Erik,
If it was originally a AP photo then perhaps they have copyright. Wikipedia does not have any personality right release for that women. If AP acquired that photo they might not have a release because it was taken during a pro-Stalin demonstration that was a public newsworthy event, now however, long after that event she has privacy rights to be respected. News gathering standards are not the same for photos that are used for other purposes.
Of course getting sued in a California (or Federal court in any federal district as the plaintiff would be a foreign national) by a Russian citizen is highly unlikely, but this is exactly the kind of thing that due dilligence is designed to prevent, these nagging questions that are hard to resolve. That is why the chain of title is so important in any work that is released for public distribution outside of the open source, on line Wikipedia environment. For photos of individuals you need to get a release from that person, the personality rights thing is independent of any copyright issue. Alex756
----- Original Message ----- From: "Erik Moeller" erik_moeller@gmx.de To: wikipedia-l@wikipedia.org Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 6:22 PM Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] RE: [Wikitech-l] Copyright Schmopyright
Alex-
I have wondered the same thing when noting that some images are fair use. I saw one image on the [[Stalin]] page and it clearly cannot be reproduced as it features the image of a Russian woman whose identity can clearly be surmised.
How is our use different from that by the original source (looks like an AP or Reuters photo to me)? I would vote for its deletion on the grounds that it provides no source credit and was uploaded by a known troll, but the personal rights issue seems questionable to me.
Regards,
Erik _______________________________________________ Wikipedia-l mailing list Wikipedia-l@wikipedia.org http://www.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l