On Wed, 27 Oct 2010, SM wrote:
At 03:15 26-10-10, Tony Finch wrote:
I think the TZ project's "Note Well" needs to state that all contributions are in the public domain or equivalently liberal licence (e.g. Creative Commons Zero http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/).
It would be good if it said "public domain".
I agree, but this is not completely possible. The reason CC0 exists is because some jurisdictions do not allow people to give up all their rights in a work, so it is not sufficient to simply slap a "public domain" notice on it. The risk is that a previous contributor could succumb to the dark side and start enforcing rights against TZ users that they failed to give up properly.
The gist here is to assign rights to avoid legal conundrums.
Yes. Your adapted text on rights was on the button.
If the issues can be separated, it may make matters easier. Some points to consider are:
(i) A structure for having a stable TZ coordinator
(ii) A distribution mechanism to publish the database and to host the TZ mailing list
(iii) How to resolve the licensing issue
I think that covers it :-)
I suggested the RFC Editor site as a continuity of the "long-standing" practice to distribute the TZ database under the current terms.
The RFC editor's site concentrates on the document publishing process and the archive of published immutable documents. The TZ database is more like an IANA registry, so I think Eliot and Paul are right to suggest IANA as the new home. The IETF "Note Well" arrangement is nice since it is light-weight enough that it doesn't get in the way of contributions, while at the same time making the licensing situation clear. The only difficulty is that the licence granted by IETF contributors is not sufficient for the TZ project, so if the project were to move to the IETF it would need a special "Note Well". For example: Note Well Any submission to the TZ project intended by the Contributor for publication as part of the TZ Reference Code or TZ Database distributions and any statement made within the context of TZ project activity is considered an "TZ Contribution." Such statements include written and electronic communications made at any time or place, which are addressed to: * The TZ mailing list * The TZ co-ordinator * The IANA All TZ Contributions are subject to the rules of RFC wxyz. Statements made outside of the TZ mailing list or other function, that are clearly not intended to be input to the TZ project, are not TZ Contributions in the context of this notice. Please consult RFC wxyz for details. A participant in the TZ project is deemed to accept all IETF rules of process, as documented in Best Current Practices RFCs and IESG Statements. I removed stuff about face-to-face meetings, but otherwise this is just s/IETF/TZ/g on the standard "Note Well". The RFC itself needs some text explaining the details. Something like: Terminology TZ Project ... TZ Database ("tzdata") ... TZ Reference Code ("tzcode") ... A TZ User is any person or organization who obtains a copy of the tzdata and/or tzcode from IANA. Terms related to licensing of rights are defined in section 1 of RFC 5378. The TZ mailing list counts as an IETF mailing list in this context. A TZ Contribution is a Contribution to the TZ Database or TZ Reference Code made via the TZ mailing list or to the TZ Coordinator. A TZ Contributor is an individual who makes a TZ Contribution. Rights in TZ Contributions The TZ project must obtain from TZ Contributors the right to publish a TZ Contribution as part of the TZ Database or the TZ Reference Code. The tzdata and tzcode have historically been public domain works owing to their being maintained by a US Government employee. A primary objective is to continue to make the tzdata and tzcode available under similarly relaxed terms to TZ Users. To this end the TZ project must obtain an equivalent grant or waiver of rights from its Contributors. It is generally agreed that it is not sufficient to simply dedicate Contributions to the public domain. While this may work in the USA there is significant doubt that it works in other jurisdictions, especially those with a strong concept of moral rights. Hence Creative Commons have retired their public domain dedication tools in favour of a more explicit waiver of rights called CC0. TZ Contributors are required to grant rights to the IETF Trust, which holds all IETF-related intellectual property on behalf of the IETF community, including the TZ project. The IETF Trust will, in turn, grant a sublicense of these rights to all TZ users. Sections 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.10 of RFC 5378 apply to TZ contributions in the same way as other IETF contributions. The rights granted by TZ Contributors to the IETF Trust and the rights granted by the IETF Trust to TZ users differ from those set out in sections 5.3 and 5.4 of RFC 5378 and the following sections apply instead. Rights Granted by TZ Contributors Contributors make their TZ Contributions available to the TZ Project and the IETF Trust under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal licence. http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ Sublicenses to TZ users by the IETF Trust The IETF Trust will sublicense the rights granted to it under the previous section to all TZ users for any purpose. Tony. -- f.anthony.n.finch <dot@dotat.at> http://dotat.at/ HUMBER THAMES DOVER WIGHT PORTLAND: NORTH BACKING WEST OR NORTHWEST, 5 TO 7, DECREASING 4 OR 5, OCCASIONALLY 6 LATER IN HUMBER AND THAMES. MODERATE OR ROUGH. RAIN THEN FAIR. GOOD.