On 30 May 2003, Erik Moeller wrote:
>> Having a status flag in the database would be
very helpful for forkers,
>> but we should not encourage uploading photos under licenses that limit
>> redistribution. But a little more Linus Torvalds style pragmatism and a
>> little less Richard Stallman style zealotry wouldn't hurt either.
> And end up being sued like Linus?
Hardly an argument. You can always end up being sued.
The question is
whether the other side wins.
That's like saying seatbelts are hardly a safety improvement, because you might
still end up dead.
Free software and free content projects are very vunerable to corporate
litigation simply because they don't have the financial resources to tackle it.
The projects are generally run by a group of individuals, which make ideal
targets for corporate threats about liability.
So speaking in practical terms (wich should please you) the question isn't so
much about who is right or wrong - but what the risks are. And the risks of
using material that isn't 100% verified as free are enormous. As the SCO
debacle clearly demonstrates.
FreeBSD is a project where they have learned from bitter experience that every
last piece of code included or inherited must be double checked for copyright,
patents and non disclusure problems. Now, FreeBSD people are very far away
"politically" from RMS, yet take these issues very seriously. So please
don't
turn this into a "practical vs. zealot" issue.
So should Wikipedia.
(Wikipedia also has the great advantage of incorporating hundreds, if not
thousands of authors world wide. Cameras are cheap. If there is a serious
dearth of pictures, we should organize a project to have more of our authors go
out and take pictures, and work to aquire permission to use copyrighted
pictures where this isn't possible.)
-- Daniel