[WikiEN-l] Is fair use a right as well as a defense?

[geni]

On 10/09/2007, Todd Allen <toddmallen at gmail.com> wrote:
> The Germans seem to have solved that question quite well. We took a page
> out of their book on userboxes, maybe we should take the flipside on
> nonfree content too. The way you remain free is to steer clear of
> nonfree. Period, end of story, no exceptions.

You think the image on the top right of this page is free:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United

> That's why you don't find,
> for example, the nonfree nvidia driver in the Linux kernel. It could be
> legally distributed that way, sure, but it's not free. Anyone who wants
> it is welcome to download and install their own, but to keep the core
> product (the kernel) free, it must not be distributed as part of it.
>
> To be genuinely free, anyone should be able to take a database dump of
> Wikipedia, and provided that they comply with the GFDL, put it up on a
> commercial website with every last bit of data they got. Wikipedia is
> currently nonfree. A lot of -parts- are free, but it only takes a bit of
> pollution to make the whole nonfree.

That would involve stripping all wikipedia logos out. Tricky. In
adition en is now pretty good at makeing it clear what is and isn't
free.


-- 
geni