[Foundation-l] Fair use on Wikinews; local uploads disabled

[Erik Moeller]

Local uploads have been disabled on the English Wikinews from the start. 
Uploads are only possible through the Wikimedia Commons. This is meant 
to make the upload of "fair use" images as well as images under other 
non-free licenses impossible, and generally encourage use of the 
Commons. The decision to disable uploads on the English Wikinews was 
made in accord with Jimmy. Uploads on the other wikis were only enabled 
to begin with in order to allow them to replace the logo. Since that has 
now happened, local uploads are disabled there as well.

In order to nicely integrate a link to the Commons into the sidebar, I 
suggest using [[MediaWiki:Currentevents]] as well as 
[[MediaWiki:Currentevents-url]], which are pointless in Wikinews anyway 
since the entire wiki is about Current Events. You can point those 
directly to [[Commons:Special:Upload]], which will then put users on the 
Commons upload form if they are logged in.

The decision to disable uploads is not permanent and subject to change. 
The reasoning behind this decision is as follows. Wikinews is a project 
which directly competes with major news organizations, magazines and 
newspapers. It also allows and encourages commercial use of its content. 
Fair use of photos from a news agency, for example, is very difficult to 
justify under these circumstances.  But regardless of the legal 
arguments, there is also the practical argument that Wikinews will soon 
be perceived as a threat, because most of its stories are based on 
reporting done by others -- and we give it away for free, while they 
charge money. These people will eventually try to stop us by all means 
necessary.

There is a distinct possibility that we will face issues similar to SCO 
v. Linux, where a competitor accuses us of stealing content -- even if 
we didn't. Fair use, being so volatile in its definition, makes a 
successful attack more likely and opens us up to additional legal risks. 
That is why uploads will not be enabled until it is fully clear under 
what circumstances non-free licenses can be allowed.

Work is currently being done on the English Wikinews to formulate a 
"fair use" policy. I encourage other Wikinews editions to do the same. 
Fair use on Wikinews could encompass things like logos, graphics, 
screenshots -- or photos that have not been produced by competing 
organizations and companies. Once that policy is written, we shall 
submit it to the Board for approval and possibly legal review. If it 
passes that review, uploads will be re-enabled. The same goes for all 
the other Wikinews editions.

In the meantime, I ask you to only upload images under free licenses or 
in the public domain, directly to the Wikimedia Commons. Uploading them 
there does not affect the image syntax at all -- you can use them like 
you would use a local image. But they will not show up in Wikinews 
Recent Changes.

If the Board would like this decision to be reverted, please let me 
know. Otherwise I will coordinate the next steps as described.

All best,

Erik