Robert Rohde writes:
Don't mistake me for a wild idealist. I recognize there do need to be
practical considerations, but if we are really planning for a $4M budget, then setting aside say $200k (5%) to defend cases where we believe that we are in the right seems like a more than reasonable starting point (in addition to money set aside to address other legal issues).
A single copyright case could easily exceed that amount to defend.
Yes, of course the Foundation has defenses under DMCA. But those who use our content may not. Are you proposing that we allocate $200K to defend those who use project content because we told them it was okay to do so per fair use doctrine?
Not to mention that I continue to believe that a legal defense of Wikipedia would be a very effective rallying point to draw additional funds and the support of like minded organizations (e.g. EFF, etc.)
Having spent nine years at like-minded EFF, I'll point out that EFF raises money for its own operations, mainly, and is unlikely to raise money for us. EFF also very carefully picks its cases -- it does not defend or pursue every winnable case (I wish!). That's because EFF recognizes that it needs to work within a budget and maximize results from its expenditures.
--Mike