Archiving mail-lists...

[jazz@hal.com (Jason Zions)]

   I would be interested in a discussion on the mail-list on this
   issue. Please refrain from sending personal mail. In particular do you
   think such a archive without every members permission is un-ethical?

Unethical, hell; illegal is closer to it. I retain the copyright to
everything I post; although implicit permission to redistribute to the
mailing list is granted when I send to cypherpunks@toad.com, I have granted
no permission to anyone else to use my intellectual property (i.e. my posts,
valuable or not) for any other purpose.
   
   Would a archivist necessarily need the permission of the mail-list
   sponser?

In an actively-moderated group (i.e. where the moderator chooses which
messages to forward, constructs digests, etc.) the moderator possesses a
copyright on the collection of material (but not on the material itself); if
you were republishing a substantial part of the collection (in your case,
all of it) you'd need rights to the collection copyright also.

Study copyright law (including the Berne Convention, to which most nations
having Usenet sites are signatories). Understand what you're getting
yourself into.

Jason