What does Wikimedia Commons say about using photos of identifiable people (consent, public versus private places, free licences, model releases)?

The Commons guideline separates the photographer's copyright from subjects' personality rights (publicity and privacy): private-place and commercial uses usually require consent, consent to take a photo is not consent to publish or reuse, rules vary by country, a model release is more permissive than Commons requires, and a free licence covers only the photographer's rights. It is community guidance giving general advice. Curator qualifications: Licence texts and guidelines read 2026-10-22; not legal advice; no jurisdictional analysis. Live page may have changed since the producer read (producer: last modified 2026-08-23). Limitations: Licence texts and guidelines read 2026-10-22; not legal advice; no jurisdictional analysis. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Photographs_of_identifiable_people&action=raw",
      "note": "Commons:Photographs of identifiable people (action=raw, live)"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commons:Non-copyright_restrictions&action=raw",
      "note": "Commons:Photographs of identifiable people (action=raw, live)"
    }
  ]
}