[Wikipedia-l] What would Richard Stallman say?

Fri Feb 20 14:53:54 UTC 2004

On Fri, Feb 20, 2004 at 06:22:04AM -0800, Jimmy Wales wrote:
> If the things that no longer exist are old enough, then any existing
> photographs will be public domain.  For things that are more recent,
> illustrations provide an excellent alternative.  If we need
> illustrations, then we should think of ways to empower artistic
> volunteers to help us by creating and contributing them.
> 
> For famous people, I think it's generally not true that contributors
> can't take pictures of them.  Again, we just need to publicize our
> need and work a little harder to empower volunteers.  Almost all
> famous people make public appearances.  Movies stars appear in public
> in Hollywood, New York, Cannes, and other film festivals.  Politicians
> make speechs to public audiences.  Famous intellectuals are generally
> accessible.
> 
> All famous people have an interest in publicity -- fame is power and
> money.  So if for some reason we can't get a photo from a public
> appearance, they ought to be very amenable to releasing a single
> publicity shot under the GNU FDL.
> 
> We are big and getting bigger.  Millions of people see our work each
> year.  Millions of people love what we are doing, love the idea of it,
> and would love to help.  We need to give them tools and incentives to
> do exactly that.
> 
> We have great tools for people who like to write.  I propose that we
> develop great tools for amateur paparazzi, amateur illustrators, and
> amateur photographers.

Right.
Long time ago I emailed RMS to get free photos of him and got some.
Pio mailed Larry Wall and got them too. Now - maybe these are not
be typical "famous people", but it's certainly possible to get
GFDL photos if you ask for them.