[Foundation-l] Copyright issue with external links

[Jeff V. Merkey]

Expect big changes in the next 24 months on internet copyright and usage 
in the United States Congress and Senate. Congress has been getting too 
many people complaining. One sad note is that Slashdot is no longer 
"news for geeks" but "news for hackers, and software pirates". The 
pendulum is starting
to swing back the other way and unfortunately, it may swing too far to 
the right. Experimental internet IP litigation is where WE DO NOT
WANT TO BE in the line of fire.

Anything folks can do to limit our exposure here is a good thing. For 
the most part, WMF and its policies err on the side of caution, and this 
is a very
good thing. The more prudent we can be in this area, the better. There's 
just been too much abuse of the current copyright laws by the internet
community as a whole.

:-)

Jeff

John Barberio wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Over on Wikipedia, there's a significant group of editors who've decided 
>that current copyright policy doesn't go far enought, and are rewriting 
>the external linking guidelines to require 'copyright verification' and 
>'due care to verify copyright' on external links. This is because they 
>feel we are risking threat of suit due to linking to the likes of YouTube.
>
>No, I'm not suggesting we should allow links to copyvio, it's clear that 
>we shouldn't. But it's my understanding that the proposed changes would 
>be poor ones to make for various reasons.
>
>Primarily because we don't have the resources to take 'due care' and 
>'verify copyright'. True copyright verification needing lawyers time and 
>money, it's not something that's in our grasp at all.
>
>At the moment, copyright policy says not to 'knowingly and 
>intentionally' link to violations of copyright. And I believe this is 
>pretty much the best standard we can claim without introducing 
>unattainable burdens.
>
>Additionally, my lay understanding of the legal implications is that 
>claiming we can and do verify copyright status of external links may 
>well open us up to liability rather than reduce it.
>
>I've tried to explain this in discussion, but the discussion has gotten 
>a bit overheated. It appears no one is going to calm down over this 
>until there's a clarification of copyright policy by the foundation.
>
>I hope this can be clarified by the foundation.
>
>   - John
>
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