On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 6:48 AM, Philippe Beaudette <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I don't believe the Terms are meant to expressly adopt all foreign laws > outside the United States. The community discussed the phrase "applicable > law" a few times during the drafting process. The Terms of Use only > expressly call out the United States as applicable law in the Overview > section and section 1(b). There is no express adoption of another foreign > law by name: the Terms of Use only use the word "may" for laws other than > the United States, simply putting users on notice of their possible > application. > > Along those lines, the Terms of Use (Section 1(b)) do try to provide a fair > warning to our users about their local laws and enforcement by government > authorities. Specifically, the Terms say in Section 1(b): "Although we may > not agree with such actions, we warn editors and contributors that > authorities may seek to apply other country laws to you, including local > laws where you live or where you view or edit content." > > Furthermore, in the last paragraph of section 4, WMF reserves the > discretion to enforce that section which governs certain behaviors on the > sites. Considering the totality of the circumstances, the WMF wouldn't try > to enforce section 4 (or any other parts of the Terms of Use) in a way that > was not aligned with our mission. For example, we would never try to use > the Terms against a dissident in a censored country who tries to express > himself or herself truthfully and freely on-wiki, in violation of their > local laws. > > (As pointed out during the drafting process, this provision is consistent > with other like-minded organizations' terms. Creative Commons,[0] the > Internet Archive,[1] and the Open Source Initiative's[2] terms, for > example, require users to comply with "applicable" laws.) > > Thanks, > pb >
I really do not want to be thought of as a --me too person-- but in this case the sentiment is well deserved. I subscribe to everything above, with all my being. Thanks. and do not mind being told off... -- -- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]] _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
