[WikiEN-l] Re: US Congress Staff Editing Wikipedia

[Michael Snow]

Tim Starling wrote:

>Michael Snow wrote:
>  
>
>>Tim Starling wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Michael Snow wrote:
>>>      
>>>
>>>>Bryan Derksen wrote:
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>>>My secret dream is to see the United States Congress hauled up before
>>>>>the Arbitration Committee. Maybe we could get them to pass clearer
>>>>>fair-use legislation as part of their parole.
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>Clearer fair use legislation is not likely to do us any good. What we
>>>>want is *more generous* fair use legislation.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>US fair use legislation is already among the most generous in the
>>>world. Coupled with US-centric
>>>Wikipedia policy, this has the effect that anyone attempting to
>>>distribute Wikipedia offline outside
>>>the US risks being sued for copyright infringment. I'd prefer it if US
>>>fair use legislation was
>>>brought into line with the rest of the world, i.e. made more
>>>restrictive not less.
>>>      
>>>
>>You mean this seriously? You'd rather make fair use in the US more
>>restrictive than make fair use/dealing/practice/whatever in other
>>countries less restrictive?
>>    
>>
>We were talking about what we'd like the Congress to do, not WIPO. Come to think of it, there's a
>step Congress could take towards harmonization that would be more useful for us: to reduce the term
>of copyright to the Berne Convention minimum of life + 50 years.
>  
>
Indeed, that I could go for, even if it isn't hardly enough. We could 
really do without Sonny Bono's legacy.

--Michael Snow