Commons:Deletion requests/File:Doug Jones with Jeff Daniels 2019.jpg
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This deletion discussion is now closed. Please do not make any edits to this archive. You can read the deletion policy or ask a question at the Village pump. If the circumstances surrounding this file have changed in a notable manner, you may re-nominate this file or ask for it to be undeleted.
Very unlikely that photographer was "on duty" on Broadway... Patrick Rogel (talk) 16:27, 8 February 2020 (UTC)
- Speedy keep - As I've stated previously, this image is under the public domain as it is published by a member of the United States Congress on an official duty social media account and during their official duty as a Congressperson. I am copying and pasting the following from a mass deletion by the nominator which remains open (see here). It will most likely be kept if the reviewers are aware of American public domain federal law and so far the !votes are in favor of keep.
- "Government content on any [social media] site is generally public domain and therefore can not become the intellectual property of an individual or be protected by a site provider." p 12 "Corporation for National and Community Service", link. Please note, "generally" refers to common sense: If the government employee posts the official Michael Jackson video for "Thriller" on social media, it falls under "not generally" - it's copyrighted. However, a crappy phone picture that a passerby probably took using a sitting member of the US Congress' cell phone and handed back to said Congressman, or that an aide took, and that Congressman posts on his official Twitter, it is public domain.
- "Some Representatives or Senators might choose not to formally archive their social media posts, since they are already in the public domain." and "Since Member tweets, Facebook posts, and other social media items are in the public domain on the social media services’ platforms, interested parties might be able to use those to help understand public policy development." Source: "Social Media Adoption by Members of Congress: Trends and Congressional Considerations" by Jacob R. Straus, Specialist on the Congress, 2018, p 13. – published by the Congress, link.
- Keeping in the spirit of how public domain and the US Federal Government works, the Official Guide to Government Information and Services states: "U.S. government creative works are usually produced by government employees as part of their official duties. These works include writings, images, videos, and computer code. A government work is generally not subject to copyright in the U.S. Unless the work falls under an exception, anyone may, without restriction under U.S. copyright laws: 1)Reproduce the work in print or digital form; 2)Create derivative works; 3)Perform the work publicly; 4)Display the work and 5) Distribute copies or digitally transfer the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending." Source
- Regarding Congresspeople running for office, if they are an incumbent, their work is in the public domain: "...works created by incumbent presidents or U.S. Senators or Representatives, if made within the scope of their employment, lack copyright protection and are free to use."' Source
- Please note, that many of the official social media accounts for federal employees are used exclusively during their tenure as federal employees and then they are abandoned and archived. Example: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a personal instgram which is 100% copyrighted. She also had a Congressional Instagram, which is public domain unless it's a previously copyrighted photograph. Here's another example - Ivanka Trump has a personal Instgram, but no official government account, therefore all of the photographs – unless stated otherwise by Trump - are copyrighted. Here's another example: Eric Swalwell has a personal Twitter account which is copyrighted (unless stated otherwise) and he has an official Congress Twitter account that is public domain and selected Tweets will be archived by the Library of Congress upon retirement from the federal government. It's pretty obvious that the recent photos of MLK are copyrighted, when the photograph that his staffer took of Swalwell talking at a town hall is public domain. You can read examples of the policies set forth for officials - such as the one's for the Senate, here.
- The General Services Administration oversees developing policies and relationships with social media companies to ensure that the TOS of companies align with federal policies. For example, these are the guidelines for federal employees from Instagram. You can find the entire list of modified social media TOS to accompany federal work here. These guidelines are in place for all federal employees. Note, you won't see "public domain" used in any of these - that's not how it works. However, you'll notice that federal guidelines supersede social media TOS. Example from Facebook: "If You are the federal government or a federal government agency in the United States: "Terms relating to indemnification do not apply to your Official Use except to the extent expressly authorized by federal law." Indemnification includes copyright in social media TOS. Therefore, federal agencies are exempt. You'll notice, it states that if you are a state or local official, your state or local policies supersede Facebook - therefore if you're the Governor of California, your posts are public domain because of state law, but if you're the Governor of Indiana (my home state!) it's copyrighted. The same goes for every social media outlet.
- Also, please denote the public domain license - created by Commonists - for Congress: "This United States Congress image is in the public domain. This may be because it was taken by an employee of the Congress as part of that person’s official duties, or because it has been released into the public domain and posted on the official websites of a member of Congress."
- Thanks again for your consideration and assuming good faith. Missvain (talk) 16:42, 8 February 2020 (UTC)
- @Missvain: A few very simple questions since you seems to be a specialist of how the Congress works:
- is a Gongressman "on their official duty as a Congressperson" when he goes to Broadway on is it on their leisure time?
- what's the photographer's name and what make you think he/she is an official Congress photographer?
- is an official photographer on their official duty when he goes to Broadway?
- Thanks, --Patrick Rogel (talk) 17:40, 8 February 2020 (UTC)
- @Missvain: A few very simple questions since you seems to be a specialist of how the Congress works:
Deleted: We need to know if the photographer was a govt employee. This could have been taken by anyone and shared on Insta. --Gbawden (talk) 07:31, 17 February 2020 (UTC)