Policy regarding removal of modules v1.3 written by Coma -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This policy document is intended to draw the guidelines for cases where a composer wants one or more of his modules to be deleted from the server. This does not happen very often but should still be regulated by a consistent policy. This document is a work in progress and may be expanded with other reasons for or against removal. Modland aims to be a complete archive of sequenced computer music, both historic and contemporary, with the purpose of documenting and preserving what would otherwise risk being lost and forgotten. Its focus lies on the Amiga but no platform is excluded. Because of this, requests for material to be removed from the archive are always met with great hesitation, and such removal is never done lightly. If you are considering requesting your modules to be removed, you are urged to reconsider and let your work continue to contribute to what hopefully will remain the most complete module archive in the world. Modules will not be deleted if: - their composer has released them in the past but now changes his mind about them, for whatever reason. It is impossible to "unspread" what has been placed into the public domain. It is also a very bad idea to try and revise history. I will not go into a discussion about this. Requesting removal from the archive if all you have is this reason will only be a waste of your time. Modules will be deleted if: - they have not yet been released by their composer and have been leaked by someone without authorization to release them. This is under the assumption that the leak is attended to within a reasonable amount of time. If the module has been circulating for years already, it is considered to be released no matter if it was unauthorized from the beginning. - they have been released by their composer with an agreement of distribution exclusivity with a certain site. Such an agreement should be reflected within the module itself or at least on the site holding the agreement, and it must have been in force when the module was added to Modland, not created afterwards. It is also assumed that the module is not available to the public in any other way than from the site with the distribution agreement. I will not accept having Modland singled out among other sites in breach of such an agreement. - they are, or were, part of commercially distributed software which is still under copyright, and I am contacted by the copyright holder or his legal representative with a formal request for removing the modules. Further to the above, the requester will naturally have to convince me in some reasonable way that he really is the creator of the modules in question, and not just some random person trying to cause damage to the archive. After that, the modules will be deleted from the main server as soon as possible, and from the mirrors within the next 48 hours (since there are now secondary mirrors, it could take at most 48 hours before all mirrors are synchronized).