On 4/23/07, Delphine Ménard <notafishz@gmail.com> wrote:

On 4/21/07, gerald lists <geraldablists@gmail.com> wrote:

> Just for completeness - do any chapters rent squid servers around the world,
> or are these all under WMF billing? If a chapter can rent (and not be
> responsible for the content) then that is good, I think.

Actually, the squids that serve Amsterdam were bought and are owned by
Wikimedia Deutschland. And this is where I meant the lawyers stepped
in, we made sure that this was not a liability, either for the
Foundation or the chapter. This echoes Ray's explanation of the ISP
safe harbours.

Thanks -- that does clarify the point.

I am not sure what you mean by "rent" here, though.

Often, it's about the same price to lease servers through a 3rd party as it is
to purchase them outright. The differences are in cash flow, and in a for-profit business
the cost of leasing (interest costs) can be deducted against profit realized.

Rent in this instance was a fancy word for leasing, and I had (wrongly, it seems)
assumed that is how these servers were procured.

Thanks,
Gerald