Replace Lena with free image

[wiredfool]

According to Debian bug 758442, Lena is not a free, redistributable image.

According to
Hutchison, Jamie (May–June 2001). "Culture, Communication, and an
Information Age Madonna" (PDF). IEEE Professional Communication
Society Newsletter (archive) 45 (3).

This file is not free:
When I explained everything to them [playboy] , they told us that they
would notinterfere as long as the use was for research and education"
(page 5 second column second paragraph)

[1] http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~chuck/lennapg/pcs_mirror/may_june01.pdf

Processing commands for control@bugs.debian.org:

> clone 758442 -1 -2
Bug #758442 [nip2] [nip2] Non distibutable file: lena
Bug 758442 cloned as bugs 760171-760172
> # pillow has this file in Tests/images/lena*
> reassign -1 src:pillow 2.5.3-1
Bug #760171 [nip2] [nip2] Non distibutable file: lena
Bug reassigned from package 'nip2' to 'src:pillow'.
No longer marked as found in versions 7.38.3.
Ignoring request to alter fixed versions of bug #760171 to the same values previously set
Bug #760171 [src:pillow] [nip2] Non distibutable file: lena
Marked as found in versions pillow/2.5.3-1.
> # qtimageformats has this file in tests/auto/webp/images/lena*
> reassign -2 src:qtimageformats-opensource-src 5.3.1-1
Bug #760172 [nip2] [nip2] Non distibutable file: lena
Bug reassigned from package 'nip2' to 'src:qtimageformats-opensource-src'.
No longer marked as found in versions 7.38.3.
Ignoring request to alter fixed versions of bug #760172 to the same values previously set
Bug #760172 [src:qtimageformats-opensource-src] [nip2] Non distibutable file: lena
Marked as found in versions qtimageformats-opensource-src/5.3.1-1.
> forwarded -2 https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTBUG-41070
Bug #760172 [src:qtimageformats-opensource-src] [nip2] Non distibutable file: lena
Set Bug forwarded-to-address to 'https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTBUG-41070'.
> thanks
Stopping processing here.

Please contact me if you need assistance.
-- 
758442: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=758442 
760171: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=760171 
760172: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=760172
 Debian Bug Tracking System Contact owner@bugs.debian.org with problems 

[hugovk]

File/code changes

These need replacing in Tests/images:

• lena.bw
• lena.dcx
• lena.fli
• lena.gif
• lena.ico
• lena.jpg
• lena.Lab.tif
• lena.png
• lena.ppm
• lena.psd
• lena.ras
• lena.rgb
• lena.spider
• lena.tar
• lena.tif
• lena.webp
• lena.xpm
• lena_bw.png
• lena_bw_500.png
• lena_g4.tif
• lena_g4_500.tif
• lena_gray.jpg
• lena_webp_bits.ppm
• lena_webp_write.ppm
• effect_spread.png

The "main" lena.ppm is a 128×128 image as are most but not all of the others.

In code, we need to update lena() in helper.py, and the tests that use this or the images directly (including selftest.py).

Replacement candidates

A quick search of the web brings up these as suggeted Lena replacements.

From https://twitter.com/TobiasBerghoff/status/216158569156968448:

• Vegetable woman: "I now want http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=15048 to replace Lena as the standard test image. (From http://inf.ufrgs.br/~eslgastal/AdaptiveManifolds/Gastal_Oliveira_SIGGRAPH2012_Adaptive_Manifolds.pdf)"

From swcarpentry/DEPRECATED-bc#529:

• Debbie Jin: http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/releases/jin.cfm
• Katharine Gebbie: http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2012/NRL-WISE-Hosts-NIST-Physicist-Dr-Katharine-Gebbie
• Grace Hopper: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h96000/h96919k.jpg (confirmation of PD)
• Sallly Ride: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride#mediaviewer/File:Ride-s.jpg

From scikit-image/scikit-image#1126:

• Eileen Collins: https://github.com/rebeccaroisin/scikit-image/blob/lena_replacement/skimage/data/astronaut.png

From matplotlib/matplotlib#1599:

• Ada Lovelace: https://github.com/ivanov/matplotlib/blob/06010eb80188fe8c89d32a95d1b1b2a04c0ad94a/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/sample_data/ada.png
• Grace Hopper: https://github.com/ivanov/matplotlib/blob/06010eb80188fe8c89d32a95d1b1b2a04c0ad94a/lib/matplotlib/mpl-data/sample_data/grace_hopper.jpg

Also:

• Most photos by the US government will be public domain (and those such as Hopper by the US Navy and Ride and Murphy by NASA).
• "Wikimedia Commons only accepts free content" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Licensing
• Flickr Commons contains lots of "no known copyright" images. Many are black and white, but here's a colour one I found quickly: https://secure.flickr.com/photos/schlesinger_library/13270109575

I vote for Grace Hopper.

cc @aclark4life @wiredfool

[wiredfool]

+1 for Grace Hopper. I saw her speak in High School, and still (somewhere) have one of her nanoseconds.

[aclark4life]

+0. is Lena not politically correct anymore? I'm fine with Grace Hopper. Thanks for working on this!

[wiredfool]

It's not that it's politically incorrect, it's that we have no actual license to distribute the image. (Though, if someone were to ask me not to use it because of it's source, I'd listen to them.) Practically, it hasn't been a problem, yet, but there's no assurance that it's going to stay that way. It's going to be removed from Debian, and in doing so it will mess up lots of tests that we have on Debian and Ubuntu.

If there were only a PD Monty Python image of a pillow and a parrot and possibly a penguin on top of the tele...

[wiredfool]

As one other thought, would we be better off without an identifiable person, so that we don't run into any possible issue with publicity/endorsement/ rights?

[hugovk]

I've already started with Grace Hopper, but can switch if needed.

[IANAL] We're not using the image commercially nor attempting to alter the public domain status of the image. After reading this, I think it's ok as a test image. It's not a core part of the software, or the logo or used in advertising/packaging/merchandising. If someone else does wished to use it commercially in such a way, they may need to seek permission from her estate. She died 22 years ago, and publicity rights may have expired in most US states.

[aclark4life]

I'm not convinced that we actually need to remove Lena because Debian is doing so. If someone complains, sure. Until then, I like the history of Lena and would be inclined to leave things as-is until there is some compelling reason to make the switch.

[aclark4life]

Unless of course Debian won't package Pillow anymore, in which case that is compelling enough reason 😄

[hugovk]

Here's the Debian bug:

Package: nip2
Severity: serious
Version: 7.38.3

nip2-7.38.3/test/images/lena.tif is non free non distributable.

The following file is not distributable even in the non-free archive.

Please re-package the package without the file (if possible) or ask the FTP-masters to remove the package.

The package has been uploaded to Debian before, please remember to also notify snapshot.debian.org about this package containing a non-distributable file.

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=760171

And we might not have had complaints directly, but others have:

The use of the image has produced controversy because "Playboy" is often considered as degrading towards women[9] and the Lenna photo has been pointed to as an example of sexism in the sciences, reinforcing gender stereotypes.

In a 1999 essay on reasons for the male predominance in computer science, Dianne O'Leary wrote:

Suggestive pictures used in lectures on image processing ... convey the message that the lecturer caters to the males only. For example, it is amazing that the "Lena" pin-up image is still used as an example in courses and published as a test image in journals today.[6]

A 2012 paper on compressed sensing by Deanna Needell and Rachel Ward used a photo of the model Fabio Lanzoni as a test image to draw attention to this issue.[11][12] [13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenna#Controversy

I realize that lena is the standard image in the image processing world. However, I would think that most matplotlib users (myself included) are not aware of and/or don't care about standard images; and that most people would object to the pornographic origins and nature of the image.

matplotlib/matplotlib#1581

[aclark4life]

Fair enough! I'm still +0 so go ahead w/Grace if that's the best alternative as determined by you and @wiredfool

[wiredfool]

I'm assembling cherry picks of this for a 2.5.4 release. https://github.com/wiredfool/Pillow/tree/2.5.4-pre

There's also an outstanding bug in debian that was fixed post 2.5.0, Comparing an image to None. I'm going to cherry pick that one as well.