[WikiEN-l] Creation of user photographs

[Steve Bennett]

On 5/22/06, Peter Mackay <peter.mackay at bigpond.com> wrote:
>
>
> In the case you outline, I would suggest fair use. Releasing a photograph
> to
> which you do not hold the copyright into the public domain is morally
> indefensible, even if it is a very small sin and you will get away with
> it.



This whole conversation is getting a bit silly. But I don't agree with your
statement that releasing a copyrighted image into PD (insofar as that's
actually possible) is necessarily morally wrong. Would my mother care if I
published her photo of flowers all over the web with PD marked on it? It is
not necessarily the case that any copyright holder actually values that
copyright. Therefore it is not necessarily the case that violating it is
actually wrong.

Obviously this only applies to trivial cases, like the one we're discussing.

Steve