Jimmy Wales wrote:
The complication here arises from the fact that fair use depends on the use, not on the image or quote itself.
I'm personally quite happy with the voting on the german wikipedia, which results in not using e.g. 'fair use'-images. It is complicated to seperate them currently, but fair use is e.g. not existing in german law. Citations are ok, of course.
I'm not very good at laws, but the german law about it, seems pretty good to me: citations are ok, if they are not the main part, and the writer refer to this citation. Pictures and other things are 'big citations' and usually not 'fair use'.
Which means: I can use citations, which is needed in Wikipedia, and I should have a free picture, sound, etc. if I want to include it. In the result everything can be published free, and that's what I think fits with the 'free' in "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."
Don't know if this fits in GFDL or US law, but it's easy to understand.