IP law vagaries

[Leslie Katz]

Some time ago, I created a shareholdings file in Gnucash.

To be able to get share price quotations from the Web, I installed the Finance::Quote module.

I first tried to get the quotations from the Australian Stock Exchange website, but that didn't work properly,
some problem regarding its not supplying dates, so I wrote to the webmaster about the problem.

I didn't get an immediate reply to my email and, in any event, someone on this list explained to me how to
use Yahoo Australia as the source of the quotations, so I forgot about the email.

Today, weeks later, I received a reply to my email.

I quote it below for the information, if not amusement, of others.



"Dear Leslie,

Thankyou for your email.

Unfortunately the use of the 'Gnucash' program violates our copyright,
and as such we much ask that you do not use it to connect to
www.asx.com.au.

More information on the www.asx.com.au terms of use can be found at
http://www.asx.com.au/legal/general_conditions.htm.  The text you may 
be
interested in specifically is as follows: 

"You must not use any spider, screen scraper, robot, or other automated
similar software or device ("Prohibited Device") to use or access the
Site in any way whatsoever, nor can you use any Prohibited Device (or
any similar process) to copy, download or monitor the Content, without
ASX's prior written approval."

To obtain the information you are after, you will need to speak to an
Information Vendor.  For your convenience, there is a list of Vendors 
on
our site.  Please see our Information Source Guide at:
http://www.asx.com.au/resources/information_services/index.htm

Regards
Luke Peterson
Webmaster Account Manager
Web Projects and Business Development
Australian Stock Exchange"