[WikiEN-l] There are no pictures in Wikipedia any more

[Ray Saintonge]

Wily D wrote:
> On 9/27/07, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> On 9/27/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> We do not tolerate unfree text to any significant extent. We do
>>> tolerate a level of unfree media. Thus we put free media behind other
>>> content.
>>>       
>> This is simply not true; we have significant (important informational
>> content, useful) quotations from other works sprinkled liberally
>> throughout the Encyclopedia.
>>
>> And this is a good thing.
>>
>> And this is entirely and unquestionably (by any reasonable person)
>> legal under fair use
> Indeed, the whole reason fair use (or for example, in my jurisdiction
> fair dealing) exists is because governments recognise we cannot do
> things like write encyclopaedias or newspapers without invoking the
> principle of fair use.
>
> That's probably worth repeating.
>
> We cannot hope to write an encyclopaedia without invoking the
> principles of fair use, or fair dealings.  Doesn't mean we need to
> invoke it to the maximum extent provided for by law, but without any
> at all, we cannot hope to write an encyclopaedia.
Certainly.  And one reason why this debating topic never seems to end is 
that we have people who take extreme views on both ends of the 
spectrum.  On the one hand we have those whose only excuse for a fair 
use rationale is that they like the picture, and on the other hand those 
whose free site purism verges on paranoia.  The mantra of fair use from 
those who know nothing else about copyright gets tiresome.

The answer should be somewhere in the middle, and somehow we should also 
make accommodation for the fact that "free" is also a verb, and that it 
implies the need to make an effort to make something free even if it 
isn't free now.  As long as we keep mucking about arguing about 
inconsequential specifics we'll never take Wikipedia to the next level.

Somehow we have ended up accepting responsibility for what everybody 
else does with Wikipedia material.  We have no real control over how 
others use Wikipedia material.  We have no real control over what sites 
that we link to include; those sites must accept responsibility for what 
happens there.  It is not up to us to go into great detail about whether 
theirs is an infringing site.  If they get forced to take down the 
material the link will simply not work anymore.

We should be looking for ways to legally expand our holdings, not 
restrict them.

Ec