Matthew East wrote:
Dear Contributor to the Ubuntu Wiki,
This email is sent to you to inform you of a change in the Wiki copyright
policy.
The Ubuntu Wiki is a collaborative resource, and the product of the Ubuntu
community as a whole. Its content, put together by many contributors with
different knowledge and points of view, is immensely valuable to us all.
Unfortunately, at the moment, there is no clear definition of what rights
contributors to the Wiki retain over the material that they post, or the extent
to which other persons are entitled to copy or modify the material. For
example, it would be very useful to ensure that pages from the U
buntu Wiki may be copied into documentation in the Ubuntu distribution without
complex licensing issues, ensuring that those working on documentation can
concentrate on producing the best documentation possible rather than legal
negotiations.
After discussion among the Ubuntu Community Council and interested community members,
many of whom are themselves extensive contributors to the Wiki, we propose that new
material on the Ubuntu Wiki should be in the "public domain" [1]. This means
that a contributor posting material on the wiki will NOT retain any copyright over the
material (although of course they will still be credited in RecentChanges and the page
history so that they can take pride in their work), and others can copy or modify it
withou
t restriction. The Wiki will be changed to make this clear to those creating or
editing pages, and of course external links from the Wiki to documentation
under other licences will continue to be welcome.
This decision is not intended in any way to underestimate the value of contributions to the Ubuntu Wiki, and we would like to make a good-faith attempt to ensure that contributors of existing material on the Ubuntu Wiki are happy with this change, hence this mail. We invite any contributors who have any questions or concerns about this plan to contact us at <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the absence of substantial numbers of objections, this change will be made to the Wiki after approximately one
month.
More details can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WikiLicensing
Many thanks for your contributions to the Ubuntu Wiki, and we hope that you
will continue to help!
[1] In some jurisdictions this is not truly possible; we plan to use wording
similar to that found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-self to
avoid problems in those regions.
My Take: BOOYAH! That is how every wiki should be!
Viper550
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