[Wikipedia-l] What would Richard Stallman say?

[Jimmy Wales]

Sascha Noyes wrote:
> Have a look at [[My Lai Massacre]], [[Donald Rumsfeld]], etc. There
> are plenty of historical events that have copyrighted pictures,
> where there is no possibility of replacing them with free
> ones. (Unless, of course, you have a time machine)

Your point is a valid point, however I'd say that a handful of "fair
use" images of extreme historical importance is a red herring.  What I
mean is, there are a few of those, and they may be cases where we come
down on the side of relying on fair use, but they aren't relevant to
the central issue.

I'm much more concerned about images like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Barrymore

That's a non-free "fair use" image of Drew Barrymore that suppresses
demand for a free alternative.  And a free alternative is almost
certainly possible.  Drew Barrymore is a famous actress who regularly
makes public appearances.  She surely has a PR firm with access to her
and to images of her that could be released under a free license.

Think about where we will be 10 years from now.  Will we have a large
and free encyclopedia with tons of non-free images?  Or will we have a
large and free encyclopedia with a massive collection of free images?
How can we get to where we want to be?

I think that the answer lies in not using non-free licenses or
excessive "fair use" exemptions as a crutch.  That crutch will prevent
us from ever getting to where we want to go.

--Jimbo