Talk:What can I upload to Wikimedia Commons?

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What about PUBLIC documents?

Such as US Government documents that have been released to the public by a freedom of information request. Montestruc (talk) 19:53, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

Hi @Montestruc:, good question. To the best of my understanding, many government works are controlled by copyright, even if they are released to the public. The U.S. federal government is a major exception; works of its agencies (and the documents of federal court cases) are generally in the public domain. However they are made available -- i.e., whether they are intentionally published or whether they are released through a FOIA request -- they should be permissible on Wikimedia Commons. But works of state and municipal governments in the USA don't typically have public domain status; and I am not sure about the works of other countries' governments. -Pete (talk) 23:28, 15 December 2016 (UTC)

So how would I upload such a document? It is not clear to me how to do so. (Montestruc (talk) 04:28, 16 December 2016 (UTC))

Uploads need to happen on Commons. Once there, on the left of your screen you will find a box headed "participate". The first link in that box is "Upload file". Click that and follow the instructions. Beeswaxcandle (talk) 07:42, 16 December 2016 (UTC)