Mark Wagner wrote:
On 12/20/06, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
A respect for the legal culture of other countries helps to build mutual co-operation even if there is no conceivable avenue for enforcing those laws. Why shouldn't North Korean, Chinese or Iranian law be respected when they are relevent?
So, no maps showing that Kashmir is not entirely and undisputedly part of India. No pictures of women with uncovered faces. No criticism of Kim Jong-Il. No mention that Arab countries call it the Arabian Gulf, or that most other countries call it the Persian Gulf.
There's a whole lot that we couldn't include in Wikipedia if we were to respect all the relevant laws of countries where Wikipedia is accessible.
Respect for foreign laws does not extend to abjectly kowtowing to all their peculiarities. That would be impossible even if we knew them all. If we must follow Indian law about Kashmir we must also follow Pakistani law on the same issue.
Much of the respect comes from applying NPOV, and treating everyone with fairness, and taking note of the fact that Wikipedians living in those countries have to live with what they have. If the common criticisms of Kim Jong-Il are valid it still does not justify gratuitously insulting language. If the United States ignores the copyright laws of another country because it does not have copyright relations with it, that does not mean that we too should be free to ignore them.
Ec