[Toolserver-l] Upload many GB to Internet Archive

[MZMcBride]

Mike Dupont wrote (among other things):
> well they are pretty good and if someones photos gets selected they can upload
> a higher res.
> flickr is also available in highres.
>  
> What do you think about the pull idea, to be able to pull images from another
> webpage?

So the idea here is that either Wikimedia (or a domain owned by a
third-party that isn't Wikimedia Deutschland) would have a tool that allows
people to pull images from other websites that can then be reviewed and
possibly uploaded to Wikimedia Commons? Is that about right?

I see a few different issues here. One is that people already try to take
random images from the Web and upload them to Commons or a specific wiki
project without understanding that copyright doesn't work that way. The
system you seem to be proposing would encourage this.

The second issue that I see is that someone has to take the liability of
housing thousands of copyrighted images, even if they are only available on
a temporary basis. Not many people (including hosting companies) are going
to want this liability. You can mitigate the risks by making the site
non-indexed, require a login, etc. It's still not a small hurdle, I don't
think. And it would obviously involve a lot of bureaucracy if an already
established organization was involved, like Wikimedia.

The third issue is that, as far as I'm aware, once a user uploads an image
to Facebook, Facebook now owns at least some of the rights to that image.
That isn't to say that the images can't be released in different contexts,
but I think it's sure to add complication to the idea.

I think the overall idea (getting people on social networks more involved
with Wikimedia) is a great one. I'm just not sure you've considered all of
the obstacles that lie in the way.

MZMcBride