Commons:Photographs of identifiable people/Update 2013/Lead
 Scope Review 2013 links:
Discuss stage 2 of this review Translation Background Links to current rules Discussion: Introductory Scope wording Discussion: Files Discussion: Pages, galleries and categories Discussion: Areas of particular concern Discussion: Identifiable people Other proposals |
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This page in a nutshell: Commons respects the legal rights of the subjects of our photographs and has a moral obligation to behave ethically with regard to photographs of people. The legal rights of the subjects constitute non-copyright restrictions on use of images. Country-specific laws may affect what content we can host, how it may be published, and whether consent is required. |
When dealing with photographs of people, we are required to consider the legal rights of the subject and the ethics of publishing the photo in addition to the concerns of the photographer and owner of the image. These former issues are quite distinct from the copyright status of the image and may restrict or impose obligations on those taking, uploading or reusing a photograph. A Creative Commons licence or Public Domain status, for example, means that the photographer (or other owner) has waived or lost certain rights and that their permission to use the image is not required. However, the photographer is not able to remove any rights belonging to the subject of the photograph.
The subject's consent is usually needed for publishing a photograph of an identifiable individual taken in a private place, and Commons expects this even if local laws do not require it. In many countries (especially English-speaking ones) the subject's consent is not usually needed for publishing a straightforward photograph of an identifiable individual taken in a public place. However, the country specific consent requirements vary enormously. Many factors can determine whether and what degree of consent is required.
In most countries, these issues only affect images where the person is identifiable and still alive. Certain legal and ethical issues may remain if the person is dead or if they cannot be identified.