[OpenFontLibrary] GPL fonts! (Was: Open Font Library submissions)

[Fontfreedom at aol.com]

>>Le lundi 10 novembre 2008 ? 16:33 +0000, Dave Crossland a ?crit  :
>> 2008/11/10 James Weiner  <james at weareculture.com>:
>> >
>> > Are there no  font formats that can carry easily accessible meta data 
like
>> >  ID3 does for mp3s etc?
>> 
>> TrueType and OpenType do this  easily enough; the problem is getting
>> users to put the metadata  there.
>
>And keep it up to date / accurate
>
>Even when  there is info in font metadata we often can not trust it
>because it has  been wrong so many times before.
>
>Countless fonts say they're at  version 1.0 even when we see them revised
>many  times.
>
>Countless fonts make incomplete of plain false licensing  statements in
>their metadata (Google Droid is just the last  high-visibility example).
>
>I'll take a detached license file and a  versionned archive any day in
>the stead of their metadata equivallents.  One can be trusted the other ?
>not.
 
The fact is, as a "font librarian", one needs to examine all  these things, 
from external webpages related to the font to licensing statements  in the 
metadata and inside the zip file to what the author enters into OFLB when  doing 
an upload. 

Also, having the "font sense" an experienced graphic designer will  often 
have may help, and/or using:
 
_http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/_ (http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/) 
 
Ever wanted to find a font just like the one used by certain publications,  
corporations, or ad campaigns? Well now you can, using our WhatTheFont font  
recognition system. Upload a scanned image of the font and instantly find the  
closest matches in our database. If WhatTheFont can’t figure it out, you can  
submit your image to the _WhatTheFont  Forum_ 
(http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/forum/)  where cloak-draped font enthusiasts around the world will  help 
you out!
 
_http://www.identifont.com/_ (http://www.identifont.com/) 
Welcome to Identifont, the largest independent directory of typefaces on  the 
Internet, with information about fonts from 532 publishers and 143  vendors.
_http://www.fontscape.com/_ (http://www.fontscape.com/) 
Same company as identifont - more geared towards picking a font for some  use.
 
Using these tools takes time and patience.
 
As font librarians we do need to do it, we need to remove any commercially  
(or otherwise incompatible) licensed fonts from OFLB. I personally have found  
commercial fonts on OFLB in the past & emailed rejon to have them  removed.
 
But there may be more! Remember it's not about having the most fonts, *it's  
about the license*
OFLB is NOT a copy of DAFONT.COM, which has thousands of "free fonts" with  
many pirated ones, 
"freeware fonts" -- which are not free for changes, and all sorts of other  
license questionable stuff, we need to vet every font on oflb.
 
I have sent dafont.com emails trying to get them to separate GNU GPL and  
Public Domain into different categories, to no avail. They  list:  (Public domain 
/ GNU GPL) as one of their main font categories. 
I've audited many of the fonts listed in this category (trying to find  
things which could be added to OFLB) and found mostly commercial fonts relabeled  
as this, freeware fonts & other questionably licensed fonts in there.
It was actually pretty disappointing to go through so many fonts and find  
nearly nothing with clear / useful licenses I thought could be added to my new  
project, oflb.com. 
 
DaFont.com official policy:
>Are all fonts free of charge?
>
>The fonts presented on this website are their authors' property, and  are 
either freeware, shareware, demo >versions or public domain. The licence  
mentioned above the download button is just an indication. Please >look at  the 
readme-files in the zips or check the indicated author's website for  details, and 
contact him/her >if in doubt. If no author/licence is indicated  that's 
because we don't have information, that doesn't mean it's  >free.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
With an official policy like that, it's no wonder their archive is full of  
who knows what licensed fonts.
 
I've also found some fonts with more than one open source license. I do  find 
this troubling, as the terms are different, and it creates confusion for  the 
people interested in remixing.
 
I think a good example of confusing licenses is: user zeimusu's fonts. The  
.TTF versions are public domain, but the .OTF versions of the same fonts are 
SIL  OFL.
 
I would like to see an "other" image added to the license category for when  
people upload files under licenses which may be acceptable/free but not one of 
 the "main" licenses.
 
FF
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