I only recently discovered the requirement to place a table at the bottom of every page that uses content taken from Wikipedia (see http://www.wikipedia.com/license/fdl.html).
I don't like that idea, and having read the GNU FDL, have come to the conclusion that the requirement is most likely in violation of the terms of the license. The FDL permits the inclusion of invariant sections, but it makes clear that these are front cover sections or appendices, i.e. separate sections at the beginning or end of a work, not something to be included on every page. It also implies that each of these sections is to have a unique title -- are we to give each link table a unique name? It also implies clearly that the invariant sections are in the original copy of the document -- which the table links aren't in the original copy (www.wikipedia.com).
Furthermore, even if these link tables were present in the original copy, and mentioned, and given section names, nowhere does Wikipedia contain a notice indicating them as invariant sections, along the lines contained in the FDL.
Finally, requiring them to be in HTML seems to be violative of the FDL as well. What if I wanted to do my website in some other markup language, such as XHTML or SGML or XML or WML or (insert some not yet invented language here) instead? Then I can't technically include the exact HTML, which seems to amount to a requirement that any redistribution on a website be in HTML. Additional restrictions over and above those in the FDL are prohibited by the FDL.
Now of course, any of these terms could be added if some one individual owned the content to Wikipedia, but they don't. The contributors license it everyone else under the terms of the FDL; attempting to redistribute it under any additional restriction contrary to the FDL is in violation of their copyright, unless you get their consent, which would mean the consent of every single contributor to Wikipedia.
I understand that all people want to do is require acknowledgement, all I am saying is that legal means must be chosen to carry this out. The legal means are those permitted by the FDL, which is by placing a statement (and a URL) as front-cover matter, back-cover matter, or in an invariant section. Websites copying Wikipedia are required to include these sections, but these are separate sections, not notices on every single page.
Simon James Kissane
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