Wikinews and the image licensing policy

Mike,

As you are doubtless aware, the Foundation passed a resolution which is aimed at reducing – if not altogether eliminating – the use of non-free images on WMF projects. I would greatly appreciate your considered opinion on my concerns that this is to some extent incompatible with the project goals of Wikinews, and that projects other than Wikipedia were not taken into account when the resolution was drafted.

The resolution is to be applied retroactively, and one particular contributor on Wikinews has taken it upon himself to apply this without community consensus, or what I would have considered fair and reasonable consultation. Yet, on Wikinews, we have a policy to fully protect and archive our articles. Like Wikinews’ license change to CC-BY-2.5, our project would have greatly benefited from the resolution having a date it was effective from - even if this was only specific to us – or any other project that aims to provide a historical record. My personal opinion is that what people see when an article is on the front page is what they should see if they come back to it in a year’s time, unless there are serious copyright concerns with an image – as opposed to an overly idealistic stance.

Is there any way you can see an additional clause being appended to the image licensing policy? One that takes into account the special needs of Wikinews? When the policy/directive was announced, I amended the copyright message on Wikinews, adding the clause “Copyright terms on images may vary, please check individual image pages prior to duplication.” This seems sensible, and as Wikipedia also allows fair use something they should likely specify.

Brian McNeil