I do not see fair use as evil. True, fair use and fair dealing do not
exist in many jurisdictions, but the legal statutes of a country have
never alone been justification for labeling something "good" or
"evil."
On the contrary, I see fair use is an essential component of free
speech. It is the right to contextualize commentary and criticism.
Without context, such forms of speech wane in relevance.
The justification for copyright is to create incentives for people to
produce works of merit. Whether fair use is ethical should hinge on its
effect on those incentives. Fair use is specifically designed to avoid
undermining these incentives, and I believe it succeeds in that goal.
With that settled, what could still make fair use "evil"? Is it evil
because some people cannot use it? By that standard, we would have to
limit many topics on Wikimedia projects, but we readily allow material
that would be banned for viewing -- let alone republishing -- in many
countries.
If we're willing to stand for the right to fairly cover the Falun Gong,
we should be willing to stand for the right to fairly cover a
world-famous Beatles album, including a discussion of the album art.
Instead of charging ahead to eliminate fair use everywhere, we should
celebrate our ability to use it *when necessary*.
Our goal is to liberate knowledge, and fair use is an important part of
that goal. Our goal is also to provide more than facts; it's to provide
facts with context. Fair use is part of that, too.
This is not to say that we should seek out fair-use media. Of course, we
should use free alternatives at every opportunity. But we should never
be ashamed of invoking fair use when it allows us to improve Wikipedia.
Delphine Ménard wrote:
Tell me anything but don't tell me that fair-use
can be used for this
that and the rest and that it's not so bad, after all. (at least, this
is what I repreatedly hear, this manichean speech that says ND/NC and
permission are EVIL, fair use is LESS EVIL). Don't even hint at it. I
said it earlier, I believe fair-use is evil. ;-) And it seems I am not
the only one.
If anything, I think it very sad that the biggest Wikipedia is
condemning itself to be distributed "as such" only in countries where
the fair use doctrine exists, and bars itself from being distributed
in the rest of the world.
I have, however, faith that the other wikipedias will show the light.
Slowly, but surely...
Cheers,
Delphine