I'm with Abigail-II on this one: it isn't so much that PerlMonks is "just" full of young geeks, but that it has a large contingent of people whose opinions (and "knowledge") is based more on how they feel the law should be interpreted, rather than on how it has been in the past. More to the point, it's those people ("us", I should probably say, since I'm doubtless one of them) who are likely to reply to any request quickly and passionately, and provide heated (and probably bad) legal opinion. I'd expect this to happen regardless of whether they're slashdotties, skr1pt k1dd135, or mature thinkers.

Case in point: is it legal to rip tracks off of several CDs and burn them onto a compilation? I'd expect that many Monks (I am among them) think it's perfectly legal -- fair use and all that -- but RIAA would have you believe otherwise... and to the best of my knowledge, this hasn't been tested in court since some of the scarier new legislation came into effect. If this was a potential legal problem of mine, I wouldn't want to be misled into thinking that my case was stronger than reality would dictate. Hence: go to a lawyer.

So while the starting point PerlMonks might provide would be good and valid, it would (probably) also be biased, maybe dangerously.

--
The hell with paco, vote for Erudil!
:wq

In reply to Re(3): (OT) Who can use freely available material? by FoxtrotUniform
in thread (OT) Who can use freely available material? by Ovid

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