[WikiEN-l] Re: [HelpDesk-l] permission

[Jimmy Wales]

Matt Brown wrote:
> There is a strong argument that those concerned with freedom should
> aggressively use the provisions of Fair Use - explicitly to never allow the
> fiction that copyright owners have absolute control to establish itself.
> Fair Use is equivalent to a public right of way, in a sense - and should not
> be a right allowed to lapse through unuse.

I have great sympathy for this argument, of course.  But I also have
great sympathy for the argument that relying too easily on fair use (no
matter how justified it may be in a given situation) is discouraging to
people who are trying to provide free alternatives.

Terry Foote (who works in the office with me) loves baseball.  He goes
to a lot of baseball games and takes pictures of players.  He then puts
those photos into Wikipedia.  A great hobby, a great thing to do.

It's always a little disappointing to him, though, when he goes to put
in a photo and sees a "fair use" photo already there.  He'd like for his
work to be making Wikipedia a lot better, and of course it *does*.

There are many cases like this, in my opinion, where we are currently
relying on (perfectly valid) fair use claims, but in which those photos
are discouraging people from developing alternatives.

This is a balancing act.

--Jimbo