[Foundation-l] status of the licensing update

[Henning Schlottmann]

Ryan Kaldari wrote:
> As far as anyone not subscribed to this listserv can tell, the
> proposal to migrate Wikipedia to Creative Commons is dead in the
> water.

True.

This should be quite an important issue for the Foundation. The time
frame is narrow, running out and it looks like the Foundation is blowing
it. Let there be no doubt about it: The FSF will not make a GFDL 1.4 any
time soon if this opportunity is ignored.

And let me give a few maybe unpleasant ideas:

* Ditch the dual licensing. I don't understand it. I am trained as a
lawyer to understand about licenses and I have not the slightest idea
how the dual licensing is supposed to work. No one I talked to -
layperson or professional - understood about it. Make a hard switch, as
GFDL 1.3 allows. If RMS doesn't like it, too bad.

* Abandon the planned vote, don't ask the community. The issue is too
complicated to hand out proper information to the laypersons in the
community. Consequently we should not be bothered. Doing otherwise would
in the best outcome be dishonest, because we have to decide blindly, or
it could result in a disaster. And public vote on issues always means
that in the end no one have to take responsibility for it.

* The responsibility for decisions of this magnitude lays with the
board. WMF is a non-membership association. Don't even try to evade that
responsibility by delegating it to the "community". Accept the
responsibility and act accordingly.

Is it possible to have a face-to-face board meeting well before the
deadline of the license update? Then invite Mike Godwin and have him
prepare a presentation and Q&A session for that meeting. If you deem it
necessary, try to invite Lawrence Lessig and Eben Moglin or some of
their colleagues, too. Give the board members two more weeks after that
to discuss and then they have the final vote. No one else. That is what
being on the board is about.

There should be no doubt that it is impossible to inform the community
to the level necessary. And *tongue in cheek* don't listen to the
hecklers on mailing lists.

Ciao Henning