[Wikimedia-l] A letter from WMIL to the Board of Trustees regarding the deletion of images from Commons under URAA

[Yael Meron]

Hi everyone,

Here is a letter I just sent on behalf of the Board of Wikimedia Israel to
the WMF Board of Trustees, regarding the deletion of images from Commons
under URAA.
The letter is also posted on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Israel/Letter_to_the_BoT_regarding_URAA

We would love to hear your thoughts on this, preferably in the discussion
page on Meta.

Regards,

Yael Meron
WMIL Board Member


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:36 AM
Subject: A letter from WMIL regarding the deletion of images from Commons
under URAA
To: WMFboard at wikimedia.org


Dear Board of Trustees,

As you might know, there was a discussion on Wikimedia Commons regarding
the Golan v. Holder copyright case, where the copyright status of a massive
amount of non-US images was changed from public domain to copyrighted. The
conclusion of the discussion was that there was indeed a problem with such
images, but that they would be deleted on a case-by-case basis. The actual
effect is not only that masses of public domain images be deleted from
Commons (with the burden of proof lying on the uploader), but also millions
of PD images waiting to be uploaded to Commons which are now in limbo. This
will certainly hinder or eliminate many GLAM partnerships around the world
and, again, deprive Commons of millions of images, many of them
historically important or iconic.

The reason behind the community decision was that, since Commons' servers
are located in the United States, all public domain images must
specifically be in the public domain in the United States, regardless of
their status in any other country. The Foundation's legal team issued a
legal position, which did not actually take any position but gave the
pertinent legal arguments. It is clear however that the community was in
fact trying to legally protect the Wikimedia Foundation from lawsuits,
therefore it stands to reason that the Foundation should specifically
address where it stands on this issue.
We believe that Wikimedia's position is not just to interpret the current
legal status, but to act and change it.

In light of this, we implore you to speak out and act in favor of uploading
public domain images to Commons that are not necessarily PD in the United
States, whether by allowing it directly, or making other arrangements to
allow such uploads without risking legal backlash. Millions of images are
at stake. This is possibly more than the amount of content that would be at
risk had PIPA/SOPA passed, and the Foundation made its position on
PIPA/SOPA very clear. It goes without saying that blocking access to public
domain images on Commons goes against the stated aims of our movement and
deals a severe blow to its legitimacy.

This is a similar case to PIPA/SOPA, and the Foundation can and should do
everything in its power to allow the use of these images in the Commons and
making them available to the public. Clearly the community is starting to
delete these images reluctantly, thinking it protects the legality of all
Wikimedia projects, but this only has to be true if the Foundation stands
on the sidelines. We believe that should the Foundation get involved, as
with the PIPA/SOPA case, the matter will be resolved quickly.

It should be noted that we the volunteers, both in Israel and in other
countries, are doing the utmost to obtain official documents that make it
clear that the relevant images are in the public domain. However, this can
only be done for images owned by governments. For images owned by
individuals the process is next to impossible, and is no different from the
process of asking every individual to release copyright on any image. As we
are frantically looking for all sorts of solutions, we expect the
Foundation to act on the behalf of the entire community and by extension,
the public.

This brought our chapter, as well as other chapters, to rethink about the
operation of Commons, and to seek alternatives. We may be forced, if this
issue is not properly addressed by the Foundation, to consider moving the
images to alternative servers located in other countries.

Thank you in advance,
--Wikimedia Israel Board

---------------------
Yael Meron
WMIL Board Member