting his scheduled guests. Then he set to researching copyright law. He is convinced he did not commit any offense by airing the excerpt. National copyright experts, and even C-SPAN’s own policies, say the same...

As long as the material Karius recorded and aired is within the public domain, he is free to use it as a radio host. “He did what any citizen can and may do. C-SPAN is our only source of the sounds of Congress, so we should feel free to use it for reporting and commentary,” Vaidhyanathan said...

Much of the WRPI Executive Committee is composed of RPI students who are not necessarily experts in the field of Federal Copyright Law. Indeed, Kaufman seemed confused about what was specifically violated and how, but said, “It is our interpretation, as well as the interpretation of RPI’s legal counsel and a lawyer specializing in communication, that the material aired by Dennis was a violation of C-SPAN’s intellectual property rights even though we are a public radio station.”


Karius said he understands why E-Comm was hypervigiliant. He said he did not want to damage WRPI’s reputation, and is still a supporter of the station. In Karius’ opinion, the reaction to his show was perhaps caused by the ever-increasing sensitivity of information and copyright issues."