Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Evan Prodromou <evan AT bad.dynu.ca>]

So, I note from the Creative Commons Weblog:

        http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5344
        
...that there's a new draft license for wikis:

        http://creativecommons.org/drafts/wiki_0.5
        
It's supposed to be under discussion on this list, which it is not. In
fact, the description of this list says that our _purpose_ is to discuss
it!

        http://creativecommons.org/discuss#license

It's already been put in use for the Code v2 wiki:

        http://codebook.jot.com/WikiHome

And there's even a nifty CC-Wiki graphic emblem:

        http://codebook.jot.com/WikiHome/SiteStyles/cc-wiki.gif

I've made a plain text version available for review here:

        http://bad.dynu.ca/~evan/ccpl-wiki-0.5.txt
        
I've attached a patch from the by-sa-2.0 to wiki-0.5 to the end of this
message, just to show the changes.

My main comments on the licence: it's not clear to me that Wiki 0.5
works can be combined or re-licenced as Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 works
(or vice versa). Either the Attribution licence element for Wiki 0.5
needs to be renamed, or there has to be some clarity in the ShareAlike
licence element that *anything* that Creative Commons calls
"Attribution" is compatible. I think having "Attribution" licence
elements with different wording and requirements in different licences
is a recipe for serious confusion.

My meta-comment on the licence: eeeewwwwwwww. I don't see denying
contributors credit for their work as some kind of wiki optimization. I
have a hard time seeing it as a benefit at all, actually. Stripping away
the last bit of incentive for contributions -- Eric Raymond calls it
"ego boo" -- seems pretty wrongheaded, if not just plain stingy.

I don't want Wikitravel to use this license. 

~Evan

---8<---diff-begin--8<---
2,3c2,3
<                           Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
<                         
---
>                Wiki License -- Attribution-ShareAlike 0.5 (beta)
>              
159,166c159,171
<      You must keep intact all copyright notices for the Work and give the
<      Original Author credit reasonable to the medium or means You are 
utilizing
<      by conveying the name (or pseudonym if applicable) of the Original 
Author
<      if supplied; the title of the Work if supplied; to the extent 
reasonably
<      practicable, the Uniform Resource Identifier, if any, that Licensor
<      specifies to be associated with the Work, unless such URI does not 
refer
<      to the copyright notice or licensing information for the Work; and in 
the
<      case of a Derivative Work, a credit identifying the use of the Work in 
the
---
>      You must keep intact all copyright notices for the Work and give 
> credit,
>      reasonable to the medium or means You are utilizing, either (i) to the
>      Original Author, or (ii) if the Licensor designates another party or
>      parties (e.g., a sponsor institution or publishing entity) for 
> attribution
>      in Licensor's copyright notice or terms of service or by other 
> reasonable
>      means, then to such party or parties. In either case, to give such 
> credit
>      You must convey: the name (or pseudonym if applicable) of the Original
>      Author or any designated party or parties (as applicable), if supplied;
>      the title of the Work if supplied; to the extent reasonably 
> practicable,
>      the Uniform Resource Identifier, if any, that Licensor specifies to be
>      associated with the Work, unless such URI does not refer to the 
> copyright
>      notice or licensing information for the Work; and in the case of a
>      Derivative Work, a credit identifying the use of the Work in the
---8<---diff-end---8<---
-- 
Evan Prodromou
evan AT bad.dynu.ca