[WikiEN-l] Are TV screencaps reputable sources?

[Alphax (Wikipedia email)]

Ray Saintonge wrote:
> jayjg wrote:
> 
>> On 8/13/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>>  
>>
>>> jayjg wrote:
>>>    
>>>
>>>> On 8/12/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>>>>      
>>>>
>>>>> Alphax (Wikipedia email) wrote:
>>>>>        
>>>>>
>>>>>> Joe Anderson wrote:
>>>>>>          
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cool Cat recently created an article called Starfleet
>>>>>>> Uniforms<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfleet_Uniforms>,
>>>>>>> and it was nominated for deletion as cruft and OR.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The screencaps/promo photos in the article, IMO, acted as a reputable
>>>>>>> source. I mean, how else (canonically) are you going to know about the
>>>>>>> uniform switch between TOS and TNG? Using a book is not canonical, and
>>>>>>> therefore is surely not [[WP:V]].
>>>>>>>            
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> There are such things as Star Trek encyclopediae, which report canon and
>>>>>> real life (and probably not fanfic/other non-canon).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> While the TV shows are canonical (as are the movies (except where
>>>>>> continuity fails, cf. /Enterprise/)), using a screencap is close to
>>>>>> original research and on dangerous ground wrt. using "fair use" as an
>>>>>> excuse for copyright infringement. (****)
>>>>>>          
>>>>>>
>>>>> So using a picture from the secondary source would be somehow more free
>>>>> than using a screen capture?
>>>>>        
>>>>>
>>>> No, the secondary source would describe the uniform switch from TOS to TNG.
>>>>      
>>>>
>>> So would sample screen captures from episode of the two programs.  You
>>> would be able to see the difference without explanation.  This doesn't
>>> explain your gratuitous red herring about copyright infringement.
>>>    
>>>
>> Copyright infringement? I don't know what you're talking about, I
>> never mentioned copyright infringement.
>>
> See (****) above.  If that was somebody else, I apologize for any 
> implicitly wrong attribution.
>
<snip>

That was me, and it's not a red herring. Every time we claim "fair use"
on an image, it is because the image is not Free; that means, we are
infringing someone's copyright. "Fair use" is something which exists
under US law (presumably several others, but it's US law that we rely
on) which we use to justify that infringement; I was making the point
that with things like screenshots, we have to be careful that our claims
are in fact fair and valid.

-- 
Alphax - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alphax
Contributor to Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
"We make the internet not suck" - Jimbo Wales
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