geni wrote:
On 7/23/07, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
In general, there is nothing wrong with pushing limits. Without that there would be no innovation.. Pushing the envelope does not mean acting foolishly; it is more often a matter of taking calculated risks. A lot of that comes down to personal risk aversion, and most people are very conservative when it comes to a matter of taking risks.
Or living under US legal systems.
That has nothing to do with the legal system. Risk aversion is a far more general phenomenon.
Our fair use policies are indeed very conservative, and it is sad to see that there asre some of us who would want them to be even more conservative. Pushing the limits of the law is perfectly compatible with developing a free encyclopedia, because that kind of discrete push is what will make more material free. It's what will take stuff out of the legalistic limbo where so much of the material already finds itself.
Only if you are ready to fight a bunch of court cases. I doubt you could afford any significant clarification.
There is a big gap between where we are now and the circumstances when anything gets to court, and a lot of opportunities to withdraw before things get costly. In many situations we don't even know if the apparent other side cares about the issue. In orphan copyright cases there is not even anyone there to care. There is far more to these legal situations than a literal reading of statutes.
Ec