[Foundation-l] german wikiquotes

[Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales]

Delirium wrote:
> >For example, I think it is a good thing that the German
> >wikipedia is quite strict against fair use, because most re-users of
> >that work will be trying to distribute it in Germany, and relying on
> >the more liberal provisions of fair use/fair dealing that en.wikipedia
> >relies on would be unwise.
> >
> Is that really a good reason for this difference?  You could make the 
> same argument for removing fair-use from en: as well, because there are 
> many English-speaking countries that have laws as restrictive as.(or 
> more restrictive than) Germany's.

These things are judgment calls which I think have to be made
carefully, and there will be no simple formulaic answer.  Because of
the _way_ that we make decisions (i.e. with a fair amount of autonnomy
for different languages, and with efforts to find consensus rather
than hard-and-fast rules of voting or whatever), we will sometimes
find ourselves being inconsistent in some minor ways.

As a matter of fact, I *do* make the same argument for removing
fair-use from en as well.  I think we should avoid fair-use images
much much more strongly than we do now.

At the same time, I think that fair use is a *good thing* in general,
because it is an acknowledgement that there are limitations on the
rights of copyright holders, and we should use it when we really do
need it.

--Jimbo