Hi, all- As some of you may have seen, we posted this this morning: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/07/18/wikimedia-foundation-letter-transparen… Letting people know that we'd signed on to this letter: https://www.cdt.org/files/pdfs/weneedtoknow-transparency-letter.pdf Given last week's discussion here, I wanted to shed a little more light here on why we signed this: * Mission/Values: There has been some skepticism (like from MZ) about whether PRISM is sufficiently related to our mission and values for us to take action. Without getting into that general question, it is clear that the Foundation's ability to be transparent with the community is absolutely critical, so we thought this action was very clearly within the scope of our mission/values. * International: This letter is very deliberately focused on an issue (transparency) that benefits all Wikimedians, not just Americans, and generally uses language that matches that. As I said last week, and mention again in the blog post, we'll continue to look out for opportunities that make sense ourselves, and of course the community should always feel able and empowered to start things as well. I will be offline a good chunk of today (moving apartments - bad timing!) but will try to monitor this thread and respond as quickly as I can to any questions. Thanks- Luis -- Luis Villa Deputy General Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext. 6810 NOTICE: *This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.* _______________________________________________ Advocacy_Advisors mailing list Advocacy_Advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors