- Feel free to translate this message into Catalan.
Hi all,
What is going on?
- In the European Parliament a proposal (amendment) has been submitted to limit the Freedom of panorama in Europe. The proposal is part of a larger plan to harmonize the copyright law in the various countries of the European Union.
- If this proposal is adopted and implemented, it will mean that users on Wikipedia are no longer allowed to upload photographs of modern buildings or public works of art and use them in Wikipedia.
- Even if freedom of panorama is allowed only for non-commercial purposes, this is an issue for Wikipedia. The current license under what we write Wikipedia, CC-BY-SA, is not compatible with non-commercial licenses, as they would restrict the re-use of the content.
Freedom of panorama?
- Photos of modern buildings and public art currently may be uploaded on Commons / Wikipedia and used in articles, only if those pictures were taken in a country that currently has freedom of panorama (FoP), at this moment 16 of the 28 EU countries.
- EU countries with freedom of panorama: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark*, Finland*, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom. (* = only for buildings)
- EU countries without freedom of panorama: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, and Slovenia.
- In countries without freedom of panorama, the creator of a creative work (permanently placed in the public space, like buildings, public art, etc.) needs to authorize the release of the photo, also if you have taken the photo yourself.
Which proposal involved?
- It concerns amendment AM421 proposed by Cavada.
When is the vote on this amendment?
- Thursday 9 July.
Can we do something against it?
- Yes! By making known what impact this amendment has to Wikipedia and what damage it can cause to Wikipedia. In recent years it has come to our attention that many politicians do not even know that it is forbidden to publish on their website a photo of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, without the prior permission of the architect. So in the first place creating awareness is important.
- Therefore a CentralNotice banner is prepared and a landing page. If you like, you can create a landing page, just like sv:Wikipedia:Panoramafrihet or de:Wikipedia:Initiative für die Panoramafreiheit.
What can I do?
- Send an e-mail to one or more Members of the European Parliament from your country/area (list of members on Wikipedia and list of the members on the site of the European Parliament (on the page of each member is the e-mail address linked)).
- Send a tweet to one or more Members of the European Parliament from your country/area (or re-tweet) in your language. Ask them for example if they really want Wikipedia to be backed-out or stripped of thousands of images. Or send a tweet to political groups in the parliament or a general tweet about the subject. Examples: 1, 2, 3.
Where is the coordination?
- Here, press releases, media reports, and more matters can be reported / added / suggested.
- Feedback for the suggested banner text and landing page can be provided here: c:Commons:Freedom of Panorama 2015/Proposed messages.
Where can I read more information?
- Read the article in the Signpost at: Three weeks to save freedom of panorama in Europe