Commons:Requests for comment/Technical needs survey/PD vs. URAA

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PD vs. URAA[edit]

Files in the public domain in many countries are at risk of deletion because of some obscure US-policy (URAA)[edit]

  • Problem description:
Files, that are in the public domain in other countries, and are uploaded to Commons, the central file repository, are at risk of deletion just because a single country has some obscure regulation, that nobody outside can fathom.
Here for example are files in the public domain in Europe, completely legitimate files for most of the world and thus for most of the Wikiverse, but because of this obscure URAA they are at risk of deletion.
  • Proposal type:
feature request / process request
  • Proposed solution:
Either auto-magically move those files (and related/in the same category) to the Wiki-Projects that legitimately use them (or could use them), or move the server to a country, that doesn't has to adhere to this strange regulation.
Definitely don't just delete those files, thus destroy free content.
  • Phabricator ticket:
  • Further remarks:

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Sänger (talk • contribs) 13:16, 2 January 2024‎ (UTC)[reply]

Discussion[edit]

  •  Comment I think this proposal is out of bound what this survey can over. Moving the WMF headquarter and servers to another country with better copyright laws needs to be discussed on meta and with the WMF boards. GPSLeo (talk) 13:58, 2 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    That's the rather massive solution,, but not the needed one. It would be sufficient, if the files at risk could be moved to a save place in some other project in the Wikiversum. It's just, that nobody in another country could fathom such completely strange stuff, and imho the WMF has a) tons of money and b) lots of employees, so they could look for a good solution for the main world outside the small USA. Grüße vom Sänger ♫ (talk) 14:08, 2 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    This is not against your proposal itself we definitely need a solution also as the US becomes more and more authoritarian. It is just to large for this survey. The solution to just move the files to other Wikimedia Wikis does not work as the foundation:Resolution:Licensing policy that files need to comply with the US law also applies to them. GPSLeo (talk) 15:09, 2 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    But there are clearly copyrighted pictures stored on enWP, because of the also obscure "Fair Use" stuff.
    There are pictures stored on deWP, that don't comply with some other obscure american regulations.
    So that assertion is definitely not true, exemptions are quite standard. Grüße vom Sänger ♫ (talk) 16:43, 2 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    You could probably get away with it in other countries besides the United States that have fair use, but I don't know if there are any. With the exception of maybe Italy, but no one from Italian Wikipedia wants to embrace it. You can't really upload files to other projects under the guise of fair use if there is none in the country of question though and images would still have to comply with the URAA regardless. Since as far as I know the United States would still honor it if someone sued in an American court even if the file isn't technically being hosted there. --Adamant1 (talk) 03:54, 3 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    Those pictures are PD everywhere but in the USA, because of some very strange regulation. Just because a single country blocks the otherwise complete legal use of those data the whole world gets no access to this free content. That's everything but the providing the essential infrastructure for free knowledge, that's restricting it to the whims of one random country. Grüße vom Sänger ♫ (talk) 13:25, 4 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Sänger: It's not really "at the whims" of the United States when other countries agreed with it and were involved in drafting the law. Although even if that were the case it's not like the copyright laws of other countries don't have a similar effect. Why should I as an American have to not see or use images of works that were created and copyrighted in a country like Mexico where the term is totally ridiculous? That's life though. Even if I think waiting until 100 years after a Mexician artist has died to upload their work is totally stupid. --Adamant1 (talk) 10:05, 5 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
finding ways to get rid of uraa or bypass it is important and beneficial for hosting a lot more content that's already pd in their countries of origin.
the ways could be political (change the law) or technical (moving to a better jurisdiction).--RZuo (talk) 13:43, 23 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I tool that can move those files would be helpful. The URAA was enacted to codify the US's participation in the Marrakesh Agreement on trade and tariffs with the other 122 member participants of the World Trade Organization, which member participants include both Germany and the EU. If you have an issue with the length of copyright terms in a given country like Mexico, take that up with the legislature in that country.   — 🇺🇦Jeff G. ツ please ping or talk to me🇺🇦 19:19, 26 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Votes[edit]

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