As further material in the current debate, here is the result of a more random sample of pictures on en:. I used the first 100 pictures in the alphabetical order starting at 'E'.
A number of pictures have not been counted: * Wherever the same picture was uploaded twice (in different sizes), it has been counted only once (those are mostly unproblematic pictures, but on the other hand some of them contained the copyright information on only one, and in that case that one has been counted) * There was a series of 'pictures' containing nothing more than country names written vertically. These are used in the results of the Eurovision Song Contest. They have been counted as only one picture. * Six very simple maps showed the administrative subdivision of East Sussex. They have been counted as only two pictures.
Extra pictures have been included to make the total come to 100 again. Of these 100:
57 seemed unproblematic, being either Public domain or GNU/FDL:
* 6 were own photographs by Wikipedians * 4 were own drawings by Wikipedians * 8 were presumably own drawings by Wikipedians, but not described as such * 19 were stated to be US government material * 3 not so stated clearly were * 8 were stated to be Public Domain, and were so on account of age * 4 not so stated also were * 1 was stated to be free of copyright * 2 were stated to be from a site, and the site states they are free of copyright * 2 were believed by me to be either not copyrightable or copyrighted by the uploader
16 might have problems:
* 4 claimed to be fair use * 1 was a sound file; the song is out of copyright, but what about the recording * 1 is allowed for non-commercial use only * 1 is allowed for educational use only * 1 has permission to be used on Wikipedia, but it is not clear whether this includes GNU/FDL licensing * 1 has permission to be used on Wikipedia, but explicitly no permission to alter or provide for distribution by others * 7 were logos, flags or coats of arms, which I doubt are copyrightable
27 did not contain any copyright information and did not fall under any of the previously mentioned categories. Of these 26: * 1 might be an unmarked own photograph * 2 might be unmarked own drawings * 2 are still likely to be public domain from NASA * 1 might well be uncopyrightable * I have not made any attempt to seek out to what extent they might be fair use
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The list: Own photograph: ECORAN32.JPG ECORAN42.JPG (duplicate) Eastern-Grey-334.jpg Eastern-Grey-Kangaroo.jpg Eastern_Reef_Egret.jpg Eastern_Yellow_Robin.jpg Own drawing: ECClines.png ECexamples01.png (duplicate) Eadric.png Ear-anatomy-notext-small.png Own drawing (not mentioned): EINF.gif ESCAustriaJ.png (presumably uncopyrightable) EUDofCofHere.png EUnit.gif (duplicate) EZero.gif (duplicate) E_with_sharp_and_C_with_b6b_figured_bass.png EastSussexEastbourne.png EastSussexNumbered.png US government material: E4-CG24Cruising.jpg EJMcCoy.jpg ELWilson.jpg EMK.jpg ES-3A_Shadow.jpg E_4b.jpg E A Behring.jpg (also age) E_friedman_pic.jpg Eagle.column1.arp.300pix.jpg Eagle Horst 1.jpg (probably) Earth's_atmosphere.jpg Earth_Night_Small.jpg EarthquakeFreewayCa1989.jpg EarthshineDiagram.png East-timor-map.png EasternKingbird23.jpg EasternMeadowlark23.jpg EasternScreechOwl23.jpg EasternTowhee23.jpg US government (not mentioned): Earth-apollo17.jpg Earth_am1.jpg E1-tracer.jpg Public domain because of age: ENC 1-NA5 600px.jpeg ENC SYSTEME FIGURE.jpeg (duplicate) ENC plate 1-143 300px.jpg (duplicate) Eagleowl.JPG Eagleowl.jpg Eakins.jpg Eallen.jpg EarpV.jpg Public domain because of age (unmentioned): Eadred.jpg Eadwig.jpg Earl of aberdeen.jpg Earlofhopetoun.jpg Stated to be free of copyright: EagleAndChild.jpg Various copyright-free (unmentioned): Easter_island_(Chile).jpg Easter_island_and_south_america.jpg Either copyright uploader or no problems expected: Ear-red.png EastBerlinBoroughs.png
Fair use claimed: E.W. Bullinger.jpg EDSA_Revolution_pic1.jpg (news event) EarlJones.JPG EarlineWParmon.JPG Sound file (see above): Earlross.ogg Only allowed for non-commercial use: E-meter.gif Only allowed for educational use (Wikipedia is already borderline): Ear.jpg Permission received with unknown extent: ESW-pre1974.png Permission received without further copying: EastGreenwichLibrary.jpg Logo/flag/coat of arms: EARLlogo.jpg ESC1956logo.jpg Eafflag.jpg East Finland.png East_Turkestan_flag_large.png East_timor_coa.png East_timor_flag_large.png
Possible own photograph: EJ20030502020.jpg Possible own drawing: East_london_line.png Easternvirucounty.jpg Possibly NASA: Earth-mars.jpg East_Hills_Sol8_L256-A11R1.jpg Possibly not under copyright law: Early_cyrillic_alphabet.png Others unmarked: E.U._Essien_Udom3.jpg E803994f3zd.jpeg EBarak.jpg EBerlinerGramophoneDisc.png (1) EEdwardsSmall.jpg EF140.jpg ERCIYES1.jpg E_Cresson.jpg E_Hurley.jpg E_coli.JPG E_coli_o157.JPG E_juenger.jpg Eagle closeup small.jpg Earl_Hines.jpg (2) Earlepage.jpg EarlyParlophoneLabel.jpg East_Week_First_Issue's_Cover_29-10-1992.jpg East_Week_Re-launched_First_Issue_Cover.jpg Easter.jpg Eastern_Curlew.jpg
(1): This one too might be insufficiently artistic to be copyrightable, being a faithful photograph of a 2-dimensional work out of copyright. (2): Something seems to have gone wrong here, there is no picture.
Andre Engels