Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Brad Collins <brad AT studiojungle.net>]

Wouter Vanden Hove <wouter.vanden.hove AT pandora.be> writes:

> Op za 29-11-2003, om 11:32 schreef Brad Collins:
>
>> ... But to be fair this is probably a fairly standard licence which
>> isn't much different from rights a traditional print newspaper
>> claim for anything that is sent to them (like letters to the editor
>> or an agony aunt).
>
>
> I don't think these are comparable situations. 

[snip]

I agree, I'm just saying that the rights MS is claiming to anything
posted on their network is simular to what traditional newspapers
claim when you send a letter to an editor.

MS is claiming the right not only to reuse other's work, they claim
the right to change it and present it to others out of context.  So if
Richard Stallman wrote a diatribe against non-free software on a MS
forum, MS claims the right to edit that post in any way even if the
result is a message that changes what Stallman wrote into a diatribe
against Free Software.  I don't think that would stand up in many
courts, so I don't know how much weight their licence terms would
have.  

I may be mistaken but I seem to remember reading somewhere that MS
also claims simular rights to anything posted to their support and
help networks.  If you provide technical support or advice through
their network they claim it as their own.

A newspaper claims the right to edit something so that it can
be printed in part, but this is covered as fair use in quoting
something that has been sent to a public forum. But that fair use is
only permited if you are not misrepresenting what is being quoted.

MSN search blocks anything returned related to Linux, so how
long will it be before they do something simular in their forums if
they haven't already?

What is Yahoo's policy on content posted on their hosted forums?

On dicussion forums a far better model would be to do something like
the old policy at The Well.  You own your own words, you keep some
rights to those words when they are posted but you are also
responsible for them as well.

Schools should, as a general rule tell teachers to be careful about
which forums they use, and to check what rights the forum provider is,
or is not claiming.....  There are certainly enough free forum
providers out there, so it would be wise to shop around before picking
a place to host a forum.

b/

--
Brad Collins
Chenla Labs
Bangkok, Thailand