Rev said (among other good points) "The informants always have the right to place conditions on the usage of their material. "

In a general philosophical way, and for the most part in the particulars as well, I happen to agree with you, Rev.

However, the one statement above is based upon the assumption that the informant is truly the correct person to make such a decision.

For example, what if some young punk upstart decides he wants to make a fool of the local Elders. He gives a Collector some smattering of Lore (maybe not complete or correct) and grants permission to publish, use, or abuse same? Granted, the Collector may be acting in good faith and "ethically". However the Elders might reasonably be upset at a possible misrepresentation of their culture and/or revelation of mysteries that were not intended for general publication. Yes, the Elders in this example probably would be REALLY upset at the Young Punk Upstart, but they might also be rightly annoyed at the Collector.

Another imaginary example, perhaps more likely in this day and age is: I transcribe a song from some guy who CLAIMS that the piece is "traditional", that he learned from his great-grandpappy who learned it during The War. Turns out it was composed just last year by his ex-girlfriend whom he's mad at and he knows she hasn't recorded it yet, so he's setting her (and me) up for a copyright dispute.

Granted, these are suppositions and one can go mad trying to cover ALL the "What If's". There probably are not any simple or certain answers to avoiding problems, especially when dealing with people who are intentionally dishonest. Hopefully that does not happen too often. But it's also a good reminder of one reason why documenting your sources & research can be important: to prove you acted in good faith if a question arises later on.

Val
(just a hobbyist, not a Collector)