So, with the MediaWiki (sweet name, btw), users uploading an image write up the rights info for an image on the Image: page.

It would be a lot easier for downstream users to have data in the database about what's under a free license, what's copyrighted, and who has copyright on what. Especially for a license like the GFDL or the by-sa, where attribution is required to re-use content, it becomes pretty necessary.

I was thinking that IWBNI there was a radio-button list on the upload page for defining the rights of an image. Something like this:

I affirm that:

( ) I am the copyright holder of this image and I agree to license it according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE. ( ) The copyright holder is [textbox here] and they have agreed to license it according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE. ( ) This image is in the public domain because [textbox]. ( ) This image was created by [textbox here] and I am uploading it here according to the principle of $FAIR_USE_PAGE|fair use because [textbox]. (o) I left the default value of this radio button list checked because I don't read fine print, especially about confusing copyright info.

Empty values for the text boxes, or leaving the default chosen, would be an error.

It might actually be useful to mark article edits similarly:

I affirm that:

( ) I wrote these changes and I agree to license them according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE. ( ) The writer is [textbox here] and they have agreed to license their work according to $COPYRIGHT_PAGE. ( ) This text is in the public domain because [textbox]. ( ) This text was created by [textbox here] and I am uploading it here according to the principle of $FAIR_USE_PAGE|fair use because [textbox]. (o) I left the default value of this radio button list checked because I don't read fine print, especially about confusing copyright info.

An additional side benefit would probably be a lower rate of copyvios.

I'm going to try to make this work on wikitravel.org, and submit a patch for MediaWiki afterwards.

~ESP