David Gerard wrote:
On 21/11/06, David Monniaux David.Monniaux@free.fr wrote:
We're talking of Mr Jean Dupont, member of Parliament from a pro-Europe party, waging a reelection campaign on a theme of "with Europe, we go beyond" using photos of ESA rockets, and ESA getting an angry complaint from Dupont's euroskeptic opponent and his party. (Apparently, this has happened, and of course they were at least able to say that this happened in violation of their policies. It would be more difficult for them to deal with people acting within their policies.)
So the problem here is that the euroskeptic opponent thinks this is ESA's problem, and that ESA feels it has to go along with this idea. That is: the problem you're describing is local politics rather than that open content licences are problematic.
The significant point is that the complaint was taken seriously by anybody at all. If somebody in the US complained about a NASA photo in a supermarket ad, even the most timid NASA bureaucrat would feel safe in showing the letter around the office for a laugh, and then pitching it into the trash. The bureaucrat knows that even if the complainer somehow got the attention of a news reporter, it would be for a segment on all the nutjobs who waste NASA's time.
Stan