[TROLL] License of messages sent to he list

[Raju Mathur <raju@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

Been thinking about this for some time:  when I post a message to the
mailing list, what license applies to it?  Is it OK for people to use
that message or part of it without giving me credit?  Or to use the
whole message as a basis for proprietary writings?

Would everyone agree that a messages posted to the mailing list (LI,
LD, LIG, etc) is public property as long as credit is given to the
author?  In other words, can we implement some sort of relevant open
license on all messages posted to the mailing list by default?
Something along the lines of:

<quote>

All original content in this message is the property of the author
unless otherwise stated.  You are welcome to use all or part of that
content in any form provided you give credit to the author and release
the derived work under a similar license.

</quote>

This will have the following effects:

1.  All messages except those detailed under will be available for
anyone to use as long as credit is given and the result is also freely
available.

2.  Messages cross-posted from other lists will also come under that
license unless they have explicit copyright statements -- if they do,
that copyright automagically applies to them.

3.  Excerpted portions of web pages, books, articles, etc are exempt
from the the copyright through the ``original content'' phrase.

4.  Anyone who wishes to publish under a different license can do so
by simply including the terms of his/her license in the message.

Of course, this will be too unwieldy to implement unless the majority
of people on the list are willing to go ahead with open licensing
their messages.  Your opinions solicited.

Regards,

-- Raju
-- 
Raju Mathur          raju@xxxxxxxxxxxxx           http://kandalaya.org/