Commons:Deletion requests/File:Damaged Snyder Hotel.jpg
This image has been uploaded from a National Weather Service web page, where it is sourced to a third party, the Kiowa County Democrat newspaper. It is unknown who the actual photographer was, or when or where or how the newspaper obtained the photograph.
Issues of the Kiowa County Democrat from this period have been digitised only sporadically, and no issue from close to the date of this tornado are available. However -- available issues from 1905 include no photographs whatsoever. The earliest archived issues that feature editorial photography are from 1910.
So, although this image originates from the paper's archives, we have no evidence that it was ever published by them.
For many years, hosting such images on the Commons was done in good faith under the rationale that:
- public submissions to the NWS all entered the public domain and/or
- all files hosted on NWS websites were in the public domain unless they carried a formal copyright notice
An extensive review of this rationale in 2024 revealed that neither of these beliefs held up to scrutiny. These findings were confirmed in an RfC conducted from August to October 2024.
Per COM:ONUS it is the responsibility of the person uploading an image to the Commons or anyone arguing for its retention here to provide evidence of permission from the copyright holder. Nevertheless, I reached out to the Kiowa County Democrat on September 23 to ask for any more information about it. Their editor offered help within the next few days, but never replied again, even after a follow-up email I sent on November 5.
I forwarded our correspondence to the VRT: (ticket:2024111810004209)
Since this is an image created in the US before 1989, its copyright status will depend on the circumstances of its first publication, in particular, whether it was published before or after March 1, 1989. The earliest known publication of this image is on the NWS website where it was sourced. Unless any evidence of a previous publication can be found, this image is protected for 70 years after the death of its creator, or 120 years if its creator is never identified.
If it remains anonymous, it will enter the public domain on January 1, 2026. Without evidence to the contrary, this is a presumably unfree file and we must delete it as a precaution under COM:PRP until then.
 | Closing admins should familiarise themselves with the evidence and discussions at this RfC when closing this request. |
Rlandmann (talk) 02:04, 18 November 2024 (UTC)
