[OSM-talk] Contact And Remap Campaign

[Russ Nelson]

Chris Hill writes:
 > I find this lack of respect for people's work, and for copyright law 
 > rather surprising and out-of-keeping with an Open project. Of course we 
 > cannot just take people's work just because they have not replied to an 
 > email or two.

You can't defend somebody else's copyright. Only they "have standing"
to do so. Nobody associated with OSM has the ability to defend my
copyright; so why should they try? Only *I* have the ability to defend
my copyright ... and the same goes for other contributors to OSM.

People who take action to defend their copyright will sign in, and
check the box that says "declined". It's as easy as that ... and
anybody who is unwilling to put that effort forth is unlikely to take
any other action. And since they're the only people who have the legal
right to do so, we cannot and thus should not take on that legal
weight ourselves.

It's not that we have no respect for people's work. It's that we have
no MORE respect for people's work than they have for it themselves.
It's perfectly reasonable to treat the copyright interests of people
who cannot be bothered to defend their copyright as "abandoned".

-- 
--my blog is at    http://blog.russnelson.com
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