On 20/02/2008, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
On 20/02/2008, Brian McNeil
<brian.mcneil(a)wikinewsie.org> wrote:
I think "theft" is too loaded a word.
How about "Depriving the public domain of culturally significant material"?
"theft of the public domain" is a phrase that ties in with the
campaigns of various digital rights organisations fighting against the
same copyright extension in the EU.
The wikimedia foundation is not however a digital rights organization
and doesn't really have a mandate to be one. The foundation is more in
the position of an interested party than a campaigning organization.
You're
missing the point. We don't even aspire to be a digital rights
organization. It's about the use of language. If DRO's are going to
use the word "theft" when referring to the abuse of works owned by one
of its members, is it not also "theft" when similar rights belonging to
the public are abused?
Ec