Publicpolicy May 2015

publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org

12 participants
7 discussions

[Advocacy Advisors] Fwd: Last Chance -- join the launch of Save The Link
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 24 May '15

24 May '15

Dear all, We're not actively doing anything on "linking liability" in Brussels, but there are a few proposals on the table that push for more liability in exchange for some copyright reform. I do think it is something that generally concerns us, but we lack a general consensus what our position on this is. Since we're not likely to have a position on it soon, the forwarded message is FYI and gives an example of what others are doing. Cheers, Dimi ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Steve Anderson <steve(a)openmedia.ca> Date: 2015-05-05 1:21 GMT+02:00 Subject: Last Chance -- join the launch of Save The Link To: Steve Anderson <steve(a)openmedia.ca> Hi all, on Wednesday morning OpenMedia be joining organizations (EFF, Fight For The Future, Creative Commons, World Wide Web Foundation and many more) from over 17 countries to launch the http://SaveTheLink.org <http://savethelink.org/> campaign. If your organization would like to join the campaign you can sign on here: https://openmedia.org/savethelink Our right to link and host links to content and services online is under threat. We believe: "Linking is the foundation of the Web. We oppose regulations that aim to censor links to content or otherwise penalize services that utilize hyperlinks." If you scroll down on the website <https://savethelink.org/> you can learn about some of the threats to the 'right to link' we hope to take on. Please also consider joining the ThunderClap promoting the launch: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/25637-save-the-link best -- *Steve Anderson* Executive Director, OpenMedia.ca 604-837-5730 http://openmedia.ca <http://www.openmedia.ca/> steve(a)openmedia.ca Follow me on Twitter <http://twitter.com/Steve_Media> Friend me on Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/Steve.Media> * *Let's have access to affordable phone and Internet rates. <http://demandchoice.ca>* **Do you think we deserve a fair deal in our digital future? -->> OurFairDeal.org <http://OurFairDeal.org>* *Confidentiality Warning:* * This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the intended recipient(s), are confidential, and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, conversion to hard copy, copying, circulation or other use of this message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, and delete this message and any attachments from your system. Thank you.Information confidentielle:** Le présent message, ainsi que tout fichier qui y est joint, est envoyé à l'intention exclusive de son ou de ses destinataires; il est de nature confidentielle et peut constituer une information privilégiée. Nous avertissons toute personne autre que le destinataire prévu que tout examen, réacheminement, impression, copie, distribution ou autre utilisation de ce message et de tout fichier qui y est joint est strictement interdit. Si vous n'êtes pas le destinataire prévu, veuillez en aviser immédiatement l'expéditeur par retour de courriel et supprimer ce message et tout document joint de votre système. Merci.*

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[Advocacy Advisors] Letter on digital security
by Stephen LaPorte 20 May '15

20 May '15

Hi advocacy advisors, I wanted to let you know that the Wikimedia Foundation joined a letter to President Obama, asking him to reject legislation that would force companies to deliberately weaken the security of their products. The letter was organized thanks to TechFreedom, with a wide variety of co-signers with a stake in digital security. Strong encryption and security are fundamental for our work online, so this letter is worth supporting to ensure that users can read and speak freely on our projects. The full letter is available online: http://docs.techfreedom.org/Encryption_Letter_to_Obama.pdf Thanks, Stephen -- Stephen LaPorte Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation *NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*

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[Advocacy Advisors] Research on Freedom of Panorama
by Aeryn Palmer 14 May '15

14 May '15

Hi Everyone, I'm a legal intern in WMF's San Francisco office. I'm doing some research on Freedom of Panorama and the digital single market. If anyone is able to suggest any cases or other sources that discuss or demonstrate the effects that harmonizing FoP laws would have on the single market, please get in touch. Thanks very much! Best, Aeryn Palmer -- Aeryn Palmer Legal Intern Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 apalmer(a)wikimedia.org 415.839.6885 (Office) 415.882.0495 (Fax) NOTICE: *This message might have confidential or legally privileged information in iIf you have received this message by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. For legal reasons, I may only serve as a legal intern for the Wikimedia Foundation. This means I may not give legal advice to or serve as a lawyer for community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal* *capacity.*

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[Advocacy Advisors] Cross-border issues with Freedom of Panorama needed
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 12 May '15

12 May '15

Hello everybody, The European Commission has presented its Digital Single Market Strategy last week [1] and there are two important takeaways for us: *They will propose a change in copyright legislation before the end of the year *They are looking for 2-6 exceptions and limitations that can be harmonised The harmonisation candidates will have to be real cross-border issues and ideally an obstacle to innovation and new jobs in Europe. The Commission units are doing the Impact Assessment now. This is a document that analyses various issues, states whether the problems are within the Commission's authority and draws up several policy solutions. It is by its very nature evidence-based and less polemic than general political communication. [2] For us this means that we should write a moderately long letter that provides evidence and concrete examples on how Freedom of Panorama is a European rather than a national issue and how it hurts the "single market". Ideally it will also make a connection to the DSM Strategy. I would be very grateful for everyone who is willing to help gather data and specific cases and who wants to work on polishing the text, as I believe it is a decisive step in our advocacy efforts. We're looking for a style that combines academic and legal writing. We have time for this at least until beginning of June, so there is no need to rush, but the earlier it comes, the more time the Commission has to read it. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the week! Dimi [1] http://ec.europa.eu/priorities/digital-single-market/docs/dsm-communication… [2]http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/impact/index_en.htm

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[Advocacy Advisors] Invitation: Freedom of Panorama Expert Seminar, Brussels, 27 May
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 11 May '15

11 May '15

Dear all, I am happy to be able to finally invite you to a Freedom of Panorama Experted Seminar hosted by us and the Legal Affairs Committee chair Pavel Svoboda. The event will take place in the European Parliament on 27 May between 9-11. The goal is to have a rather academic analysis of the current situation, although a certain amount of politics is inevitable two weeks before a vote in committee that will include our point. For us it is important to make sure that this topic is less controversial. Having it hosted by the largest and most "copyright-reform-reluctant" group is in itself a success. We need to be prepared with data showing that opposition to FoP is based on very shaky and speculative presumptions. The counter-voice in the panel will be the president of the French visual arts collecting society, who will of course try to argue that "licensing is the solution and we don't need to change the law". I've asked WMFR to send a representative, as they have met with this collecting society to negotiate and I am afraid their panel speaker could misrepresent the talks. Event poster here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FoP_Event_Poster.pdf If you'd like to attend, please ping me briefly, as you probably require registration to enter the buildling. Cheers, Dimi

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[Advocacy Advisors] Valuation of unprotected works
by Michael Maggs 04 May '15

04 May '15

Good evidence of commercial impact, and the damage of orphan works: Heald, Paul J. and Erickson, Kris and Kretschmer, Martin, "The Valuation of Unprotected Works: A Case Study of Public Domain Photographs on Wikipedia" (February 4, 2015). DOI:10.2139/ssrn.2560572 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2560572 Michael

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[Advocacy Advisors] A first glance at "A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe"
by Karl Sigfrid 01 May '15

01 May '15

Two documents from the EU Commission that were leaked by Politico have already been mentioned on this list: - Single Market: The Evidence *1 - A Digital Single Market for Europe *2 I have looked closer at the these working papers, which give us a preliminary idea about what the Commission wants with its initiative for a Digital Single Market(DSM). There are plenty of bright spots, and also a few reasons to be wary. The final, official version of the strategy will be presented in not too long, so I'll keep this preview brief. As the Commission has already indicated on several occasions, they are primarily looking to DSM reform as a way of boosting the struggling European economies. Therefore, reforms with an excepted economic impact will be on top of their list. We expect them to talk mostly about ending geoblocking and cutting prices for cross-border deliveries of physical goods. However, also a few changes that benefit free knowledge are realistic to expect. Copyright We will likely see copyright reform that clarifies the legal environment for data mining, whether commercial or non-commercial. Most importantly, the Commission states that they view the national differences in copyright exceptions as a problem, and may propose that some of the exceptions are harmonized. This is a more cautious approach than the one that Julia Reda has proposed in the European Parliament about harmonizing all copyright exceptions, but nevertheless a step in the same direction. The Commission wants to focus on harmonizing exceptions where problems as a result of fragmentation have been identified. This reinforces the importance of reminding them of the very real problems that different European Freedom-of-Panorama regulations are causing. Intermediary liability The Commission wants to balance measures that the content industries will dislike (such as banning geoblocking) with measures that strengthen copyright enforcement. While they seem reluctant to revisit the notice-and-action principle in the e-Commerce Directive (which says that an intermediary is not responsible for users' copyright infringements as long as they remove unauthorized material when given a notice), they suggest harmonized procedures for swift removal. There are also formulations about limiting which services should be subject to the exception from liability. Standardization and Interoperability The ironing out of European ICT standards will continue and increase in pace. The advisory group "European Multi Stakeholder Platform on ICT Standardisation" will play a key role. Perhaps it could make sense to look into how the Wikimedia movement can be more involved in this process to ensure the use of truly open standards? *1 http://g8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/… *2 http://g8fip1kplyr33r3krz5b97d1.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/… -- Karl Sigfrid +32 487 94 76 30 karl(a)wikimedia.be Rue du Trone 51 1000 Brussels

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