To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Brian McNeil, I am a bureaucrat and accredited reporter on Wikipedia's sister project, Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org http://en.wikinews.org/ ). I am investigating allegations that have been raised on Wikipedia that material has been copied from Wikipedia in your publication.
The allegations center around the obituary for author James Crumley, the online version of this is at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062745/James-Crumley.html. The current version of the Wikipedia article is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley. This has undergone some revision since Crumley's death, but some word-for-word identical sections remain.
While I wait on those who have made the allegations providing further information I would greatly appreciate knowing who was responsible for the Telegraph obituary, and what the paper's stance on such issues is.
While the term plagiarism has been bandied about in the discussion on Wikipedia, it is more technically accurate - if true - to describe this as an infringement of the license under which Wikipedia content is provided. The license is the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL - linked to from the foot of every Wikipedia page). The terms of this license are relatively liberal in what reuse is permitted, but there is a "viral" clause to ensure that those who profit from the material share their works. The upshot of this would be that and work substantially derived from a GFDL article must also be made available under such a license.
I look forward to your response on this matter, as I hope you appreciate this is relatively urgent to maintain the timeliness of the news.
Regards,
Brian McNeil
Wikinews Bureaucrat & Accredited Reporter
Email: Brian.McNeil@wikinewsie.org
Brian McNeil, Is it safe to assume that you have not heard back from The Telegraph or the NUJ? SVTCobra
----- Original Message ----- From: Brian McNeil Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:35 am Subject: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia To: telegraph@blj.co.uk Cc: 'Wikinews mailing list'
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Brian McNeil, I am a bureaucrat and accredited reporter on Wikipedia's sister project, Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org ). I am investigating allegations that have been raised on Wikipedia that material has been copied from Wikipedia in your publication.
The allegations center around the obituary for author James Crumley, the online version of this is at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062745/James- Crumley.html. The current version of the Wikipedia article is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley. This has undergone some revision since Crumley's death, but some word-for-word identical sections remain.
While I wait on those who have made the allegations providing further information I would greatly appreciate knowing who was responsible for the Telegraph obituary, and what the paper's stance on such issues is.
While the term plagiarism has been bandied about in the discussion on Wikipedia, it is more technically accurate - if true - to describe this as an infringement of the license under which Wikipedia content is provided.The license is the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL
- linked to from the
foot of every Wikipedia page). The terms of this license are relativelyliberal in what reuse is permitted, but there is a "viral" clause to ensure that those who profit from the material share their works. The upshot of this would be that and work substantially derived from a GFDL article must also be made available under such a license.
I look forward to your response on this matter, as I hope you appreciatethis is relatively urgent to maintain the timeliness of the news.
Regards,
Brian McNeil
Wikinews Bureaucrat & Accredited Reporter
Email: Brian.McNeil@wikinewsie.org
Yes and no.
The telegraph pulled their article in the face of the allegation, had people go over it, and dismissed the claim of plagiarism.
The NUJ got in touch to say they were looking at it. No further news there.
Brian.
-----Original Message----- From: wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of wikinewssvt@optonline.net Sent: 15 October 2008 02:27 To: Wikinews mailing list Subject: Re: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia
Brian McNeil,
Is it safe to assume that you have not heard back from The Telegraph or the NUJ?
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/User:SVTCobra SVTCobra
----- Original Message ----- From: Brian McNeil Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:35 am Subject: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia To: telegraph@blj.co.uk Cc: 'Wikinews mailing list'
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Brian McNeil, I am a bureaucrat and accredited reporter on Wikipedia's sister project, Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org ). I am investigating allegations that have been raised on Wikipedia that material has been copied from Wikipedia in your publication.
The allegations center around the obituary for author James Crumley, the online version of this is at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062745/James- Crumley.html. The current version of the Wikipedia article is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley. This has undergone some revision since Crumley's death, but some word-for-word identical sections remain.
While I wait on those who have made the allegations providing further information I would greatly appreciate knowing who was responsible for the Telegraph obituary, and what the paper's stance on such issues is.
While the term plagiarism has been bandied about in the discussion on Wikipedia, it is more technically accurate - if true - to describe this as an infringement of the license under which Wikipedia content is provided.The license is the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL
- linked to from the
foot of every Wikipedia page). The terms of this license are relativelyliberal in what reuse is permitted, but there is a "viral" clause to ensure that those who profit from the material share their works. The upshot of this would be that and work substantially derived from a GFDL article must also be made available under such a license.
I look forward to your response on this matter, as I hope you appreciatethis is relatively urgent to maintain the timeliness of the news.
Regards,
Brian McNeil
Wikinews Bureaucrat & Accredited Reporter
Email: Brian.McNeil@wikinewsie.org
Out of curiosity, as it wasn't really clear from the email, are you were writing them to try and get a comment for a wikinews article, or as a wikimedian just trying to send a "please stop infringing on copyrights - its rather mean" type note?
-bawolff
On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 12:10 AM, Brian McNeil brian.mcneil@wikinewsie.org wrote:
Yes and no.
The telegraph pulled their article in the face of the allegation, had people go over it, and dismissed the claim of plagiarism.
The NUJ got in touch to say they were looking at it. No further news there.
Brian.
-----Original Message----- From: wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of wikinewssvt@optonline.net Sent: 15 October 2008 02:27 To: Wikinews mailing list Subject: Re: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia
Brian McNeil,
Is it safe to assume that you have not heard back from The Telegraph or the NUJ?
SVTCobra
----- Original Message ----- From: Brian McNeil Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:35 am Subject: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia To: telegraph@blj.co.uk Cc: 'Wikinews mailing list'
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Brian McNeil, I am a bureaucrat and accredited reporter on Wikipedia's sister project, Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org ). I am investigating allegations that have been raised on Wikipedia that material has been copied from Wikipedia in your publication.
The allegations center around the obituary for author James Crumley, the online version of this is at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062745/James- Crumley.html. The current version of the Wikipedia article is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley. This has undergone some revision since Crumley's death, but some word-for-word identical sections remain.
While I wait on those who have made the allegations providing further information I would greatly appreciate knowing who was responsible for the Telegraph obituary, and what the paper's stance on such issues is.
While the term plagiarism has been bandied about in the discussion on Wikipedia, it is more technically accurate - if true - to describe this as an infringement of the license under which Wikipedia content is provided.The license is the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL
- linked to from the
foot of every Wikipedia page). The terms of this license are relativelyliberal in what reuse is permitted, but there is a "viral" clause to ensure that those who profit from the material share their works. The upshot of this would be that and work substantially derived from a GFDL article must also be made available under such a license.
I look forward to your response on this matter, as I hope you appreciatethis is relatively urgent to maintain the timeliness of the news.
Regards,
Brian McNeil
Wikinews Bureaucrat & Accredited Reporter
Email: Brian.McNeil@wikinewsie.org
Wikinews-l mailing list Wikinews-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikinews-l
I was up-front about being a journalist and interested in a potential story, but you're not the first person to take my email that way.
Brian.
-----Original Message----- From: wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of bawolff Sent: 16 October 2008 03:00 To: Wikinews mailing list Subject: Re: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia
Out of curiosity, as it wasn't really clear from the email, are you were writing them to try and get a comment for a wikinews article, or as a wikimedian just trying to send a "please stop infringing on copyrights - its rather mean" type note?
-bawolff
On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 12:10 AM, Brian McNeil brian.mcneil@wikinewsie.org wrote:
Yes and no.
The telegraph pulled their article in the face of the allegation, had
people
go over it, and dismissed the claim of plagiarism.
The NUJ got in touch to say they were looking at it. No further news
there.
Brian.
-----Original Message----- From: wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikinews-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of wikinewssvt@optonline.net Sent: 15 October 2008 02:27 To: Wikinews mailing list Subject: Re: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia
Brian McNeil,
Is it safe to assume that you have not heard back from The Telegraph or
the
NUJ?
SVTCobra
----- Original Message ----- From: Brian McNeil Date: Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:35 am Subject: [Wikinews-l] Allegations of copying from Wikipedia To: telegraph@blj.co.uk Cc: 'Wikinews mailing list'
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Brian McNeil, I am a bureaucrat and accredited reporter on Wikipedia's sister project, Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org ). I am investigating allegations that have been raised on Wikipedia that material has been copied from Wikipedia in your publication.
The allegations center around the obituary for author James Crumley, the online version of this is at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062745/James- Crumley.html. The current version of the Wikipedia article is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Crumley. This has undergone some revision since Crumley's death, but some word-for-word identical sections remain.
While I wait on those who have made the allegations providing further information I would greatly appreciate knowing who was responsible for the Telegraph obituary, and what the paper's stance on such issues is.
While the term plagiarism has been bandied about in the discussion on Wikipedia, it is more technically accurate - if true - to describe this as an infringement of the license under which Wikipedia content is provided.The license is the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL
- linked to from the
foot of every Wikipedia page). The terms of this license are relativelyliberal in what reuse is permitted, but there is a "viral" clause to ensure that those who profit from the material share their works. The upshot of this would be that and work substantially derived from a GFDL article must also be made available under such a license.
I look forward to your response on this matter, as I hope you appreciatethis is relatively urgent to maintain the timeliness of the news.
Regards,
Brian McNeil
Wikinews Bureaucrat & Accredited Reporter
Email: Brian.McNeil@wikinewsie.org
Wikinews-l mailing list Wikinews-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikinews-l
wikinews-l@lists.wikimedia.org