[OSM-legal-talk] CTs are not full copyright assignment

[Olaf Schmidt-Wischhöfer]

Hi Grant,

> Please list the "problematic language" you are referring to... Your
> email on the 18th of Jan or your email in reply to Kai on the 6th Feb.

I see several small problems in the CT and two bigger problems. The bigger 
problems are related to the definition of "active contributor".

The first problem is that the right to vote depends upon being allowed to 
contribute. I have been repeatedly asked to trust the OSMF that they would 
never prevent people from contributing (and thereby loosing their right to 
vote), because this would destroy the community and so be against the interest 
of the OSMF. At the same time, I am currently prevented from contributing, 
even though I have publicly stated several times that I support the planned 
license change and only see problems in the CT, and even though I am willing 
to license my contributions under very broad terms to the OSMF.

The second problem is that the group entitled to vote is defined in a very 
restricting way. For example, someone who contributes for a period of 25 years 
and does all contibuting during holidaytime (e.g. in January and in July only) 
is never entitled to vote. The idea of giving only a part of the community the 
right to vote sees very unfair to me.

An easy way to fix these problems would be to simply give all past 
contributors the right to vote, unless they fail to respond to an email that 
asks them to confirm their wish to still have the voting right. This could be 
combined with a minimum threshold (e.g. a minimum total amount of 
contributions or of contribution days/months).

I will not discuss the minor problems now, because I fear personal attacks 
from people who have a different motivation for contributing if I point these 
out. If the OSMF is willing to adress the major problems, then I might also 
contribute some ideas about how to fix the minor issues, but I will not do so 
while the threat to remove me from the community by force is still active.

Olaf