---- Forwarded message from "O'Neil, David
MSER:EX"
<Dave.ONeil(a)gems8.gov.bc.ca> ----
Date:
From: "O'Neil, David MSER:EX" <Dave.ONeil(a)gems8.gov.bc.ca>
To: "'board(a)wikimedia.org'" <board(a)wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Reply-To:
Subject: [Ticket#: 115103-FW] Just wondering
Hello,
Just wondering what the policy on materials that are embedded in
your pages, when the material is taken from other sites? I noticed a
map on
site (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BCMap-doton-Victoria.png
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BCMap-doton-Victoria.png> ) that
originally came from our web site
(
http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/pop/maps/rdmap.htm
<http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/pop/maps/rdmap.htm> ). The real
source
of this image really should be BC Stats, Ministry of Management
Services.
Descriptive bits were removed from the image, but I don't think it
removes
the reality of the actual source of the image. I'm not that retentive,
but
we try to always properly attribute source, to avoid confusion (among
other
things).
Cheers
David O'Neil, Manager
Population Section, BC Stats
Service BC
Ministry of Management Services
email: Dave.ONeil(a)gems8.gov.bc.ca
tel: 250-387-0335 fax: 250-387-0329
www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca <www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca>
---- End forwarded message ----
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
Just wondering what the policy on materials that are embedded in
your pages, when the material is taken from other sites? I noticed a map on
site (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BCMap-doton-Victoria.png
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BCMap-doton-Victoria.png> ) that
originally came from our web site
(
http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/pop/maps/rdmap.htm
<http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/pop/maps/rdmap.htm> ). The real source
of this image really should be BC Stats, Ministry of Management Services.
Descriptive bits were removed from the image, but I don't think it removes
the reality of the actual source of the image. I'm not that retentive, but
we try to always properly attribute source, to avoid confusion (among other
things).
Cheers
David O'Neil, Manager
Population Section, BC Stats
Service BC
Ministry of Management Services
email: Dave.ONeil(a)gems8.gov.bc.ca
tel: 250-387-0335 fax: 250-387-0329
www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca <www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca>
I have some serious doubts about the claims of the BC Government in this
regard.
1. It is really unclear whether our contributor copied these maps
(and similar ones at other articles that Mr. O'Neill did not mention)
from the site in question. True our version differs in that we do not
include the names for the Regional Districts, but we also do not show an
inset map from their site that gives greater detail ton the more heavily
populated southwestern corner of the province.
2. The Regional Districts are a creation of legislation. British
Columbia does not have counties in the more traditional sense of that
term. These districts when they began to be created in 1965 were in
some respects equivalent to the establishment. In other jurisdictions
Mr.O'neil's claim would be tantamount to claiming that a map of the
counties there are not in the public domain.
3. It is not clear that legislative provisions can be copyrighted,
and it would therefore seem that Mr. O'Neil's claims are ultra vires, no
matter what is said ion the BC government website.
Ec (a resident of BC)