[Foundation-l] Copyright issue with external links

[Robert Scott Horning]

Jeff V. Merkey wrote:

>Expect big changes in the next 24 months on internet copyright and usage 
>in the United States Congress and Senate. Congress has been getting too 
>many people complaining. One sad note is that Slashdot is no longer 
>"news for geeks" but "news for hackers, and software pirates". The 
>pendulum is starting
>to swing back the other way and unfortunately, it may swing too far to 
>the right. Experimental internet IP litigation is where WE DO NOT
>WANT TO BE in the line of fire.
>
>Anything folks can do to limit our exposure here is a good thing. For 
>the most part, WMF and its policies err on the side of caution, and this 
>is a very
>good thing. The more prudent we can be in this area, the better. There's 
>just been too much abuse of the current copyright laws by the internet
>community as a whole.
>
>:-)
>
>Jeff
>
I expect that if there will be any major legislation, it will mainly 
cover presumptions of fair use rather than changes in the release of 
public documents.  And fair use is clearly something that even Wikimedia 
projects tend to abuse on a large scale.

I think it was a very wise and prudent move on the part of those who set 
up the Wikimedia Commons that they avoided fair use images altogether. 
 This may be ultimately a saving grace for all Wikimedia projects that 
this has been done.

-- 
Robert Scott Horning