issues
Microformat Issues
These are externally raised issues about microformats in general (these issues MUST apply to more than one microformat, which MUST be explicitly listed, otherwise the issue should be raised on the format specific issues page) with broadly varying degrees of merit. Thus some issues are REJECTED for a number of obvious reasons (but still documented here in case they are re-raised), and others contain longer discussions. Some issues may be ACCEPTED and perhaps cause changes or improved explanations in the spec. Submitted issues may (and probably will) be edited and rewritten for better terseness, clarity, calmness, rationality, and as neutral a point of view as possible. Write your issues well. — Tantek
As this is a general microformats issues page, please only note concrete real world issues. Theoretical issues will be deleted, as will any issues raised that do not contain documentation of specific real-world examples that use real-world microformats (not just brainstorms).
Issues
Format Specific Issues
Please raise format specific issues on the respective page:
IP Issues
- 2006-12-08 raised by Andy Mabbett.
- As discussed in [1], the current position on the IP rights relating to microformats is unclear, or at least not clearly expressed. It seems to me that there should be an unambiguous statement of the current position, either for each individual format, or collectively, on a page to which people with concerns may be directed.
- ACCEPTED. A clearer statement of both copyright and patents both in specific specs and in general would be a good thing. In general, the end result that our current copyright/patent statements seek is Creative Commons, W3C, and IETF compatibility in terms of both copyrights, and royalty free patent policies. I will work on this Tantek 11:58, 9 Dec 2006 (PST)
- open issue! This appears to be unresolved; and in the light of, for example, hCard#Copyright the hCard 'spec', the statement in the FAQ that "Microformats are open standards licensed under Creative Commons Attribution" to be, at best, erroneous and misleading. Andy Mabbett 11:04, 10 Mar 2007 (PST)
- Also causing concern here. Prompt resolution would be advisable Andy Mabbett 09:04, 24 Mar 2007 (PDT)
- First, citation is not ready for use in Wikipedia anyway. Second, what is unclear about the Creative Commons/W3C/IETF license and patent statements? This appears to be a theoretical issue / nitpick. Yes, things can be made clearer, but "erroneous" and "misleading" are inaccurate labels.
- This is not a citation issue. For example, hCard's current copyright statement is not compatible with the Creative Commons license:
This specification is (C) 2004-2024 by the authors. However, the authors intend to submit (or already have submitted, see details in the spec) this specification to a standards body with a liberal copyright/licensing policy such as the GMPG, IETF, and/or W3C. Anyone wishing to contribute should read their copyright principles, policies and licenses (e.g. the GMPG Principles) and agree to them, including licensing of all contributions under all required licenses (e.g. CC-by 1.0 and later), before contributing.
If you look at the wikicode, this is actually the "MicroFormatCopyrightStatement2004" default microformat copyright.--JoeAndrieu 15:09, 24 Mar 2007 (PDT)
- ACCEPTED. A clearer statement of both copyright and patents both in specific specs and in general would be a good thing. In general, the end result that our current copyright/patent statements seek is Creative Commons, W3C, and IETF compatibility in terms of both copyrights, and royalty free patent policies. I will work on this Tantek 11:58, 9 Dec 2006 (PST)
- As discussed in [1], the current position on the IP rights relating to microformats is unclear, or at least not clearly expressed. It seems to me that there should be an unambiguous statement of the current position, either for each individual format, or collectively, on a page to which people with concerns may be directed.
Legal Entity Issues
- open issue! 2007-03-24 raised by Joe Andrieu
- What is the legal entity that owns and controls microformats?
- It could be argued that current Admins are technically operating as a legal partnership, based on statements in the FAQ and coordinated actions as "microformats". As I understand it, all that is required to be legally considered a partnership is to act like one; no paperwork is required. Is that the intention?
- I am not a lawyer, but I have run into this problem before.
- Who owns and controls uF IP?
- Note that this relates directly to the IP question above. The current standard copyright statement (quoted above) places IP in the hands of the authors, not in the hands of any specific "community" nor the public domain, despite language in the FAQ and elsewhere regarding "Creative Commons" licensing. Even if there is a CC license, who is doing the licensing? The authors individually? An as yet unnamed legal entity operating as microformats?
- According to DNS registrar records, the domain name is owned by Rohit Khare of KnowNow. Rohit used to be at CommerceNet. Does Rohit own uF? Or just the domain name?
- The website is apparently hosted by John Companies. Who is the account holder? How is it paid? Who pays for it? Or is it donated? John Companies lists no phone number and the number for John Kozubik (registrant of the johncompanies.com url) in the DNS registry record is no longer valid. (I emailed him and asked, but I'm sure someone here at uF will know the answer...)
- Perhaps more legally clear, who was it that accepted receipt of funds raised in the past? (It is my understanding that funds have been raised and spent in support of certain events. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
- Were any tax-related document filed for current and or past fundraising? If so, through what tax ID #?
- It is my understanding that there is no formal corporation protecting those involved and retaining control and IP of assets. Is this correct?
Governance Issues
- See: governance-issues
Miscellaneous issues
- open issue! 2006-10-17 raised by Andy Mabbett on wiki-feedback; moved here 2007-03-10.
- What is currently described as a "specification" on hCard and hCalendar is no such thing.
- Andy, what would it take to turn it into a "specification"?--JoeAndrieu 15:13, 24 Mar 2007 (PDT)
New Issues
- ...
Template
Please use this format (copy and paste this to the end of the list to add your issues):
- open issue! YYYY-MM-DD raised by YOURNAME.
- Issue 1: Here is the first issue I have.
- Issue 2: Here is the second issue I have.
See also
- accessibility
- criticism
- wiki-feedback
- The microformats FAQ, which answers many general criticisms/ issues that have been raised with microformats.