WB discussion and war

[Brian L Massey]

On Thu, 25 Oct 2001 11:02:44 -0500 Erik Quackenbush
<erik at midwestfilter.com> writes:
> "It is in the public domain"
> 
> I am not a lawyer but I do know that once you place something in the 
> public 
> domain NOBODY owns it and nobody can restrict other people's use. No 
> matter 
> what the rest of the document says you can't steal something that's 
> free.
> 
> If you're worried about misuse then you must retain the copyright or 
> use a 
> licensing agreement that will stand up.

Just like you Erik, the terms of the usage agreement were also written by
someone who isn't a lawyer. :)  But obviously some restrictions were
intended from the beginning; all you have to do is read further in the
agreement text to see that. But we all knew that.

OK, so there were further posts by the diyWB team to try to clarify their
intent. Yes, none of that nor the original text, make for an iron-clad
legal document, but that wasn't the purpose nor it's value.

If I may conjecture, it's apparent that the diyWB usage agreement (and
subsequent clarifications from team members) was intended primarily as a
gentlemen's agreement, to be kept by anyone of good will. It was
recognized that violaters couldn't practically be stopped by either the
precision of the text wording nor legal recourse, because nobody was
going to get involved with lawyers.

So it wasn't the intent of the agreement so much to 'stand up' to legal
rigor, but rather to say, 'here are the terms under which we release our
work to the wider diy community; if you take the goods but violate our
desires, you're a jerk, a knave, a crook. And if you can't agree with us
(the diyWB team) to the conditions we ask, then just pass on by the
goods, and your honor remains intact'.

If the terms of the usage agreement were unclear to people, and their
main concern was with abiding by them, but were confused, then they would
*ask* the team what their intent was, instead of just saying 'screw em'.

I see your point Erik, in saying the agreement isn't a crisp legal
document, and if you want legal protection the language falls way short,
but I don't think that was ever the idea. We're not lawyers nor litigants
here, just laymen (some of good will, others just opportunists). The
original text and subsequent posts by diyWB team members made it pretty
clear to everyone what their intent was. Whether that all would stand up
to the wranglings of lawyers is a whole different ballgame; a ballgame I
doubt anyone here wants to play in.

Brian
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