[Foundation-l] Fwd: [Wikipedia-l] Please HELP save Wikipedia history ! (urgent)

[Ray Saintonge]

Tomasz Ganicz wrote:
> Yes...Copyright paranoia in action... You can always copy those files
> as long as they exists and simply create your private website with all
> of them. I wonder who is going to sue you for copyvio in such the
> case. I guess nobody...
>
> Anyway this is indeed big question if we should delete files based on
> the "0 tolerance for potential copyvio, no matter if it does make any
> practical sense or was examine but someone with real copyright
> knowledge" rule or rather based on "is there any probability that
> someone will sue us for copyvio". Wikimedia Commons (and many other
> Wikimedia projects) currently follow the "0 tolerance" approach. The
> exeption is still Wikipedia-en and several other projects which still
> allow fair-use.
>
>   
Any type of zero-tolerance leads to this kind of silliness.  Simple 
errors of judgement end up being treated like major crimes.

For me the real standard for copyright is respect of others' rights, 
even more than the probability of prosecution, Unfortunately, "respect" 
is a very difficult yardstick to apply because for some respect is 
measured by attention to copyrights while for others respect is measured 
by the recognition that their otherwise obscure work still has merit in 
someone else's eyes.

Users' rights were never taken into consideration in the development of 
copyright laws.  They didn't matter as long as users had no technology 
with which to use those rights. Thus, rights owners could develop widely 
applicable laws that covered a lot of territory that was of no 
consequence at that time.

"Probability that someone will sue" is an interesting idea because it 
recognizes the notion that there is a probability, however 
infinitissimal, that almost any event will happen. Probability allows 
for the possibility of any event, like being hit by a meteorite while 
standing in your own back yard, but it also allows for the overwhelming 
contrary possibility. People who take a lot of drinks during a flight to 
calm their fear of flying are not afraid to get into their cars and 
drive away as soon as they land.

Probabilistic arguments are difficult to establish when the majority 
still believes in legal certainty in the same way that it believes in God.

Ec