Hello everyone,
As some of you know South Africa does not have Freedom of Panorama which
causes significant problems for Wikipedia editors wanting to upload certain
pictures of public art and buildings on Commons. The South African
government is now redrafing the Copyright act so now is the most ideal time
to try and get Freedom of Panorama included into the new act.
The Wikimedia South Africa board unanimously voted
<http://wikimedia.org.za/wiki/Board_Meeting_12_December_2016>to support
efforts to get Freedom of Panorma included into the new act, as did the South
African editing community (in English
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_South_Africa#Copyright_Act_amendment>and
Afrikaans
<https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Geselshoekie/Argief2017/1#ZA_Copyright_Act_amendment>
). As such Wikimedia South Africa have started advocating for Freedom of
Panorama.
If you are in South Africa you might have also noticed a banner add
appearing on Wikipedia advocating for Freedom of Panorama. Attached is a
screenshot of that banner. From that banner you can learn more about why
this is an important issue and sign a petition which will be given to
Parliament by the 30th June 2017. We will also be submitting an
apllication to present to parlimanet why Freedom of Panorama should be
included into the new act. The deadline for those submissions is the 30th
June 2017.
If you would like to write to parliament to voice your support for Freedom
of Panorama you my email Ms J Fubbs (Comittee Chairperson) care of Adam
Hermans at ahermans(a)parliament.gov.za.
You can learn more about the problems a lack of Freedom of Panorama has for
South African editors (and South Africans generally) as well as the sign
the pedition at the advocacy landing page here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Panorama_ZA
Cheers,
Douglas.
--
Douglas Ian Scott
司道格
Skype: douglas0scott
South African mobile number: +27 (0)79 515 8727