Publicpolicy November 2016

publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org

8 participants
8 discussions

23 Mar '17

Hi policy folks, ----- tl;dr: Please check out and participate in the new copyright strategy on Meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Copyright_strategy>, and attend the accompanying IRC office hour <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours#Upcoming_office_hours> on September 15. ----- As you may have already seen on other mailing lists or through messages on-wiki, we on the WMF legal team have been putting together a new strategy for identifying, prioritizing, and addressing copyright issues that affect Wikimedia <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Copyright_strategy>. The goal of the strategy is to improve how Wikimedia does its copyright-related work by providing a centralized place for everyone—staff and non-staff alike—to organize and collaborate on that work. There’s more information on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Copyright_strategy The strategy is designed to work with all sorts of issues, including things like MediaWiki feature design, Creative Commons license compliance and project copyright policies. I’m hoping the copyright strategy pages will also become a place to track and discuss copyright-related public policy opportunities and developments. If a copyright lawsuit is filed, copyright legislation is proposed, or an opportunity arises to share Wikimedia’s perspective on copyright with policymakers, it can be added to the strategy’s list of issues <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Copyright_strategy/Issues>. We can then all talk about it and propose responses or activism. The goal of the strategy is not to replace this mailing list, the public policy portal <http://policy.wikimedia.org>, or anywhere else where policy discussions are already thriving, but to supplement existing forums. By documenting discussions and keeping them active on-wiki, we can help make sure we don’t lose track of anything. If you have questions about all of this, I encourage you to leave a comment on the copyright strategy talk page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Copyright_strategy>. The legal team will also be holding an office hour on IRC <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours#Upcoming_office_hours>to discuss the strategy on September 15 at 14:00 UTC. I hope you’ll participate! Best, Charles M. Roslof Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation croslof(a)wikimedia.org (415) 839-6885 NOTICE: This message might have confidential or legally privileged information in it. If you have received this message 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. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.

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Re: [Publicpolicy] Trump
by James Salsman 01 Dec '16

01 Dec '16

Should the Foundation endorse this effort? http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/meet-the-hamilton-elect…

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Updating the Public Policy Portal: request for feedback.
by Jan Gerlach 27 Nov '16

27 Nov '16

Dear all Our Public Policy site <https://policy.wikimedia.org/> is now a little more than one year old, so we are getting ready to update the text. Over on Meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_policy/Update> you can find these draft changes. We invite you to give us your input and feedback about these changes on the corresponding discussion page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Public_policy>. We will post the new changes on the site on November 28. We will of course continue to periodically update this text on a regular basis, so you are welcome to continue to provide suggestions. If you have additional related resources, such as your chapter's comments to policymakers, please let us know! We may be able to add more of this information to each of the policy areas on the site. We look forward to hearing your feedback! Best, Jan == Jan Gerlach Public Policy Manager Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org

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Wikimedia Public Policy Digest [Vol. 1, No. 1]
by Jan Gerlach 23 Nov '16

23 Nov '16

Hello everyone, Following Dimi’s great example of sending out an update about public policy developments in the EU each month, from now on we also want to give you an overview of policy issues that we have been thinking about lately. In this first issue, we will outline some items that we have been working on over the past couple weeks: Public Policy Highlights Freedom of expression should include the freedom to link. The European Court of Human Rights is currently reviewing Magyar Jeti Zrt vs. Hungary, a case in which the Hungarian Supreme Court found <http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng#%7B%22appno%22:[%2211257/16%22]%7D>a news website liable for posting a hyperlink that allegedly defamed a political party. At issue is whether it violates Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights—which protects Europeans’ rights to free expression—to hold someone legally responsible for the content of a hyperlink that they post. We believe that the Court was right to take the case, and that it should reverse the Hungarian courts’ rulings. Hyperlinks are prerequisite to a free and open internet, enabling collaboration and access to knowledge for all. They are similarly essential to the continued thriving of the Wikimedia projects. Our own post about this case is up on the Wikimedia Blog here: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/11/22/freedom-expression-link/ Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Convention_on_Human_Rights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_10_of_the_European_Convention_on_Huma… http://www.husovec.eu/2016/08/ecthr-to-hear-case-about-liability-for.html Delisting search results should not threaten access to knowledge. Last month, we filed an intervention with the French Supreme Court about an order by the CNIL, the French privacy watchdog, to extend the effect of the so-called Right to be Forgotten or Right to Delist beyond French jurisdiction. The decision requires Google to remove information globally from its search results when requested appropriately by French citizens. Google has appealed this decision. We support this appeal because the Right to Delist creates obstacles to finding knowledge online and threatens the public’s interest in remembering historic subjects that are important to society, such as human rights abuses or dissenting political opinions. Roughly half of Wikipedia visits originate from search engines. Delisting articles from search results, therefore, will make it more difficult for people to find and access Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Moreover, the very concept underlying delisting is contrary to the Wikimedia movement’s goal of promoting access to free knowledge.The CNIL’s implementation of the Right to Delist also lacks transparency and due process protections and threatens the Wikimedia community’s ability to effectively make editorial decisions over content. The CNIL’s order would limit access to knowledge to people around the world, not just in France. Google should not be required under one country’s laws to remove lawful content from search results around the world. We fear that the CNIL’s decision sets a bad precedent for other nations looking to expand their jurisdiction beyond their geographical borders, ultimately limiting access to knowledge to the lowest common denominator. Our own post about the issue is up on the Wikimedia Blog: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/10/19/petition-right-to-be-forgotten/ Further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_nationale_de_l%27informatique_et_d… Status of EU Copyright Package Promoting copyright laws that support free knowledge and online collaboration is one of five pillars of policy for Wikimedia. The proposed directive on Copyright for the Digital Single Market is going to significantly shape this policy environment in the European Union. There are at least five issues that need to be amended to make sure the Wikimedia Projects can optimally grow and continue to flourish. The Rapporteur for the European Parliament is currently hearing stakeholders. Wikimedians and supporters of Wikipedia are working on positive amendments that would introduce Freedom of Panorama and a new article on Safeguarding the Public Domain to the directive. These amendments aim to allow European citizens to upload images of buildings and art in public spaces and prevent new rights from being created in the process of digitization of works that are in the public domain. Other issues that European allies are aiming to bring positive changes to include the proposed requirement to implement content recognition systems to prevent copyright infringement on platforms (Art. 13), which could hurt our community’s monitoring for infringing content, and a new right for publishers over the “digital use of their press publications” (Art. 11), which threatens the productive use of hyperlinks to refer to original sources of information. Finally, we see like-minded organizations working expand the limited exception for text and data mining (Art. 3) to benefit a broader range of users. Further reading: https://policy.wikimedia.org/ http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016PC0593 https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/09/13/european-commission-copyright-leaks/ Censorship and Freedom of Expression As recent reports document, access to information and freedom of expression continue to be under pressure worldwide. We are especially worried when Wikipedia is the target of restrictions to access to content and censorship. The most recent Freedom on the Net report shows that these government restrictions exist in various forms, such as monitored and censored copycat versions of Wikipedia or complete blocks of the website (after implementation of HTTPS made it more difficult for governments to selectively block articles). Apart from these government tactics of censorship, we also see other ways that freedom of expression is sometimes restricted by private parties. For instance, free speech can be chilled by copyright takedown notices or defamation lawsuits (see above). Further Reading: https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FOTN_2016_Full_Report.pdf https://onlinecensorship.org/news-and-analysis/onlinecensorship-org-launche… Events, etc. Free Open Shared On October 27, we held the first event of our new series of talks, panels, and conversations about policy, collaboration, and knowledge at our office in San Francisco. Mike Masnick from Techdirt joined us to give a talk about the intentions of copyright law and how today’s policy is misaligned with original goals. To quote Mike: "We should judge copyright law by its contribution to learning and education." See the talk on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsHp8hckkVc Further reading: https://www.techdirt.com/ https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/11/16/free-open-shared-mike-masnick/ Policy Portal Update: Discussion on Meta Our Public Policy site is now a little more than one year old, so we are getting ready to update the text. The suggested edits have been added to Meta and we invite you to give us your input and feedback about these changes on the corresponding discussion page. We will post the new changes on the site on November 28. We will continue to periodically update this text on a regular basis, so you are welcome to provide suggestions beyond this first refresher of the site. See the suggested updates at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_policy/Update https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Public_policy Outlook If you have made it this far down, we want to thank you for reading. :) We aim to send out this newsletter at a monthly interval. If you have any feedback or would like us to include things that you see happening in your country or elsewhere, please follow up directly with Jan Gerlach at jgerlach(a)wikimedia.org. If you have additional resources for the policy portal, such as your chapter's comments to policymakers, please also let us know! We may be able to add more information to each of the policy areas on the site. Sincerely, Stephen and Jan

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supporting Wikipedia citations as formal scholarly reputation in tenure committees
by James Salsman 18 Nov '16

18 Nov '16

Can anyone familiar with European Commission procedure please explain how to support the Wikipedia-associated proposals in [1] based on the statistics in [2] please? Very recent publications such as [3] in Nature along with what appears to be a relatively sudden groundswell of frankness and support e.g. [4] suggests to me that the time is right to get out in front of these proposals. [1] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/David_Nicholas5/publication/275349828_… [2] http://www.cs.indiana.edu/~xshuai/papers/jcdl240-shuai.pdf [3] http://www.nature.com/news/fewer-numbers-better-science-1.20858 [4] http://blog.scielo.org/en/2016/10/14/is-it-possible-to-normalize-citation-m…

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Short paper about CC0 vs. CC BY
by John Andersson 18 Nov '16

18 Nov '16

Dear everybody, As part of the Connected Open Heritage[1] project we have created a short paper with arguments for why a data owner should use a CC0 dedication, rather than the CC BY license for their datasets.[2] The document was created with state agencies in mind and based on questions they have asked us, but it should hopefully be useful also for you when approaching other types of actors. Please let us know what you think, and if you miss something or have any questions! Best regards, John [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Connected_Open_Heritage [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arguments_on_CC0-licensing_for_data…

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Re: [Publicpolicy] Trump
by Milton Solórzano 11 Nov '16

11 Nov '16

I speak only as a resident of Northern California, and a student of American politics. Regardless of the concern, I suggest urgency. Trump will be quite favorable to corporate interests broadly, and unless a given issue can wait 2-4 years, the window for modest liberal consideration closes upon his inauguration. We tend to respond quickly to charismatic leaders in this country. However, if you want to reach Mr. Trump, I suppose talking to libertarian or paleoconservative influencers might be useful. On Friday, November 11, 2016, <publicpolicy-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > Send Publicpolicy mailing list submissions to > publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org <javascript:;> > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > publicpolicy-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org <javascript:;> > > You can reach the person managing the list at > publicpolicy-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org <javascript:;> > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Publicpolicy digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Trump (Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov) > 2. Updating the Public Policy Portal: request for feedback. > (Jan Gerlach) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 15:16:51 +0100 > From: Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov <dimitar.parvanov.dimitrov(a)gmail.com > <javascript:;>> > To: Publicpolicy Group for Wikimedia > <publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org <javascript:;>> > Subject: Re: [Publicpolicy] Trump > Message-ID: > <CAK4vM4TWxS+1U2uC5T=RSc7+b6Ud9= > EfY8GSG09H+Ao6v8gD1A(a)mail.gmail.com <javascript:;>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hi John, > > I have been trying to wrap my head around this as well. From a European > perspective I expect the US trade policy to drastically change, so that's > one thing. TTIP seems highly unlikely now. > > Weren't the republicans somewhat moreopen to copyright changes in general? > Anyhow, I am in DC for OpenCon and would be greet to perhaps meet-up and > discuss. John & Julia from WMDE are also in town and I know other > Wikimedians will also be coming. > > Cheers, > Dimi > > 2016-11-10 0:19 GMT+01:00 John Sadowski <johnpsadowski(a)gmail.com > <javascript:;>>: > > > Hi all, > > > > I'd like to start a discussion—what implications does Trump's election > > combined with Republican dominance in Congress have for the movement's > > public policy efforts? > > > > It would seem that, at the very least, net neutrality, intermediary > > safe-harbor, and perhaps the 2018 copyright expiration are at risk. I > > figure a proactive approach would be best—we should move fast to reach > out > > to Congresspeople to make the effects of such legislation known to them > > before it gets introduced. > > > > At Wikimedia DC we've visited Congressional staff in the past, and we > > could certainly do it again. What else can we do? What current WMF > policy > > activities or connections can we extend? What are EFF and the policy > arms > > of Google, Facebook, etc. thinking about right now? > > > > Thanks. > > John > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Publicpolicy mailing list > > Publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org <javascript:;> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/publicpolicy > > > > >

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Trump
by John Sadowski 10 Nov '16

10 Nov '16

Hi all, I'd like to start a discussion—what implications does Trump's election combined with Republican dominance in Congress have for the movement's public policy efforts? It would seem that, at the very least, net neutrality, intermediary safe-harbor, and perhaps the 2018 copyright expiration are at risk. I figure a proactive approach would be best—we should move fast to reach out to Congresspeople to make the effects of such legislation known to them before it gets introduced. At Wikimedia DC we've visited Congressional staff in the past, and we could certainly do it again. What else can we do? What current WMF policy activities or connections can we extend? What are EFF and the policy arms of Google, Facebook, etc. thinking about right now? Thanks. John

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Publicpolicy November 2016