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[Tony Finch]

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.
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