[Foundation-l] Celebrity pictures

Mon Aug 28 12:10:35 UTC 2006

On 8/27/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> Garion96 wrote:
>
> >I think, but I might be wrong, that something coming from the foundation
> >would lead to better results.
> >
> Please define the demarcation between what should be foundation policy,
> and what policy should be in the hands of any given project.  Except for
> absolutely essential policies, most of it should be in the hands of the
> projects, and one needs to accept that any two projects can have
> different policies, including ones relating to fair use.
>
Unless and until the individual projects have an organized legal
structure, face to face dealings really have no other choice but to be
handled by the foundation.

You asked about policies, which isn't really what I thought this
thread was about, but I'd consider the freeness of the content to be
one of the "absolutely essential policies".

> >To quote from anthony's mail. "Wikimedia is "powerful enough now that we can
> >insist on [free images], and get it, from just about any celebrity".  Joe
> >Schmoe Wikipedian is not, and if a dozen people contact someone claiming to
> >be acting on behalf of the foundation, even that power is quickly going to
> >dissipate."
> >
> The fact is that when you are determining whether an image is free there
> is a huge grey area.  The grey area includes a lot of images that would
> be free if people ever bothered to put in a little effort to make them free.
>
> >I just now and then get discouraged when I see the fair use images mess on
> >en.wikipedia. I do like it that we can use fair use though but it seem to
> >be used too easily. If some good responses come from this, it would diminish
> >a bit the excessive fair use there.
> >
> So what's wrong with having fair use images, as long as they really are
> fair use images.

"Fair use images" which aren't free can't be reused by everyone.
That's what's wrong with them.

Anthony