Talk:Copyright wishlist

Archives

Archive 1

Suggestions[edit]

Can we think extremely long term here? As in, things we can change in the system today that will benefit us many years down the road? Lobbying for specific changes in the copyright system could do this. I'm not just centering on copyright duration, but things like mechanisms to ensure the survival of work (and perhaps an automatic publishing on those works) so that it may eventually enter the public domain. --Jmccorm 20:02, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If we're still on specifics, holiday songs would be great to free into the public domain. --Jmccorm 15:42, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yo compraria....[edit]

EL dinero debería invertirse para la infraestructura básica de wikipedia: ancho de banda, mantenimiento del equipo de computo, hosting para 100 años, y ya luego ir pensando en adquirir material con derechos de autor, a mi se me ocurre talvez poner en formato ogg la música clásica de los grandes del siglo 19 y 18, o porque no el DVD de la wikipedia, tal y como los de microsoft con su encarta, la enciclopedia de wikipedia deberia llamarse Novapedia o Wipedia, de distribucion gratuita para lo programas de estudio de los paises en vias de desarrollo o para todos, porque se trata de compartir conocimiento, por que el conocimiento debe ser gratuito. omeganexus AAT gmail DOTT com —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 189.149.74.103 (talk • contribs) 07:42, 28 October 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Somewhat rough translation: "The money should be used for Wikipedia's basic infrastructure: bandwidth, maintenance of computer equipment, hosting for 100 years, and then think about acquiring copyrighted materials. It occurred to me to perhaps format classical music by the great composers of the 19th and 18th centuries as OGG files, or why not a Wikipedia DVD, like Microsoft and their Encarta. A Wikipedia encyclopedia should be called Novapedia or Wipedia; it should be distributed free of charge for educational programs in developing countries or for everyone, because we are trying to share knowledge, because knowledge should be free of charge." – Minh Nguyễn (talk, contribs) 18:46, 28 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Si. --Gray Porpoise 22:11, 3 December 2006 (UTC) (Marsopa Gris)[reply]

Dorrie Book Series by Patricia Coombs[edit]

The following books by Patricia Coombs. They are fantastic childrens books. The author is deceased and all but one of the books are out of print. Most of the copyright holders are unknown and the books were published across a myriad of publishers some of which are no longer in business. Liberate them before they disappear.

Dorrie's Magic (1962) Dorrie and the Blue Witch (1964) Dorrie's Play (1965) Dorrie and the Weather Box (1966) Dorrie and the Witch Doctor (1967) Dorrie and the Wizard's Spell (1968) Dorrie and the Haunted House (1970) Dorrie and the Birthday Eggs (1971) Dorrie and the Goblin (1972) Dorrie and the Fortune Teller (1973) Dorrie and the Amazing Magic Elixir (1974) Dorrie and the Witch's Imp (1975) Dorrie and the Halloween Plot (1976) Dorrie and the Dreamyard Monsters (1977) Dorrie and the Screebit Ghost (1979) Dorrie and the Witchville Fair (1980) Dorrie and the Witches' Camp (1983) Dorrie and the Museum Case (1986) Dorrie and the Pin Witch (1989) Dorrie and the Haunted Schoolhouse (1992)

journal archives[edit]

I would like to see you purchase the archival content of the major scientific societies (ACS, APS, RSC, etc.) and make the content freely available. This would have world wide impact ...

MLK[edit]

The works (speeches, etc.) and images of Martin Luther King, Jr. While we're at it, include any important cultural leader whose works and images are currently being controlled by opportunist family members who are unable to realize that free dissemination of such socially and culturally important people's work is the best socially utilitarian thing they could do. - KeithTyler 20:26, 28 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You wish to reward that opportunism with big piles of cash? SteveBaker 17:49, 2 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I wish to end the exploitation once and for all. Either way, big piles of cash will be received. In this way, the exploitation cannot continue. - KeithTyler 21:55, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Focus on leverage[edit]

I run the biggest digital library for the blind and print disabled in the United States (Bookshare.org), and yet we can't currently serve people outside of the U.S. without copyright permission. I think this kind of effort would be a boon to everybody around the globe.

I would focus on meeting the needs of the average human being, rather than the elite. People want to read: - Good modern translations of the major religious texts - Current best sellers (probably the hardest to get for a reasonable price, though) - Textbooks and the recommended reading lists for school - Books that help with employment, both getting a job and the major standard works in each field

The great thing is that you could get critical mass without needing complete coverage. In many cases, the essential topics are covered by numerous books. You just need to get a few really good calculus textbooks to have the subject covered.

I would set this up as a prize situation: people nominate books for certain categories and the author(s) win a prize of a certain amount in exchange for the free content designation. I heard that this is done for Hungarian and winning the award is quite a mark of prestige.Jrandom 00:25, 29 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

My copyright wishlist is news photo archive[edit]

I suggest that but news photo archive of news agentcy (such as AP, AFP, UPI...) and aircraft pictures in Airliners.net.--61.219.23.178 06:14, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

a humble addition to the list[edit]

All I can think of off the top of my head right now is two things: Random House's Everyman's Library whose website is here: http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/ I also suggest Van Nostrand's University Series in Higher Mathematics and Springer-Verlag's two series Graduate Texts in Mathematics and Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics. Nathan Canada

sorry I would also suggest the whole Penguin Classics catalog as well.

Betcha $5 if you asked nicely that Baen Books would just give you a number of titles to host for free. Might be worth asking Randomhouse if they'd do similar. :) 207.145.133.34 22:20, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

OED, please[edit]

Ooohh, the Oxford English Dictionary, please!!!

JStor[edit]

All old (public domain) scientific journals scanned by JStor. David.Monniaux 17:05, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How exactly does that work? They are in the public domain but their license people who use their service from redistribution. In a way it strikes me as being the same as piracy hubs that say "you can't join if you're affiliated with law enforcement", although I am not a legal expert. Does this fall under "Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp."? If someone leaked copies from JSTOR would the violation of the user agreement mean that they couldn't be OCRed and released? Well, whatever it is, I think it's underhanded how they do it. If they really do have a legal claim it's trying to subvert the purpose of thing lapsing into the public domain. (Although, they are non-profit...) On Distributed Proofreaders there was an interesting discussion about JStor... I don't know if it elicited any real conclusion. gren 10:42, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Old textbooks[edit]

Not for the text, but for the images. Anatomy and pathology would be particularly nice.

That isn't a bad idea, much better than for text. --LiquidGhoul 01:10, 1 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Obituaries[edit]

A real benefit would be available from having the library of several major newspapers obituaries. We have many gaps in our coverage of significant people, epscially in the business world. Rich Farmbrough 10:38 31 October 2006 (UTC).

Help for creative giving[edit]

With a few millions – to finance, in everyone’s life, some time of creative giving.

Who wants to offer his work’s products to the society needs training, sometimes tools and materials, law counsels, advertising agents ... he may get help, advice, a grant, a privileged lease to buy his tools. His activities are unlimited : to create for free, energy - solar, windpowered -, artistic or technical works - paintings, danse, freeware, music, pastries -, services – training, helping sick or aged ones, sharing body knowledge ...

Using models as microcredit or creative commons and for a time limited contract. --82.227.17.30 19:42, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'd add project Muse, eduserv Athens and like knowledge structures : they have good reasons to be closed, we have good ones to open a little the door. --Harvestman 22:29, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Don't run against windmills, let people build new windmills[edit]

I'm afraid that spending money for copyright of the past would only be a drop in the ocean of copyright.

Maybe the money could be used more viral by supporting artists, painter, musicians, bands. The only propostion would be that the created content would have to be be made available under creative contents license and made available on wikipedia or other free sources.

Something like an open source media organisation.

Stephan

Secondary education in developing countries?[edit]

How about donating money for primary and secondary education in developing countries? That seems to be more in line with the goal of the Wikimedia Foundation to make knowledge free of charge than buying out old copyrights. --Fasten 10:07, 2 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

One could, for example, encourage the formation of parents' societies in developing countries and support them in earning the money required to operate schools for secondary education as cooperatives. (see: wikia:education:User:Fasten/school/ideas#Parents' societies) --Fasten 16:58, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Providing wikimedia access to schools in developing countries[edit]

One could also help to fund wikipedia access for schools in developing countries. This could be full internet access or limited internet access to selected sites, including wikipedia. (e.g. [1]) ~~This might in turn have the effect to attract some native translators to translate quality articles and textbooks into the native languages of these countries.~~ --Fasten 19:38, 9 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't be a satellite channel preferrable to distributing Wikipedia on DVD? One could use DVB-S2 to distribute DVB-DATA and send a WikiTV channel for schools, and possibly made in part by African schools, as the video component of the channel. --Fasten 18:13, 18 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Buy high quality product information to jumpstart a wikipedia of products[edit]

I would like to see a user driven database for product related information. Think of detailled description of production process, workers conditions, corporate social and ethical behaviour, genetically modified ingredients etc. Something like a mixture of an enhanced upcdatabase and knowmore.org on item-level. All information should be accessible using standard product identifiers like EAN or EPC. Companies (like sinfos for Europe) offer high quality product data for commercial use, which could serve as a base for adding user generated content, opinions, etc.

Kpi 17:05, 2 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Undergraduate-level textbooks[edit]

In some fields (e.g., computer science), textbooks go out of date relatively quickly. But in many areas (e.g., introductory statistics, calculus, foreign languages) an undergraduate-level textbook from 1986 is just as useful as a textbook from 2006. Making old-but-still-relevant textbooks from these fields publicly available would benefit both (a) people who are interested in learning new things on their own and (b) instructors who want to spare their students the cost of $100 per course for the latest text.

Diebold voting machine software or Open Voting Consortium.....[edit]

Lets liberate the Diebold voting machine software or just fund the Open Voting Consortium.

http://www.openvotingconsortium.org/

→ does D's software require them to have purchased an msaccess license? it sounds like a funny/rhetorical question but isn't. :) --chaizzilla 18:27, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Right to publish chosen translations of old books into modern language ; and free tools for ocr[edit]

Let's have a dream, Jimbo said. I transmit here a list of translations that have been chosen in the French wikisource if the copyright can be bought ; and a demand for ocr free tools.
1) Textes traduits de l'ancien français

Rabelais
- GARGANTUA - Francois Rabelais - Le Seuil Collection : POINTS N°287

Genre : ROMAN CONTEMPORAIN Date de Parution : 01/01/1997 Présentation : format poche Broché - 420 pages - 205 g - 11 cm x 18 cm ISBN : 202030032X - EAN : 9782020300322

- PANTAGRUEL - Francois Rabelais - Le Seuil Collection : POINTS N°288

Genre : ROMAN CONTEMPORAIN Date de Parution : 01/01/1997 Présentation : format poche Broché - 170 g - 11 cm x 18 cm ISBN : 2020300338 - EAN : 9782020300339

- LE TIERS LIVRE - Francois Rabelais - Le Seuil Collection : POINTS N°317

Genre : ROMAN CLASSIQUE Date de Parution : 04/01/1997 Présentation : Broché - 520 pages - 235 g - 11 cm x 18 cm ISBN : 2020301768 - EAN : 9782020301763

- LE QUART LIVRE - Francois Rabelais - Le Seuil - POINTS - ROMAN

CLASSIQUE Collection : POINTS N°318 Genre : ROMAN CLASSIQUE Date de Parution : 04/01/1997 Présentation : Broché - 580 pages - 265 g - 11 cm x 18 cm ISBN : 2020309033 - EAN : 9782020309035

- LE CINQUIEME LIVRE - Francois Rabelais - Le Seuil Collection : POINTS

N°410 Genre : ROMAN CLASSIQUE Date de Parution : 10/09/1997 Présentation : format poche Broché - 384 pages - 200 g - 11 cm x 18 cm ISBN : 2020323664 - EAN : 9782020323666

Montaigne
- JOURNAL DE VOYAGE - LETTRES EPHEMERIDES - Michel De Montaigne - Arléa -

ESSAIS Date de Parution : 11/05/2006 Présentation : Broché - 404 g - 13 cm x 20 cm ISBN : 2869597363 - EAN : 9782869597365

Remerciements : merci au site de la librairie en ligne ALAPAGE pour toutes ces informations.

2) Programmes
Rachat des droits d'un logiciel OCR performant.
--Zephyrus 18:09, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Audio Samples for Wiktionary[edit]

Pay for professional audio recordings of ALL the words in Wiktionary. We currently have audio for some words, but the overall value of the feature is depreciated by the fact that it's not extensive. I (and most people) will only "waste" a click if I KNOW that I'll find what I'm looking for. This will be an extremely valuable addition since English in not phonetic, and most people learning it have a very hard time reading transcriptions. Moreover, currently there is no free source providing complete collection of samples.
71.232.97.213 04:48, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Admirable but I think that this could be done by volunteers. Librivox.org shows that high quality audiobooks can and are being created in an all volunteer setting.Sethwoodworth 04:41, 16 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

My thoughts...[edit]

Well, it's hard to know without having prices for everything... because while Abbey Road may be ideal... I'd settle for Darkside of the Moon for one tenth the price. So, shop for deals. I liked what JRandom said... about making it a mark of prestige. Wikipedia gives up lots in ad money to be non-profit, but this should give some leverage. So, instead of a shopping spree see if you can get people to offer good deals or different types of agreements. It's worth a try and if it fails, well, you always can have a shopping spree.

As someone above said anything that can be bought is only a drop in the bucket. This thought led me in two directions. The first, from my (minor) work with distributed proofreaders, is to promote a system that will help digitizing the masses of what is already free. It costs less and can still be valuable. It's amazing how many of the works of classic philosophers are not digitized. If the only place it can be found is in a library in Timbuktu it might as well be copyrighted. However, there are many projects doing this (archive.org, Google) but the rate is still slow. Maybe something as simple as investing in good OCR software (open source or proprietary) could speed it up. The second was "[b]uy state to establish land with no copyright". Well, maybe the next best alternative. Life + 70 seems pretty ridiculous to me, so what is the best way to undermine that? Hopefully someone will come up with a good way. gren 11:11, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For Wiktionary: Legalise use of data from Unihan database[edit]

It seems a large number of Wiktionary entries for Han characters (also known as sinograms, hànzì, kanji, hanja, hán tự) such as this one have been created in an automated conversion of Unicode's Unihan database years ago.

While Unicode's terms of use are now milder, the conversion at that time was apparently a violation of Unicode's copyright on the database (see discussion at wikt:Wiktionary:Beer_parlour_archive/October_06#Han_characters_2). There is a five-digit number of entries ripped from the DB in the English Wiktionary, and probably quite a few entries in other Wiktionaries. They make Wiktionary a nifty CJKV tool, and lately, some work has been done at the English project in preparation of an overhaul of these entries based on their current form.

Perhaps Wikimedia could buy the database from Unicode after the fact and then put it under an open license to save the Han entries? Wikipediatrician 14:56, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

NB: Perhaps the entries' legal basis is not as shaky as I've suggested above. Either way, the matter should be resolved. Wikipediatrician 23:25, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sheet Music[edit]

It is my firm opinion that art is continually being locked away as simply a commercial endeavor, and we need to stop it. What we need as a community is to secure sheet music, to help aspiring musicians and those who play at leisure to have access without having to pay over $10 for a few sheets of paper. It is difficult to coordinate music for a single instrument in a song, let alone an entire concert band. I believe it would definitely be a strong addition to the Wiki community. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Andrewcarreiro (talk) 21:00, 8 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Self-study Literacy Tools for English, Spanish, Chinese[edit]

"Do the most good with the least money" Before all other projects, spend some (even just 1-5%) on Self-study Literacy Tools. Everyone in the world deserves the chance to gain access to this wonderful project!! Money spent here _multiplies_ the value of future contributions.

1. Start with the "Big Three" languages: English, Spanish, and Chinese These are the three biggest languages in the world. Start with these three and you take care of almost everyone. Other languages can (and probably will be) be added in the future.

2. "Fundamentals": Basic Literacy for native speakers The idea is that people learn to speak/hear their languages easily, but learning reading/writing are much harder. Purchase the foundation material for a Self-study Multi-media (audio/visual) course. Anything from static HTML with audio clips to semi/full-interactive tools): 1. English Literacy for Native English Speakers 2. Spanish Literacy for Native Spanish Speakers 3. Chinese (mandarin?) Literacy for Native Chinese Speakers

3. Build "Cultural Bridges": Basic Foriegn Language training. Again, just purchase the foundation. Enough to let people explore and contribute to the knowledge of the other half of the world. 1. English for those literate in Spanish 2. English for those literate in Chinese 3. Spanish for those literate in English 4. Chinese for those literate in English

Best of luck! Jesse S. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.92.172.161 (talk) 04:22, 12 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Media-Based Alliance[edit]

It would probably be best for Wikipedia to purchase copyrighted content that is media-based rather than text-based. It's easy for users to update text, but more difficult to mimic the quality of photos and other media available through commercial encyclopedias and other publications. Thus I suggest forming an alliance with National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, or the like. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.71.140.175 (talk) 02:01, 22 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Start a news photos and graphics agency[edit]

Use the money as seed to start a Wikimedia photo and graphics agency that would release its works under GFDL or public domain. My idea has to do with employing a network of professional freelance photographers and artists who would cover entertainment and cultural functions and news events such as trials, natural disasters, etc - anything that isn't generally being covered by government agencies and other public-domain media providers. Large format, hi-res versions of the photos, graphics and illustrations would be made immediately available to subscriber media outlets. Smaller, low-res versions of the works would immediately become available on the Commons for use in all Wikimedia projects, and after an interval of time, the large-format works would become available in the commons archive for all to use. This way something would get started that would in theory be self-sustaining. The idea of buying up copyrighted works is short-sighted. It would be throwing money a black hole to buy into a system that is against everything Wikipedia stands for. And anyway, copyrighted works will, theoretically, revert to public domain in the long run. --Wisekwai 16:05, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Eliminate fair use[edit]

Purchase the copyrights to some fair use images on Wikipedia, bringing it closer to being a free encyclopedia. --Gray Porpoise 22:04, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A genuinely free scientific journal[edit]

With $100 million in startup capital (or likely even a fraction), a journal could be started and funded. If scientists and researchers could be encouraged to publish here, we would be setting up a peer-reviewed, reliable, and free source of knowledge-exactly in line with Wiki's objectives. Seraphimblade 18:18, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Smithsonian[edit]

Folkways & GlobalSound? — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Chaizzilla (talk) 18:29, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

US Foreign Service Institute language courses[edit]

When it comes to foreign language self-study materials for English speakers, the gold standard is the courses prepared by the US Foreign Service Institute for the training of diplomats and their families. They are fantastic; easily the best I've seen.

Copies of all of these courses are available from the US National Technical Information Service, but the cost is out of reach for many learners (for example, the complete course in spoken Mandarin Chinese will run you over $1000.) But works prepared by the US government are ineligible for copyright protection, at least in the US -- the fees the NTIS charges, in theory, are only to cover its costs in duplicating the materials. And commercial vendors have taken advantage of this, purchasing the materials from NTIS, reformatting them trivially, and marketing them to the public, usually at prices similar to those of NTIS.

I doubt it would cost much more than $100k to purchase the full set of materials from NTIS (there are 40+ languages); then volunteers could be recruited Project Gutenberg-style to OCR and wikify the printed materials and digitize the audio and video materials. Free availability of these high-quality language courses would be of tremendous value to anyone who speaks English and plans to travel to another country, lives in a multilingual community, or just wants to go to parts of the Internet where English is not the principal language.

The complete catalog of FSI courses is available from NTIS.

There's a volunteer effort here to make these courses freely available, but as they have no budget, they're forced to work from whatever copies of the materials that people may find in their possession, much of which is decades old (and that's no fun when you're digitizing from cassette tapes!) They have not been OCR'ing the printed materials, but simply scanning directly to PDF, which is suboptimal. Still they have made impressive progress, and from what's been posted so far you can judge for yourself the quality of the FSI materials. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.167.141.155 (talk) 18:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Non-copyrighted clip-art, en masse.[edit]

Microsoft Clipart can be used "for non-commercial purpose". The question is; Is my homepage where I have photos of my puppy commercial because ther is an advertisement? On the other hand:Is "free for us all" Google commercial?

It would be nice to have a totally free clipart bank where the rules would be 100% clear. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.248.71.201 (talk) 01:28, 7 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

medicines patents like tritherapy[edit]

i dont understand why some lands cannot make tritherapy because of patents..... — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 72.36.245.34 (talk) 23:49, 12 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

open source computer[edit]

tcpa scares me — The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.108.114.18 (talk) 23:54, 12 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

One Laptop Per Child[edit]

Maybe put it all into funding for the one laptop per child project? Also then we could request that in the software is a link to Wikipedia or something.Samineru 19:50, 14 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

see #Providing wikimedia access to schools in developing countries --213.196.220.236 12:46, 27 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Math proofs[edit]

For all of the sanctity of factual proof, I think it is fitting to have a credibility boost for mathematical proofs displayed. Most college professors and mathematician scholars do not have an overly accepted view of wiki mathematical proofs. Maybe a purchase of original Aristotlian or Platonic documents would skyrocket the credibility.68.255.174.147 15:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tool[edit]

Free access to anti copyvio tools such as Copyscape.com would be greatly appreciated and would encourage patrolling. --Elitre 20:21, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Parent education courses[edit]

One could acquire non-exclusive publishing rights outside Germany for (e.g.) Starke Eltern – Starke Kinder and/or kess-erziehen and translate to other languages, especially languages from underdeveloped countries. The resulting books could be contributed to the OLPC project and could also be useful for wikikids / wikiteens. --Fasten 09:55, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See also[edit]