[Foundation-l] Licenses' biodiversity : my big disagreement with the Wikimedia usability initiative's software specifications

[Teofilo]

I have tried the prototype upload wizard for the first time this week (1)

I am confident that all bugs can be solved. Bugs don't matter. But I
am much more skeptical on the specifications, as they are presented at
http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Multimedia:Upload_wizard/Questions_%26_Answers
(August 2010)

1) I think it conveys a feeling of being morally flawed, which is bad
for the image of the projects and for the projects' relationship with
users

When you go shopping, do you give your money first, and choose which
item you buy only after ? What happens if you find out that all the
food in the shop is stale ? You have lost your money. And that shop
keeper is a crook. Being put in a situation where you have to implore
the shop keeper to give you your money back is not comfortable.

I elaborate on this at https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=27500

2) This software developpement is a trojan horse for a non-negociated
policy change.

Although the Wikimedia Foundation's resolution on licensing policy (2)
is neutral, deciding to accept any free license, without creating
undue privileges for specific licenses, this neutrality is no longer
respected with the concept of CC-BY-SA 3.0 above all :
http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Multimedia:Upload_wizard/Questions_%26_Answers#Why_do_you_give_CC-by-sa_such_a_prominent.2Fdefault.2Frecommended_place.3F_Why_don.27t_you_use_a_step-by-step_license_chooser.3F

Commons currently has a pluralistic concept of "preferred licenses" at
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing#Well-known_licenses
which includes, for example the "Art Libre" (or "Free Art") license.
This pluralism is being attacked.

Even the CC-BY-SA 2.0 which is compatible with Flickr is threatened.
(See what happened to my poor CC-BY-SA 2.0 file (see "image title" in
the EXIF metadata) at
http://commons.prototype.wikimedia.org/uwd/File:Tree_at_Bourg-la-Reine_station.jpg
)

This attempt at the creation of a CC-BY-SA 3.0 empire is bad.

Having a choice of possible licenses is a richness. Because specific
licenses might be more suitable to some specific needs than other
licenses. Because they don't offer the same sort of protection in a
variety of circumstances. Destroying licenses looks as bad as
destroying biological species. Biodiversity is needed.

(1) http://commons.prototype.wikimedia.org/uwd/Special:UploadWizard
(2) http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Licensing_policy