Mailing List Archive: Question 1: Copyright of content created in a private installation of Wikimedia?

The Wikimedia Foundation website, the mediawiki software page says:
"MediaWiki development

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit foundation registered
in the state of Florida which operates Wikipedia (a free encyclopedia
in over 50 languages), Wiktionary (a free dictionary), Wikisource (a
collection of public domain or FDL-licensed texts), Wikibooks (free
textbooks for schools and universities), and Wikiquote (a collection
of notable quotations).

All these projects are based on wiki technology: they are open
knowledge bases which can be improved by anyone. This is the homepage
of the underlying open source wiki engine, MediaWiki, which is
developed here on SourceForge via CVS, and is available under the GNU
General Public License (the contents of the Wikimedia wikis themselves
are licensed under the GNU FDL). "

I was wondering if anyone can clarify the last line of this page. Is
it saying that any content created on any installation of the
Wikimedia software is automatically licensed under the GNU FDL?
Specifically, if I wanted to install and use Wikimedia software
privately to write a book or whatever, is that content immediately
licensed by the GNU FDL or am I free to copyright content on a private
installation however I wish?

Any ideas? Thanks in advance. Matt

Wisdom Project wrote:
[snip]
> "All these projects are based on wiki technology: they are open
> knowledge bases which can be improved by anyone. This is the homepage
> of the underlying open source wiki engine, MediaWiki, which is
> developed here on SourceForge via CVS, and is available under the GNU
> General Public License (the contents of the Wikimedia wikis themselves
> are licensed under the GNU FDL). "
>
> I was wondering if anyone can clarify the last line of this page. Is
> it saying that any content created on any installation of the
> Wikimedia software is automatically licensed under the GNU FDL?

There is no such thing as 'Wikimedia software'.

MediaWiki is the software which runs the wikis. It imposes no
restrictions whatsoever on the licensing of stuff you write in your wiki
(but may be configured to display a notice about the licensing you have
decided to put on your content).

The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is the non-profit corporation which
operates Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikibooks, and Wikiquote. These projects
have all been established with content licensed under the GNU Free
Documentation License, and if you submit materials *to those projects*
you must license your material in accordance with that.

> Specifically, if I wanted to install and use Wikimedia software
> privately to write a book or whatever, is that content immediately
> licensed by the GNU FDL or am I free to copyright content on a private
> installation however I wish?

You are free to copyright content on a private installation however you
wish.

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)

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