And yet we have a global, and in many cases (and specifically, en.wp) local
Fair Use policy, which is quite actively and productively used, and has
been since around day one of the first Wikipedia.
Uncommons is not a change in policy. It is ultimately a technical matter;
a software and project solution to disagreement as to whether Commons'
project reflects the totality of the Projects' desires and needs for shared
content or not.
The MP4 thing is not the sole and total consensus. The totality of
consensus has been and remains that Fair Use - not unlimited, but within
reason and focused on educational value - is here to stay. Unless you
intend to try to roll that back on en.wikipedia and the Foundation policy,
then objecting to a technical solution to make that content more
practically reusable is simple obstructionism towards the educational
mission.
It is time to rebalance in favor of fairly and equitably supporting the
educational mission.
On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 12:25 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 12:07 PM, Nathan
<nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote:
The problem is the behavior of a certain core set
of Commons admins;
George, SJ, and Nathan:
In addition to Erik Moeller's initial proposal that Commons be used as a
repository for *free* media files (linked previously), there has been a
very recent referendum that speaks very directly to the Wikimedia
community's commitment to holding the line on the principles of free
licenses, even in the face of negative practical consequences. That
referendum was the recent proposal to use the MP4 format. When concluded,
more than 300 people had voted against compromising on this principle,
while fewer then 150 voted in favor.[1] Of course there are some
considerations that are specific to that case, but it is useful to consider
now, because the central topic is essentially the same in both cases:
Should we sacrifice free content principles, if that sacrifice will enable
us to distribute more educational content?
The answer was a resounding "no."
The people you, Nathan, are accusing of behaving badly, are the ones who
are doing the hard, day-do-day work of enforcing the expressed consensus of
the Wikimedia community, which values a commitment to free licenses.
-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]
[1]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Requests_for_comment/MP4_Video
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