User talk:JeepRhyme

Jennifer French
I've already explained this on the article's talk page: we're really, truly not trying to be difficult, but what you're missing is that Wikipedia has WP:COPYRIGHT rules that you haven't been following. We simply cannot accept any photo which somebody else already has preexisting copyright on — which, unfortunately, means that an MPP's official Legislative Assembly headshot is not an option, because the copyright on that photo is held by the government, and not by Jennifer herself. The thing you have to understand, when it comes to content on here, is that we can actually get sued for using copyrighted material on Wikipedia, so we have to protect ourselves by making sure that all content on here is compliant with our rules about copyright. The problem with official Legislative Assembly headshots is that the provincial government releases them with permission for reuse in non-commercial contexts — however, Wikipedia is not a non-commercial use. We can be, and have been, ordered to cease using Legislative Assembly of Ontario headshots in the past: individual MPPs don't get to make their own personal decisions about whether we can use their assembly headshots or not, because it's the position of the government that we can't. We are a commercial use, which means we cannot use materials released by the government under Crown copyright regardless of who uploads them here.

There are only two types of photos that we can accept: an original photo which has been uploaded to Wikipedia under Creative Commons or GFDL licensing, or an image that was already in the public domain. And you can't sneak around that by uploading her assembly headshot and calling it CC, GFDL or public domain, either, because we will still be forced to delete it due to the preexisting copyright.

I am, for the record, completely incapable of understanding why there's a problem with the current photo — I saw the problem with the first version, but I literally see nothing about the current version that a reasonable person should actually have a problem with, and would appreciate an honest explanation of why this has been such an issue. But that said, if she actually has that big a problem, then what you can do is provide a new original photo of her, not already under any preexisting copyrights, which was taken by somebody who is willing to release the copyright to us under the provisions of Creative Commons or GFDL. Again, her official assembly headshot is not an option, because it is already under a preexisting copyright which is not compatible with CC or GFDL — it has to be a photo which does not already have any other preexisting copyrights on it (that is, I have to be able to run it through a Google Images search and find no other website on which the same photo has already been used previously), which the photographer is willing to release under Creative Commons or GFDL. We cannot accept anything else.

Again, we're not trying to be difficult — but you have to follow our rules, not vice versa, and one of our rules is that we cannot upload or use images that somebody else already has preexisting copyrights on. I hope that helps you understand the issue a bit better. Bearcat (talk) 04:50, 25 June 2018 (UTC)