Brad Patrick wrote:
I wanted to simply state that I have been reading this
thread with
interest. When it comes to content, it is the editors and users and not the
Foundation who decide what is on. I don't presently serve as, and don't
intend to become, the central authority for what is and isn't acceptable for
fair use questions. It is not a subject that is prone to sweeping policy
decisions, as counterexamples etc. abound. Again, since the license is the
key to the forward looking nature of the project (here en:wp) why someone
feels compelled to take the easy way out and {{fairuse}} image the heck out
of articles out of a sense of obligation to "improve" it is beside the
point.
The images are fair - not free - and that isn't the same thing. You can
argue til the cows come home about any particular example. People do. ;-)
But I would once again encourage anyone interested in the issue to ask
themselves first why the fair image *must* be there instead of a free one
(rare examples) and why it is not instead an easy way out in lieu of the
harder task of obtaining free images as equivalents.
What happens in legal terms depends, of course, on the situation. WMF has
no interest in fighting really hard for "fair use" in principle, since we
are all about free images where there is a choice. Be honest - wouldn't the
best Wikipedia be one with no strings attached, with content of equivalent
quality?
Thank you for expressing this position. I absolutely agree that it
should not be the Board's function to defend some user's claim to fair
use, or, for that matter, any user's challenge of a specific copyright
under other provisions of the law. Nevertheless, I do feel that the
Board should help to facilitate challenges to copyright by individual
users, providing that they understand that they are doing so at their
own expense, and that WMF must comply fully with legal orders arising
from the issue.
I do agree too that what some users claim to be fair use may not be fair
use at all. Some of these claims seem to be based on little more than
the convenience of the uploading editor. Individual free access should
be accompanied by individual free responsibility.
Ec