This is the text of an email that I sent to Larry Vitatoe (larry@equest.com) today regarding his company, Passport Access, and their practice of crawling the web for resumes, entering them into their database, and then charging clients to search and retrieve them.

Larry:

Thank you for hearing me out on the phone today. I wanted to follow up with this email, explaining how it is that your company is violating *major* laws and copyright statutes with the I-Spy Technology, and specifically, that there is absolutely no requirement for a copyright symbol or registration of copyright for a work to be copyrighted — thus, the mere act of you selling that resume to a client of yours is a violation of U.S. Copyright code, and punishable as such.

So, my basic complaint: Passport Access, by using a webcrawler to search out resumes that have not specifically been entered into their database and entering them, is violating a MAJOR tenet of United States copyright law. Every one of those resumes is protected by copyright, and each time you sell one to a client, you are committing a Federal offense. And the

Here are two specific, on-point references to copyright law in this situation, and one good reference for you:

How to Secure Copyright, from the US Copyright Office:

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html#hsc

Explains that copyright is affixed to a work automatically upon creation; no notification or registration is required.

Copyright Infringement in Cyberspace:

http://www.wvjolt.wvu.edu/wvjolt/current/issue1/articles/salang/salango.htm

Explains particular appliations of copyright law on the Internet

Chapter 5 of the U.S. Copyright Code:

http://www.loc.gov/copyright/title17/chapter5.pdf

Explains the specifics of copyright infringement, including penalties. Note that, according to the law, what you are doing is both a Federal civil and a Federal *criminal* offense (see section 506a); that you could have every hard disk and computer that could store the infringed material impounded by Federal marshalls (sections 503, 509); that you could be fined up $100,000 *per violation* (section 504(c)(1)); and that you will be responsible for all civil action legal fees incurred by each person who sues (section 505).

Note that the $100,000 maximum fine is contingent on committing the infringement knowingly; this email takes care of any argument to the contrary.

Please pass this on to the people who you claim would be able to handle this matter. I expect a reply from you; this is a very serious matter.

Thank you in advance.

Jason Levine

Queso Technologies