"Diane L. Schirf" > wrote in message
ink.net...

> You asked if they're tangible. Once they become distributed and
> printable, they are. (Your thoughts aren't printable. Your words on
> screen, once printable by yourself or others, are. Quite a difference.)
>
> Again, you asked if they're "tangible." Simple question. I answered it.
> They're as tangible as any other writing.
>

No, what you did - is you interpreted "tangible". You said that printABLE =
tangible. And I said only printED may be tangible.
And it will be up to courts to decide.
Also note, that you added a new argument to your first one - before it was
tangible because it was printable, now it becomes tangible "once they become
DISTRIBUTED and printable". And you did not define "distributed". Let me ask
you a question - how about

1. The text on your screen that you just typed or
2. Typed and saved on your disk?
3. Typed and saved on private network
4. Types and saved on public network.

They are all "printable", right?

Also - it is not enough to be printable or even printed (tangible)- it has
to be dated. So what if you produced a piece of paper with a poem, how do we
know that you have not written it AFTERWARDS? With paper copies there is at
least paper and ink expertise, it may not be enough, but at least it is
possible. Computer dates can be changed to anything you want both in your
machine or changed later by anyone who has admin password at the server or
who can hack it. You cannot call this type of record "tangible" IMHO.

BTW, you thoughts are as "printable" as the words on your screen that you
just typed. In the first case the interface are your fingers and in the
second - computer printer. But there is no difference in principle, because
both can fail and the original will disappear. And it is not different if
you saved it or not - because there is no guarantee that your text is
retrievable from the disk. And there is no guarantee that it is retrievable
without errors. You can recall it from your memory or restore it from
computer memory, but both will not be guaranteed exact copies, unlike
printED copies.

And, just for fun - just to show you that tangibility may also have degrees,
not jus tangible - non-tangible - what if you wrote a poem with your
lipstick on glass? How about if you did it with your finger on the frozen
bus window? How tangible is (sorry) pee on the snow? Will it become tangible
if you take a picture of it? Not really - even if the chemicals of the film
can be dated. Better if the chemicals of development can be dated, but the
best case scenario would be if some crazy reporter takes a picture of your
poem and publishes that picture in a paper. Then, you have tangible record.

Regards,

Sasha.