Cc-uk mailing list

[Stuart Yeates <stuart.yeates AT oucs.ox.ac.uk>]

[Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice]

Paul Dixon wrote:
> This is less to do with the licence per se, but I'd be interested to
> hear any suggestions. A few that spring to mind:
> 1) require all photo submitters to make a tiny one-off micropayment by
> credit card, so that we have a name and billing address allowing the
> website account to be tied to that individual

I can't imagine this working. To many malicious websites ask for a
card for "identification purposes" and then misbehave.

> 2) obtain a signed declaration from each submitter that they understand
> and accept the licence terms the site presents to them

This is how the Apache software foundation work, but it is a
substantial barrier, I believe they run a fax machine for this purpose.

> Note that I'm not talking about a situation of someone uploading images
> they don't have the rights to, but someone uploading their own pictures,
> agreeing to the licence, but at some later date asserting that as we
> can't prove they clicked the big "I Agree" button, the licence is void
> and must be revoked.

At the end of the day, whether or not the CC licence is on your side
in this is largely secondary to your relationship with the community
you have built up. Winning a court proceedings against a member of
your own community is unlikely to do the community much good.

It may be better to remove/hide this individual's pictures and take
take steps to avoid this happening again. Measures might include:

* Better education of users about the implications of the CC
licence. There are materials on the CC website to help with this.
* Better recording of submission metadata (evidence of who uploaded
what)
* Better statements of who you are, what you intend to do with the
data in the long term and what your business model might be (you're
in a .co.uk domain, so you're a business?)
* Clearer statements about the removal of content, the conditions
under which it will and won't happen and procedures for this
happening. Explain why, both in terms of what you're trying to do
and what you're allowed to do under the licence they have given you.

Not being intimately familiar with the website it's not clear which
of these are likely to be appropriate.

cheers
stuart
-- 
Stuart Yeates                          stuart.yeates AT oucs.ox.ac.uk
OSS Watch                              http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/
Work Blog            http://connect.educause.edu/blog/StuartYeates