[WikiEN-l] RE: Fair use

Indeed, that was a major area, and there does appear to be some progress there. As you're aware, I've also edited a couple of of the tag templates, and the Wikiproject page. There has also been some discussion on the speedy deletion page. At present I am more interested in policy matters. I do not believe that I can accomplish anything meaningful by my own extensive use of and involvement in an existing copyvio image process that (a) is far more work for the listing admin than the uploader, (b) takes weeks to reach resolution in uncontroversial cases, and (c) has an excessive inclusion bias for copyvio images with a fair use claim. I'm willing to review images, and list them for deletion, but not until the policy issues are properly addressed. I have had too much Wikistress in the past trying to work to implement things that lacked definition. At present, the project isn't soundly grounded in legal advice. I'm not an attorney so I can't fix that. However I do disagree with the other WikiProject members in several important areas. I believe this is a matter better resolved by competent counsel rather than by compromise and consensus. That is why I have brought it here. I believe, for example, that we do not accomplish anything meaningful by using low-resolution images and sound clips; consenus appears to be that resolution limits are important. I don't think that discussing or voting on this will help us because it is better settled by sound legal advice. I don't think it is in the best interests of the project to have a bunch of laypeople (non-lawyers) dream up fair use policy. I am unconvinced of this. Other than the OCILLA safe harbor provisions, I don't think we have a uniformly strong claim. Many of the articles don't have any meaningful critical content, instead merely serving to identify the game or movie or book as the case may be and provide noncritical directory information (credits, year of publication, and so on). I don't know what the case law has to say on that. I don't believe that our fair use claim is in any way strengthened by the absence of "free" replacements for copyrighted materials. I believe that publicity photos require no fair use rationale for the reasons I have stated on the appropriate policy page. I believe that the non-commercial nature of the project should not be a guiding factor in our choice of fair use policy, because of the need to preserve re-use rights for mirrors. You see it differently, and I understand that, and in most cases I understand your reasoning. Again, compromise and consensus are a poor substitite for counsel in this case, which is why I'm not striving for compromise and consensus. The categorization efforts are indeed helpful. It is the policy that concerns me.