[Foundation-l] [Wikinews-l] Proposal for the creation of a Wikinews foundation

Wed Aug 22 18:52:21 UTC 2007

Anthony wrote:
> On 8/21/07, Craig Spurrier <craig at craigweb.net> wrote:
>   
>> Freedom of press is of course the biggest one. The US also has a
>> copyright system, which far from ideal is decent and well tested. The US
>> also has relatively easy rules for establishing a non profit (beyond
>> establishment it can get complicated but is very well documented and
>> there is no shortage of experts)  The US also has very reporter friendly
>> fair use and libel laws.
>>     
>
> Canada was ranked highly by Reporters Without Borders for freedom of
> the press, and I've heard good things about their nonprofit laws.
>   
>> The other big benifit to establishing it in the
>> US is we have a vast pool of resources that we can draw on from the WM
>> foundation who are already familiar with US law.
>>     
> Maybe.  But one benefit from establishing it outside the US is that it
> has greater potential to expand the pool of resources.
>
> My comments about freedom of press in the US were questions, hence the
> question marks.  One link I found to kind of answer the question was
> Reporters Without Borders freedom of the press index.
> http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639  Canada stuck out
> from that list in my mind because I had heard they had liberal
> non-profit organization laws.
Speaking as a Canadian, also as a person with no interest in involving 
himself with Wikinews I can confirm some of this.  Getting a corporation 
set up as a federal non-profit is still a lot of work, and does require 
detailed annual reporting.  For Canadian residents there is effectively 
a tax credit of about 50% of combined annual charitable contributions 
over $200, but that doen't do much for non-residents. It is not 
meaninglessly buried in itemized deductions, as would be the case in the 
US.  I'm not too sure what you meant by "liberal non-profit organization 
laws." 

For copyright we still follow the Berne Convention term of Life + 50 
years, and a Supreme Court decision a few years ago looked favorably on 
US-type fair-use criteria

Whether this is what is wanted for an international organisation remains 
an open question.

Ec