[WikiEN-l] RE: [Wikitech-l] The abomination that is powerpedia.org

[Jimmy Wales]

Poor, Edmund W wrote:
> Does the GNU Free Documentation License give everyone the right to stick
> a frame around the Wikipedia and rename it, as Sterling has done?

I would say that this is a linking issue, not a copyright issue, and
that yes, they have the right -- GNU FDL or no -- to link to us in
that fashion.

And we also have the right to change our pages to use javascript to
break out of their frame.

> What's the difference between hijacking and proper use?

Well, I'm more or less ambivalent about this particular use.

Generally, the problem would be that they are showing ads and making
money, but letting the Wikimedia Foundation foot the bill for the
bandwidth.  Proper use would be copying it to their own server (in
compliance with the license, of course) and paying the bandwidth bill.
Hijacking would be "faking it" in a way that makes us pay the bill.

Except, as I said, I'm more or less ambivalent about it in this case.

> Is Sterling making a mockery of Jimbo's promise not to have ads in
> Wikipedia?

Well, people can of course properly license the content and have ads
if they want.  I think people object, and sensibly so, even though it
doesn't bother me personally much, that someone else would be making
money from ads while we foot the bill for bandwidth.

In this particular case, the amount of traffic is likely to remain
close to zero.  I make this estimate because the proprietor wants to
talk about "free energy" which isn't positive proof of poor thinking
skills, but does give me cause to doubt the success of his endeavor.

--Jimbo