Jimmy Wales wrote:
First, I think there has been some misreading of the
license terms.
Please trust me that CC does not support "moral rights," and that
these are complex matters.
I agree that these are complex matters, but I am not convinced that a
person who reads this provision differently from you is necessarily the
one misreading the terms. Those who actually wrote in those provisions
may convinced you of what they intended, but that does not make them
right. Relying on trust alone for the interpretation of legal texts is
not a sound practice.
The clause in question merely says that the license
does not seek to
invalidate or interfere with moral rights.
It does indeed avoid using the term "moral rights", but at the same time
it forbids the user from doing what is not allowed in a typical moral
rights clause. It quacks like a duck, so why not call it that.
The primary reason for that, as
I understand it, is that there is some concern that a license which
attempts to do the impossible may thereby be ruled completely
invalid. Most older
versions of CC licenses simply ignored moral rights in a way which
might appear to be attempting to waive them.
"Might appear" That's a shaky basis. If nothing is said about it
that
implies nothing about it. Gratuitous clauses only give people more to
argue about. A severability clause to the effect that a rejection by
the courts of any provision in the licence does not invalidate any other
clause could be more appropriate.
One exception was the Canadian
localization, which attempted to waive them (perhaps successfully,
under Canadian law).
Canada is not one of the countries creating problems over moral rights.
So far the only successful moral rights case here has been in a lower
court which provided injunctive relief to remove red Christmas ribbons
from the neck of sculpted geese. The tendency in the Canadian courts
over the integrity right appears to be to require the plaintiff to carry
the burden of prooving that his honor or reputation was damaged.
As a practical matter, the different ways to waive
moral rights are
complicated and inconsistent across jurisdictions. Additionally, in
jurisdictions where
moral rights are strong (important), attempts to weaken them are
politically dangerous.
Sure, and this is shaping up as a common law countries versus civil law
countries issue.
So the best approach seemed to be to keep CC licensing
out of the
moral rights business altogether. These are copyright licenses.
They explicitly do
not (and cannot, in many important jurisdictions) touch on moral
rights issues.
Sure; then why not say that directly, and completely avoid the weaseling
that's in there now.
In fact, nothing has changed between previous versions
of CC licenses
and this one, in terms of the actual effect of the licenses. Before,
the licenses said
nothing at all about moral rights. Now, the licenses simply
explicitly acknowledge that they say nothing at all about moral rights.
Again it does not say that directly.
I see no reason to get excited.
People are probably excited because it creates an unfree licence. We
have tried in various projects to choose a broad compliance with
copyright so that the material can be re-used in most countries. You
have repeatedly made that point. Now we are advising people in some
countries not to use some material if it would violate moral rights in
that country. Is the inconsistency so difficult to see?. Remember too
that we are blessed with an unending supply of Wikilawyers willing to
take enforce the most disadvantageous position they can find. This
makes us considerably less free.
Ec