[Foundation-l] Copyright issue with external links

[Ray Saintonge]

Robert Scott Horning wrote:

>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.
>>    
>>
> 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.
>
What's more needed is clarification and a balancing of interests.  Much 
of the legislation is clouded by an absence of defining litigation.  
This allows for a great deal of private interpretation based only on 
speculation; that is so on both sides of the debate. Thee is quite 
enough abuse on the English language projects alone; much of it does not 
meet my own standards of belief in a more aggressive copyright policy.

I agree that there's an element of sense to the policy on Commons.  It 
makes allowing fair use images more workable on the individual projects, 
where a context for the images must be provided.

Ec