Freedom to exploit
Yes it is a bogus. But this journalist doesn't completely get it either.
The reality is, that "Freedom of Panorama", means freedom to sell and profit from these pictures and media. This is the whole issue. The devil is in the detail.
The word "Freedom" sounds so nice and good, so who can possibly be against that? Wikipedia has been playing a well-known game based on superficial emotions related to this very word. Just like so many self-proclaimed "Liberals" across the world. What they really mean by the word "Freedom", is "Freedom to exploit". And that is why this freedom is not so easy to uphold.
There is and has always been freedom to take pictures of just about everything, if national security or personal issues does not get in the way of course. But when you also wants freedom to sell and profit from these images, it's a whole and completely different matter. If WP would sign a declaration that the media was not-for-profit only, then everything would be fine and there would be no case.
So why doesn't WP declare the media to be not-for-profit-only or at least allow uploaders at WikiCommons to declare images THEY created to be not-for-profit-only? We can all guess here, but rumor has it, that WP is about to turn the voluntary media uploads from thousands of unpaid users (read:blind idealists) into a money machine in the near future. Probably under cover of fund raising or other good causes. Wait and see ...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
