On 12 September 2011 16:47, Theo10011 <de10...@gmail.com> wrote: > Copyright violations aren't only important from an academic plagiarism point > of view but also legal and ethical, you seem to be only focusing on text > based violation in Academia maybe. Commons users and admins spend the better > part of their time educating themselves and dealing with these violations > from different countries not because of some honesty issues but real legal > ones.Violations more often than not, can lead to court cases, damages and > expose the project to liability.
No doubt but the Commons/Source model is broken for cases like India where documents are in the public domain here but not in the USA. That said, I digress. I agree with you on the legal issues around copyvio and it is important from the WMF's point of view since they carry the can on this. What I was uncomfortable with was what I saw as perhaps an over-reaction to the issue. Sure, "rather safe than sorry" is a possible answer but it's not one I favour because we tend to err too much on the side of caution. > already complied with located here[1]. For images, I can attest to spending > several hundred hours talking on IRC and looking for copyright terms of > different countries to comply with. No doubt, Theo and it's very important work too. > seriously. I am not sure if "Intellectual honesty" means ethics in this > context but I would disagree if that is what WMF and other Wikipedians would > be concerned about, it's really the legal liability that they expose WMF and > projects to. Maybe Hisham can clarify. Here's is what I was highlighting - yes, the issue of copyvio is important but given that this was in the context of an educational program, the larger issue ought to have been in the context of education - plagiarism and intellectual honesty and then about copyvio. If you're going to talk about copyvio as the most important element within an education program, it has a bearing on issues outside of just the Wikimedia movement and is a much larger discussion. >> > Second, if we don't uphold the "WMF policies" (they are actually project >> > policies, not the foundation's) in an officially sanctioned and financed >> > program, then who will? Again - I'm not saying they don't matter. I'm saying the priorities are not in order. > As I saw it, you stated that copyright violations are no big deal, > especially in India and the more important thing is being honest > (Intellectually) when someone plagiarizes or something to that effect. I think I have explained myself, above. Copyvio is important but in the current context, there are other elements that should have first been considered. > I am well aware of your position as a open-source book publisher and a > Creative commons hero along with someone I respect, that was why I found > your position very surprising on this issue. Appreciate your kind words, Theo. _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l