[Foundation-l] WMF as publisher as in GFDL

Tue Dec 7 02:25:20 UTC 2004

You know the great thing about PD, there is no clause 4-J that
requires a law degree to understand

On 7 Dec 2004 10:01:01 +0900, wiki_tomos <wiki_tomos at inter7.jp> wrote:
> I would like a few things to be decided/ clarified regarding GFDL,
> partly because I received some complaint by another Wikipedian that GFDL
> is so difficult to understand that there needs to be an unofficial
> guide to how to use Wikimedia contents in compliance with GFDL.
> 
> 1. Is Wikimedia Foundation the "Publisher" as in GFDL of Wikimedia contents?
> 
> 2. When people modify documents, one of the requirements is to change the title,
> as in 4-A. The publisher of the original version may permit the licensee to
> use the same title. Does Wikimedia Foundation permit that?
> 
> 3. Another requirement is 4-J, the preservation of network locations of
> previous versions. Does Wikimedia Foundation give permission not to preserve
> the network locations?
> 
> My understanding is that answers to all three questions are yes. But I am
> a bit unsure about the last one.
> 
> People tend to think link to the live article is important, as I understand.
> Some people, based on American law, think this is a good substitute for
> the requirement 4-I, the preservation of History section. That aside,
> link back to individual articles are important for us to keep google rank.
> 
> I personally think this is not the part of contract, because the live article
> is not necessarily the "previous version." But Wikimedia Foundation's
> enforcement policy would be that if live articles are linked back from
> individual pages, and some other important conditions are met, WMF does not
> make a big noise about violation of 4-I.
> 
> In other words, my understanding is that WMF does not change the terms of GFDL,
> but simply has some policy as a publisher regarding what type of violations are
> bad enough for WMF to take actions.
> 
> I am not a lawyer, so my guesses and assumptions could well be wrong. I
> appreciate your comments and clarifications.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tomos
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