Re: releasing as public domain (was basicmusic.net noncompliance)

On 22 Nov 2003 at 15:54, Sascha Noyes wrote:

> what is the point of even releasing wikipedia under the GFDL? We
> might as well release it into the public domain.

This is off at a tangent... My understanding is that, even if we wanted to do 
this, this is unlikely to be legally possible. The X thousand contributors to 
Wikipedia contributed their text by (depending on your interpretation of the 
various pieces of text):

* Licensing under he GFDL precisely, with no front cover texts, back cover 
texts, or invariant sections
* As above, tempered by the agreement that Wikipedia may "mercilessly 
edit and redistribute at will"
* Granting Wikipedia an unconditional license to "mercilessly edit and 
redistribute [under the GFDL] at will"

Under none of these interpretations can Wikipedia distribute its material as 
public domain - and this is even before we get to the question of material 
from third parties, such as Nupedia. Anyway, I know this was a rhetorical 
question, so I'll be quiet now.

-Martin "IANAL" Harper