From: wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org [mailto:wikien-l-bounces@Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Arwel Parry
In the case you outline, I would suggest fair use. Releasing a photograph to which you do not hold the copyright into the public domain is morally indefensible, even if it is a very small
sin and you
will get away with it. But fair use to illustrate a user page seems reasonable to me.
But the problem with that is that we have no remotely appropriate fair use entry in the licensing field on the upload page! I wonder how long an image tagged "Found the image somewhere" would survive...!
That is precisely the point. Uploading an image of yourself to a user page isn't a big deal if it was taken in circumstances under your control, say by a friend or family member using your camera. You don't specifically hold the copyright, but it's unlikely anybody is going to complain.
The situation is common enough that we *should* have a template, or at least a policy somewhere. Otherwise we have what happens now, which is that users claim a copyright they do not possess.
Peter