So, with the MediaWiki (sweet name, btw), users uploading an image
write up the rights info for an image on the Image: page.
It would be a lot easier for downstream users to have data in the
database about what's under a free license, what's copyrighted, and
who has copyright on what. Especially for a license like the GFDL or
the by-sa, where attribution is required to re-use content, it becomes
pretty necessary.
I was thinking that IWBNI there was a radio-button list on the upload
page for defining the rights of an image. Something like this:
I affirm that:
( ) I am the copyright holder of this image and I agree to
license it according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE.
( ) The copyright holder is [textbox here] and they have agreed
to license it according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE.
( ) This image is in the public domain because [textbox].
( ) This image was created by [textbox here] and I am uploading
it here according to the principle of $FAIR_USE_PAGE|fair use
because [textbox].
(o) I left the default value of this radio button list checked
because I don't read fine print, especially about confusing
copyright info.
Empty values for the text boxes, or leaving the default chosen, would
be an error.
It might actually be useful to mark article edits similarly:
I affirm that:
( ) I wrote these changes and I agree to license them according
to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE.
( ) The writer is [textbox here] and they have agreed
to license their work according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE.
( ) This text is in the public domain because [textbox].
( ) This text was created by [textbox here] and I am uploading
it here according to the principle of $FAIR_USE_PAGE|fair use
because [textbox].
(o) I left the default value of this radio button list checked
because I don't read fine print, especially about confusing
copyright info.
An additional side benefit would probably be a lower rate of copyvios.
I'm going to try to make this work on
wikitravel.org, and submit a
patch for MediaWiki afterwards.
~ESP
--
Evan Prodromou
evan(a)prodromou.san-francisco.ca.us