[Foundation-l] GFDL publisher credit

[Robert Scott Horning]

Ray Saintonge wrote:

>A key factor in distinguishing between a publisher and an ISP seems to 
>be editorial control, and oonsciously active participation in the 
>editing process.  An ISP who is told that there is something illegal 
>about a page can easily remove it as a result of being so told.  Being 
>pro-active in this may be more characteristic of a publisher, because it 
>involves making our own legal decisions about whether a writing is in 
>some fashion illegal.
>
>Ec
>
The problem here is that Jimbo in particular and the WMF in general has 
been very active in making editorial decisions.... particularly 
regarding content on Wikibooks, with deletion of substantial sections of 
Wikibooks content on the "orders from Jimbo".  Office actions as well on 
Wikipedia (a somewhat controvercial subject) suggest that there is some 
active participation in this editing process.  I'm not just talking 
about WMF board members that are also acting as contributors, but 
forceful decisions that have overriding authority and preempt 
objections, even strong objections by the community.

I'm not really sure where the WMF would fall into this category, but I 
wouldn't simply claim the WMF to be a mere service provider.  I'm not 
necessarily saying that editorial control is wrong here, but it does 
have legal implications as you have pointed out.

-- 
Robert Scott Horning