In March 2007, the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation passed a policy (see http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Licensing_policy) banning future uploads of any media unless the media is licensed as free content. Free content is any work that doesn’t require permission or payment for any use, including commercial. At most, free content requires attribution: crediting the person who created the image. Free content also has no restrictions on redistribution of the image by others.
The Foundation’s resolution allows exceptions only as provided by a project-specific exemption policy. That policy for the English Wikipedia is Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria (shortcut: WP:NFCC). It sets out a list of 10 criteria for copyrighted images and other media files that lack a free content license (see Figure 15-14). You may use such media only where all ten of the criteria are met. Otherwise, as explained on Before You Upload, the images you upload must be your own work, or in the public domain, or licensed as free content by its owner.
Figure 15-14. Wikipedia doesn’t like non-free content. It can be used only if it meets every one of the ten criteria in the policy Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria (shortcut: WP:NFCC). Most of all, note number 8, which specifies that the non-free material must significantly increase readers' understanding of the topic covered by an article
The Foundation’s policy is especially strict about images of living people: An exemption policy must not allow non-free material when freely licensed pictures are readily available, as is almost always the case for celebrities, politicians, and other notable people.
Wikipedia takes copyright issues seriously. Almost every day, at least 1500 images are deleted (see Figure 15-15). Some are deleted because they’re orphans—Wikipedia isn’t a file-sharing service. Some are deleted because the image was uploaded to the Commons and now isn’t needed at Wikipedia. Many, if not the majority, have copyright issues.
![While image uploads have been relatively steady at around 2,500 per day throughout the last half of 2006 and well into 2007, deletions have been all over the place, ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 per day. The wide swings are probably due to occasional concentrated efforts to work off backlogs. [This graph is courtesy of editor Dragons Flight (Robert A. Rohde). It’s based on a log analysis he did. Points on the graph are plotted weekly, not daily.]](http://imgdetail.ebookreading.net/design/5/9780596515164/9780596515164__wikipedia-the-missing__9780596515164__httpatomoreillycomsourceoreillyimages20079.png)
Figure 15-15. While image uploads have been relatively steady at around 2,500 per day throughout the last half of 2006 and well into 2007, deletions have been all over the place, ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 per day. The wide swings are probably due to occasional concentrated efforts to work off backlogs. [This graph is courtesy of editor Dragons Flight (Robert A. Rohde). It’s based on a log analysis he did. Points on the graph are plotted weekly, not daily.]
The graph shows that beginning in the second half of 2007 there has been essentially no net addition of images to Wikipedia. In other words, as many photos are being removed as added. That’s certainly due to the Commons: Either images are being uploaded directly there, or images that were at Wikipedia are being uploaded to the Commons and then deleted at Wikipedia.
Implementation of the Wikipedia policy on non-free content criteria is discussed in the guideline Wikipedia:Non-free content (shortcut: WP:NFC). If you’re thinking about uploading a “fair use” image (one you didn’t create, isn’t in the public domain, and hasn’t been released as free content by the owner), read this guideline first.
Note
Screenshots and similar image captures aren’t the same as original photos. They’re fair use images, if the original content (being copied) isn’t itself free content.