On 3/17/06, Gregory Maxwell
<gmaxwell(a)gmail.com> wrote:
What really brought my attention to this matter is
an image recently
proposed as a featured image on enwiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sunbathe_Buttocks.jpg ... Now it
may be that the image was created with the consent of the subjects, I
don't intend to criticize this particular image... But really, lets
consider such an image with identifiable subjects who didn't know the
image had been taken. What if she were to return to her dorm room and
find the Wikipedia article on sunbathing stapled to it? Were the
image taken without her consent it's quite possible that she'd be
pissed, and I believe that she'd be justified. There is no reason that
illustrations like this in Wikipedia can't be ones which are created
with the subjects consent. So even ignoring any possible legal issues
with such images, I think we're breaking good ethics to use images
like this without the subjects consent.
In a case like the one you give, I agree. Wikipedia should respect
people's right to privacy (which applies in cases where the identity
of the person is not important for any educational/newsworthy
purpose).
What is unclear about the picture is whether the subject is
identifiable. She has a towel (or something) over her head which would
hide her identity.
Ec
