Maveric149 wrote in part:
Toby wrote:
The "international" (that is, non-English) Wikipedias are also subject only to US and (I think) California law. That's where they're located, after all.
Ahem. If it is illegal for user x to do a and b in the country they are contributing from, then that user should /not/ do that!
OK, I wasn't thinking about the legal liabilities of the *contributor*. That's a good point.
If it is illegal in your nation to do something that would otherwise be legal in California, then you are still taking a personal risk if you break your own nation's laws. The simple fact that the server is in California does not shield you from the laws of your own nation.
Yes, a *personal* risk.
IMO, we should keep things simple and only concern ourselves with these two things (as far as the legal issue goes):
- What is legal for any one user to do in the nation they are submitting
from. 2) What is legal to have on our server in California (this applies to everything we all submit; all text/media must be legal under California/US law).
I don't think that we-as-a-group (Wikipedia as an institution) should concern ourselves (in our policies) with issue #1. We should not, for example, declare it a bannable offence or against Wikipetiquette to violate local laws when submitting. We-as-individuals (each individual editor acting privately) have to concern ourselves with #1, by our own standards of personal risk. A contributor from France can decide what risk she wants to take in posting potentially illegal material while in that country. But I shouldn't use my influence on Wikipedia policy to stop her. (I don't know if this paragraph is in disagreement with you or not.)
-- Toby