Thursday, June 14, 2007

A prominent notice stuck at the start of The Political Blog: The Struggle for Hegemony in Singapore's Emerging Blogosphere; Tan Jie Ying, Dorothy (2006/2007 Political Science Thesis):

"WARNING

This dissertation/thesis/academic exercise may be used only for private study or research purposes. No part of this work may be reproduced without permission, quoted without acknowledgement and no information derived from it may be published without the copyright owner's written consent."

Meanwhile, the form for photocopying reads:

"I declare that I require the copy for:
- My own private study
- My own research
and that I will not use it for any other purposes...

I recognise that the copyright... rests with the author... and that no quotation from it or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university (as may be appropriate)."

Looks like the doctrine of Fair Use doesn't apply to NUS theses.

Then again it's probably to prevent all the students (and their supervisors) for being incarcerated for sedition, and the University being shut down for fomenting dissent.