[WikiEN-l] Re: A Friendly Challenge to Sheldon Rampton

[Jason Williams]

On Fri, Mar 21, 2003 at 06:40:35AM -0800, Jimmy Wales wrote:
> Jason Williams wrote:
> > I think following US copyright law is a mistake - much better to
> > follow a policy of complying with the law in as many countries
> > as feasible. (I've no idea if in this case it makes a difference,
> > I just wanted to raise the point)
> 
> I like this suggestion generally, but I'm not sure what differences
> there might be.  U.S. copyright law is pretty restrictive, so if we
> adhere to U.S. copyright law, we're probably not violating anyone
> else's copyright laws.  Are there counter-examples?

I'm not particularly well-informed on this matter, but I vaguely
suspect exceptions for parody and fair use are the most likely
to be a problem.

> And I'd make a distinction (philosophically questionable, but we're
> trying to get work done here 'on the ground') between complying with
> laws that are _copyright_ restrictions versus complying with laws that
> are _censorship_. 

Agreed - this isn't a binary issue by any means. I think we just need
to consider and balance two factors; international compliance, and
how important whatever we want to do is to the task at hand.

It's very important to be factual and neutral, so if that limits
international legality then so be it. 

Pictures of koalas or album covers aren't nearly so much of a
"core issue", so if it turns out that they are illegal in places 
outside the US they should be dropped.


-- 

jason at jasonandali.org.uk    http://www.jasonandali.org.uk/jason/