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Conservapedia talk:Copyright (view source)
Revision as of 00:33, April 7, 2007
, 00:33, April 7, 2007→Can Wikipedia (or any Wiki) Stop Copying of Entries?
One editor here has suggested that Wikipedia (and other Wikis) never own any rights in any of their entries, and that Wikipedia (and other Wikis) cannot stop any copying of their entries even if in violation of the GNU license. Wikipedians, do you have a view on this? (We don't want to copy any Wikipedia here but this is relevant to our own copyright policies).--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 19:51, 6 April 2007 (EDT)
One editor here has suggested that Wikipedia (and other Wikis) never own any rights in any of their entries, and that Wikipedia (and other Wikis) cannot stop any copying of their entries even if in violation of the GNU license. Wikipedians, do you have a view on this? (We don't want to copy any Wikipedia here but this is relevant to our own copyright policies).--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 19:51, 6 April 2007 (EDT)
:Well, though I'm technically still a registered user of [[Wikipedia]], I must disclaim anything more than a passing acquaintance with Wikipedia's copyright policies.
:But I ''am'' an administrator at [[CreationWiki]], and I am in at least weekly contact with their Chief Bureaucrat, Christopher W. Ashcraft. He says that he won't accept any verbatim copies from Conservapedia to his site, and he has advised all of us on his end not to copy stuff that we did not write over here. (As to things we ''did'' write--well, he doesn't mind dual submissions, and he said that ''simultaneous'' submissions are perfectly permissible as a matter of law. But I think he would agree with you, Andy, that we must submit our own words ''before'' anyone else edited them.)
:Frankly, that's about all that matters. I'll tell you how I use Wikipedia: I go to their sources whenever possible, and where that's not possible, I rewrite. In fact, most of the time, I ''couldn't'' accept their content, because they have a POV that I don't share. And even as regards my dual submisions here and at CreationWiki, I can't always write exactly the same thing here and there. This project and CreationWiki have two different target populations and two different scopes.
:Now as to whether anyone can stop the copying: I suspect that they could. I'll give you an insight from another context: firmware for a wireless router. When the company that currently owns the Linksys name incorporated code from the [[Linux]] operating system in the firmware for their WRT-54G family of wireless combination access point/routers, the Free Software Foundation sent them a cease-and-desist order. Linksys concluded that they just couldn't keep that code proprietary anymore, so they released the code. The result has been the invention of a number of "alternative firmwares" for that device. But it has ''also'' set a precedent that "copyleft" provisions ''are'' enforceable.
:And even if they couldn't go to court--well, I'd certainly hate to see any of our dual users get blocked for unlawful copying. That kind of misunderatanding would truly be a crying shame.--[[User:TerryH|TerryH]]<sup>[[User talk:TerryH|Talk]]</sup> 20:33, 6 April 2007 (EDT)