I posted my previous response just minutes before this response appeared in my inbox, but I came to the same conclusions, just for different reasons. Namely, that scraping screenshots from other sources is Not A Good Idea.
But you make excellent points and I appreciate your clarification. In the future, when in doubt, my motto will simply be "That's not good enough for Debian." (Not kidding - I actually wrote it down.) Regards, Collin. On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 6:58 PM, Paul Wise <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 6:15 PM, Collin Kewanee wrote: > > > Well my main concern was legality / copyright/ etc., but the only > references > > I > > could find were from 2008 and concerned a memo from Debian Legal about > > publishing thumbnails and screenshots from games under the same license > as > > the game they came from, and then the fact that screenshots published on > the > > Internet, for reviews and such, are generally considered Fair-Use. > > That sounds like the document we (the Debian games team) asked SPI's > lawyers to prepare. Before the screenshots site existed we had a > thumbnails package containing thumbnails from contrib/non-free games. > As a result of the document we had to split the package into pieces. > > In the world of copyright you should assume that everything is > proprietary because that is the default under the law. Only if there > is a valid license grant can you do things. In addition some > jurisdictions have some exceptions that are allowed (like Fair-Use in > the USA or fair dealing in Australia). For Debian's purposes these > exceptions are not sufficient and thus we cannot rely on them. As a > result the screenshots site cannot use random screenshots from the > web. > > > So I was working under the general assumption that if the developer > placed a > > screenshot > > of the application on their website, it was for public use. Linking to > it > > would be acceptable. > > But is scraping it and uploading it to screenshots.d.n acceptable? > > People's assumptions are usually false when it comes to copyright law. > Images on the web are rarely under a DFSG-free license, including > screenshots. If Debian could rely on the USA's Fair-Use concept it > would be acceptable to just scrape screenshots but that isn't the > case. > > On the legal side, the best way to ensure no legal issues is to make > the screenshots yourself. Also, if the screenshot includes display of > some non-free content - like a Hollywood DVD in a video player - we > usually reject those too. > > Another thing is that many upstream screenshots are taken from the PoV > of the upstream - showing the menus etc. Screenshots for Debian are > supposed to be coming from a user point of view - showing typical > usage. The best way to get that is for users of the Debian/Ubuntu > packages to make screenshots of their typical usage with real data. > > -- > bye, > pabs > > http://wiki.debian.org/PaulWise > > > -- > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact > [email protected] > Archive: > https://lists.debian.org/CAKTje6Enh38mn=1ffddvuwvkobzaxvxeniosc1rf9umxvwp...@mail.gmail.com > >
