Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
Expect big changes in the next 24 months on internet
copyright and usage
in the United States Congress and Senate. Congress has been getting too
many people complaining. One sad note is that Slashdot is no longer
"news for geeks" but "news for hackers, and software pirates". The
pendulum is starting
to swing back the other way and unfortunately, it may swing too far to
the right. Experimental internet IP litigation is where WE DO NOT
WANT TO BE in the line of fire.
Anything folks can do to limit our exposure here is a good thing. For
the most part, WMF and its policies err on the side of caution, and this
is a very
good thing. The more prudent we can be in this area, the better. There's
just been too much abuse of the current copyright laws by the internet
community as a whole.
:-)
Jeff
I expect that if there will be any major legislation, it will mainly
cover presumptions of fair use rather than changes in the release of
public documents. And fair use is clearly something that even Wikimedia
projects tend to abuse on a large scale.
I think it was a very wise and prudent move on the part of those who set
up the Wikimedia Commons that they avoided fair use images altogether.
This may be ultimately a saving grace for all Wikimedia projects that
this has been done.
--
Robert Scott Horning