[Foundation-l] precisions about the recent WMF "fair use" decision

[David Strauss]

geni wrote:
> On 2/11/07, David Strauss <david at fourkitchens.com> wrote:
>> Not only do I agree, but I believe a similar issue surrounds fair use.
>> Accusations of U.S. centrism are indefensible when they're based on
>> restrictive laws in non-U.S. countries.
>>
>> Now, that doesn't mean there aren't practical advantages to
>> accommodating other countries' needs, but the lack of doing so is hardly
>> "U.S. centrism."
> 
> The problem with that is the logical end point of that position is the
> move the foundation and servers to Iran.

That's absurd. How does one go from "not changing to accommodate 
restrictive laws from other countries is not U.S. centrism" to "we must 
move our servers to Iran"?

I'm arguing that we should weigh the advantages of accommodating foreign 
restrictions (further reach) with the disadvantages of changing the 
content (esp. censorship). If we happen to decide that accommodating a 
restriction isn't worth the changes to content, then we're still not 
guilty of U.S. centrism. Accommodating Iran's requirements is clearly 
out of the question.


U.S. centrism is borne of ignorance or willful exclusion. Neither is the 
case here.