[OT] copyrighting data (was Re: OT: Online auctins an institution?)

I wrote about the trend in the US to broaden coverage of copyrights, including applying it to raw data. Hans replies: I'm sure that no court would rule that a single number such as "5" can be copyrighted. The idea is that a >collection< of data can be copyrighted, in the abstract. This is bad, but it seems to be happening more and more. They *almost* passed a law recently that would have allowed companies that publish databases collected by the US Government (paid for by our tax dollars) to own the copyright not just to their publication of the data, but to the data itself, so that no one else could publish the same data. :-( Fortunately this provision was removed at the last minute. The companies that would have benefitted have said that they will keep trying to get it enacted. One of the scariest things about the way the US Congress works is that the conference committees that resolve the differences between the House of Representatives and the Senate versions of a bill often reinsert things that were struck out and not in the final version of either bill. Then they send the conference version back to the House and Senate, where it is approved by a voice vote by Congressmen who haven't even looked at the new version. In the most recent session of Congress this was used to enact a new law permitting roving wiretaps, even though the idea didn't get any support when it was debated in the House. :-( Anyhow, we've gotten way the heck off topic now, so I'd suggest we drop it. Eric