Wales, Continued

Still trying to figure out what Jimmy Wales meant by wanting culture to be free, I found this helpful recounting of a talk he gave.

Among the highlights are free maps, a free dictionary, free textbooks, free old music, and free old art. Actually, we have free maps and free dictionaries online already. There's even a good free rhyming dictionary. I know, because I use them all the time. They're owned by someone and accompanied, often, by advertising. They're still "proprietary."

But, hey
I don't pay
So they're free
Enough for me.

Here's an interesting bit:

"Jimmy tells a story about receiving complaints from museums that Wikipedia contains 'unlicensed reproductions' of works that they hold in their collections. These complaints aren’t quite cease and desist letters, because the images on Wikipedia might be photos taken by Wikipedia users and released under a free license. But they are threats, designed to deter users from reproducing works of art that are in the public domain. Jimmy’s response to these letters is to write back letters encouraging museum directors to feel a sense of shame in locking away cultural works from the public… he’s not gotten any responses to these letters."

He answers the blame game
With "Shame!"

UPDATE: Wikipedia itself has an entry on the "Free Culture Movement" with good links.