[Foundation-l] GFDL 1.3 Release

[geni]

2008/11/4  <psychoslave at culture-libre.org>:
>> The GFDL is so opaque that no-one, not even its creators, understand it.
>
> Do you think that the CC-by-sa is any better ? I took me an afternoon to
> read and more or less understand the CC-by in my native language (french).
> Seriously, compare yourself, read both CC-by-sa and FAL and tell me
> honnestly which one you understood better. If you want to go in this way,
> the FAL is the better choice.
>
> But, once again, of course I'm partial. ;)

FAL tends towards a fair degree of clarity yes but can trivially be
broken by real corner cases:

"attach this license without any modification to the copies of this
work or indicate precisely where the license can be found"

Looks good?  The problem kicks in with the "indicate precisely where
the license can be found" apart from the "the license is at the bottom
of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on
the door saying "Beware of The Leopard"" problem is the time
dependency. I give you a FAL licensed work with a URL where the
license can be found. 30 seconds later the url goes inactive.
Technically that meets the requirements of the FAL but not very
useful.

"specify to the recipient where to access the originals (either
initial or subsequent)."
This is unclear

"The author(s) of the original work may give you the right to modify
it under the same conditions as the copies. " appears to mean that you
don't need to mention that you have made changes but is hardly clear.

Trying to work out how 3. RELATED RIGHTS  actually words with database
copyight is somewhat complex.

"Intellectual rights" section works fine under french law (I assume)
but is less than idea under UK law

It is unclear if the "USER GUIDE" is actualy part of the license text
since is partly contradicts the preceding license "if possible, where
to find the originals" conflicts with sec 2.2  since you have to say
where to find the originals in order to use the license.

In addition to that there is the factor that there is a lot more CC
content around than FAL content.




-- 
geni