German Gov't Donates 100,000 Images To Wikipedia

Raul654 writes "The German Federal Archive has agreed to donate 100,000 images to Wikipedia under the German version of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License. These pictures cover a period from 1860 to present. This is the largest picture donation ever to Wikipedia, and possibly the largest in the history of the free culture movement." Apparently, this is part of a project which will eventually make 11 million photos available for public use.

I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[eldavojohn]

You would think that Governments--who exist to serve the people--would constantly look for avenues of already successful community sites as venues for returning information to the public. With privacy & security in mind, I wish that more governments would release this sort of stuff under a creative commons ... even if citizens of the world then have access to it, I don't think the taxpayers would mind. Wikipedia & other Wikimedia sites have shown to be very successful non-profit sites that are community owned and driven. Can anyone think of a good reason why we shouldn't extend the Freedom of Information Act a little further with recent advancements in communications and technology?

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[geniice]

Yes and no. A lot go for the equivalent of a no commercial use license. In other cases there is significant amounts of PD material around (crown copyright expired for example) but no one is prepared to pay the cost of digitalising.

Re:sometimes translation to German, too!

[LandDolphin]

rewriting is fine, as long as you save the original too. The propaganda that was written on there is a much a part of history as the picture itself.

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[maxume]

What's socialist about governmental transparency?

Re:sometimes translation to German, too!

[jalet]

Isn't changing the original caption a form of "politically correct" motivated revisionism of history ?

If the caption is part of the picture, I can't see why anyone would want to modify it, unless this person wants to hide something.

Translating them is another matter, but real translations should be done, not edulcorated ones.

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[Anonymous Coward]

The world would be better of if we all had more of [insert your favourite item here], but I don't think anyone really enjoys or wants more socialism.

Except maybe the socialists.

Do you really want this country to be come a nation of cheese eaters?

What's so wrong with cheese, anyway?

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[Anonymous Coward]

Two words: National Security.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[Thaelon]

But doing that wouldn't give the people in power any additional power!

Remember, governments only ever grow.

Re:Fortunately or unfortunately

[Belial6]

That is an interesting link, and beyond the value of the content, it also shows the evils of our dysfunctional copyright. The arguments that this photo should not be lost because it chronicles one of our (as in the human race) despicable moments are valid. I would also say that it is just as bad to let our chronicles of good and happiness be destroyed as it is to let chronicles of evil and shame.

So, this photo SHOULD be in the public domain, but so should works that are not chronicles of shame. For example, it is a travisty that the 'Happy Birthday' song is still under copyright.

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[plasticsquirrel]

You would think that Governments--who exist to serve the people...

I think this is where it starts going wrong. Government institutions are basically working in their own self interest, and the only thing that makes government in check is the pressure put on it by people.

When legislators are looking over bills, in the back of their minds, there is the question, "Will this help me get elected again?" If it doesn't give them money or support, it's a bad move for them politically. How can any good government exist in such a system, except through constant pressure from voters?

Re:I'm Confused Why We Don't See This En Masse

[Dewin]

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

This is an outdated model. Nowadays, it's Fear, Uncertainty, and Debt

Re:sometimes translation to German, too!

[jalet]

Personally whenever I read an encyclopedia I want to see the original caption, or its translated version, as well as some lengthy textual, factual and neutral explanation about the context this picture was taken in. And if Hitler or Staline had mustaches when the picture was taken, I want to see them on the picture shown to me 60 or more years later.

If we begin to rewrite history by modifying original captions, instead of explaining why they were written this way, what's to stop us from modifying pictures themselves ? After all many countries used (haha !) to do this. I propose you put "Painter of the XXth century" as the caption below every picture of Hitler, instead of "German politician who inspired and directed the extermination of millions of people for dubious reasons"...

Not sure if you understand this point of view, but historical artifacts like pictures are what they are, and have to be used as historical artifacts, nothing less, nothing more, and despite their content being "shocking" for some people.

Re:sometimes translation to German, too!

[Derleth]

Hitler came to power because he had a street gang, called the Brownshirts, ensuring he would. The existing Weimar government was “blind in the right eye”, meaning it came down hard on left-wing gangs but ignored right-wing gangs like the Brownshirts. Hitler’s rise to power came because the existing German government was broken and allowed intimidation to beat (literally) democracy.

But this information will never make much of an impression on people because people need A Moral Lesson. The Moral Lesson here, apparently, is “voting is evil”.