Thomas Dalton wrote:
I have always
maintained that Wikipedia editors should be implicitly
appointing WMF as their non-exclusive agent whenever they edit.
That's as may be, but the fact of the matter is that the WMF is *not*
a non-exclusive agent. In fact, the WMF didn't even exist when many of
the edits were made. It is far too late to change the way copyright of
Wikipedia content works. It is released under the GDFL and only the
GDFL and will only ever be released under the GDFL. Accept it.
Where do you get the
idea that I was rejecting GFDL? There is nothing
in GFDL about appointing agents ''ad-litem''. There is nothing in
appointing such agents that alters the copyright status of anything. It
could easily be written into the editing conditions. Perhaps, in
theory, WMF would not be able to represent those who never edited a
given article after the effective date of such a policy, but in all
likelihood that article would have plenty of other editors who could be
represented. It only takes one of them to grant standing to an agent.
The "non-exclusive" aspect is only there to say that granting such
agency does not prevent the individual from himself launching any
lawsuit that he sees fit.
Ec