Publicpolicy September 2016

publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org

8 participants
7 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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Fwd: [CC-be] We're looking for a new talent at Open Knowledge Belgium
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 29 Sep '16

29 Sep '16

FYI ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pieter-Jan Pauwels <pieterjanpauwels(a)gmail.com> Date: 2016-09-28 15:00 GMT+02:00 Subject: [CC-be] We're looking for a new talent at Open Knowledge Belgium To: CC BE <cc-be(a)creativecommons.domainepublic.net> Dear CC-BE List, We’re looking for a new project coordinator at Open Knowledge Belgium! You can find the job opening here: http://www.openknowledge.be/jobs/ Meanwhile I’m leaving the organisation, more on that here: http://www. openknowledge.be/2016/09/28/a-new-challenge-for-me-is-a-new- opportunity-for-open-knowledge-belgium/ And oh! We’re hosting a final goodbye drink in Ghent on 25 November 2016, so register here: https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/open-knowledge-open- after-work-drink-registration-28145750698 Thanks to everyone who has ever helped along or contributed to Creative Commons and Open Knowledge Belgium projects and tools in the last few years, it was great working with you. Kind regards, Pieter-Jan Community Coordinator Open Knowledge Belgium m: +32 476 66 27 77 a: Sint-Salvatorstraat 18/101, 9000 Gent s: www.openknowledge.be e: pieterjan(a)openknowledge.be - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - www.creativecommons.domainepublic.net https://listes.domainepublic.net/listinfo/cc-be unsubscribe: cc-be-unsubscribe(a)creativecommons.domainepublic.net

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measuring time to proofread wikipedias and the Making Work Pay Tax Credit
by James Salsman 18 Sep '16

18 Sep '16

I am pleased to announce that, thanks to Google Summer of Code student Priyanka Mandikal, the project for the Accuracy Review of Wikipedias project has delivered a working demonstration of open source code and data available here: https://github.com/priyankamandikal/arowf/ Please try it out at: http://tools.wmflabs.org/arowf/ We need your help to test it and try it out and send us comments. You can read more about the project here: https://priyankamandikal.github.io/posts/gsoc-2016-project-overview/ The formal project report, still in progress (Google docs comments from anyone are most welcome) is at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_AiOyVn9Qf5ne1qCHIygUU3OTJcbpkb14N3rIty… This allows experiments to measure, for example, how long it would take to complete proofreading of the wikipedias with and without paying editors to work alongside volunteers. I am sure everyone agrees that is an interesting question which bears directly on budget expectations. I hope multiple organizations use the published methods and their Python implementations to make such measurements. I would also like to suggest a proposal related to the questions in both of the following reviews: http://unotes.hartford.edu/announcements/images/2014_03_04_Cerasoli_and_Nic… http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-8583.12080/abstract The most recent solicitation of community input for the Foundation's Public Policy team I've seen said that they would like suggestions for specific issues as long as the suggestions did not involve endorsements of or opposition to any specific candidates. My support for adjusting copyright royalties on a sliding scale to transfer wealth from larger to smaller artists has been made clear, and I do not believe there are any concerns that I have not addressed concerning alignment to mission or effectiveness. I would also like to propose a related endorsement. The Making Work Pay tax credit (MWPTC) is a negative payroll tax that expired in 2010. It has all the advantages of an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) but would happen with every paycheck. Reinstating the Making Work Pay tax credit would serve to reduce economic inequality. This proposal is within the scope of the Foundation's mission because reducing economic inequality should serve to empower people to develop educational content for the projects because of the increased levels of support for artistic production among a broader set of potential editors with additional discretionary free time due to increased wealth. This proposal is needed because economic inequality produces more excess avoidable deaths and leads to fewer years of productive life than global warming. This proposal would provide substantial benefits to the movement, the community, the Foundation, the US and the world if it were to be successfully adopted. For the reasons stated above, this proposal will be seen as positive. Here is some background and supporting information: * MWPTC overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Work_Pay_tax_credit * MWPTC details: http://tpcprod.urban.org/taxtopics/2011_work.cfm * Problems with expanding the EITC: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/eitc-expansion-backed-obama-and-ryan-… * Educational advantages of expanding the EITC: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/this-policy-would-help-poor-kids-more-th… * Financial advantages of expanding the EITC: http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/strengthening-the-eitc-for-childle… * The working class has lost half their wealth over the past two decades: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/why-people-are-angry/ * Health effects of addressing economic inequality: http://talknicer.com/ehlr.pdf * Economic growth effects of addressing economic inequality: http://talknicer.com/egma.pdf * Unemployment and underemployment effects of addressing economic inequality: http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/33140/1/617293.pdf For an example of how a campaign on this issue could be conducted based on the issues identified in the sources above, please see: http://bit.ly/mwptc Please share your thoughts on the wikipedias proofreading time measurement effort and this related public policy proposal. I expect that some people will say that they do not understand how the public policy proposal relates to the project to measure the amount of time it would take to proofread the wikipedias. I am happy to explain that in detail if and when needed. On a related note, I would like to point out that the project report Google doc suggests future work involving a peer learning system for speaking skills using the same architecture as we derived from the constraints for successfully performing simultaneous paid and volunteer proofreading. I would like people to keep that in mind when evaluating the utility of these proposals. Sincerely, Jim Salsman

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COMMUNIA response to copyright reform proposal
by Lisette Kalshoven 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

Hi all, As has been chattering on this list, today the European Commission shares its proposal for copyright reform. We have written our response as COMMUNIA to the proposal here: http://www.communia-association.org/2016/09/14/europeans-deserve-better-cop… <http://www.communia-association.org/2016/09/14/europeans-deserve-better-cop…>. In short: "The copyright reform proposal presented today by the European Commission fails to meet the needs of citizens, educators, and researchers across Europe. Instead of strengthening the information economy, the proposal preserves a status quo defined in the analog age. In the process, it hinders education, research and cultural expression.”. If you’d like you can: Share our tweet about this unambitious plan: https://twitter.com/communia_eu/status/776014515171459072 <https://twitter.com/communia_eu/status/776014515171459072> or Share the post on the COMMUNIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/communia/ <https://www.facebook.com/communia/> or Create your own tweet/post, please know we use the hashtag #FixCopyright With kind regards, Lisette Kalshoven -- Kennisland | www.kl.nl | t +31205756720 | m +31613943237 | @lnkalshoven | skype: lisette.kalshoven

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Legal to ORTS to BLPN for BLP issues?
by James Salsman 14 Sep '16

14 Sep '16

Can anyone think of any reason why, if the Foundation gets a notice of a BLP defamation or libel issue before it has been discussed beyond the subject's article's talk page, that they wouldn't want to send a summary of the issue by email to ORTS asking a volunteer to raise the issue on WP:BLPN or the specific project(s) corresponding noticeboards? Would this not in many cases lead to earlier resolutions, better information for the Foundation in deciding on a response, and fewer overall BLP issues? Thank you for your kind consideration of this proposal. Sorry I don't have any copyright ideas beyond what I proposed in July. Sincerely, Jim Salsman

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European Copyright Package
by Jan Gerlach 13 Sep '16

13 Sep '16

Dear all Many of you are probably aware of the European Commission's leaked proposal for copyright reform. TL;DR: It does not look good... The proposal will be formally presented on Wednesday, September 14. Chuck Roslof from the WMF legal team and John Weitzmann from WMDE have written a blogpost <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/09/13/european-commission-copyright-leaks/> about it that addresses the many ways, in which the proposed rules fail to promote free knowledge. Please help us share, retweet <https://twitter.com/wikimediapolicy/status/775718229180162048>, etc. 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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Mapping use of free licenses by press services and archives
by Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov 12 Sep '16

12 Sep '16

Hi all, Me an Jan from the WMF have been talking for a while that it could be very useful to have detailed and structured information on the use of free licenses by government press services and state archives agencies. As a first step we have assembled all the national archives and all the government press services of EU/EEA/CH countries. [1] Now, we might benefit from your help. The idea is quite straightforward. We need to gather data on how each of these organisations currently licenses their works. As a second step, we will send them a written inquiry on whether they might be open to switching to open licenses and if not, why. If this fails, we might file freedom of information requests if we feel like there is data that should be public but is being withheld. If think this is an interesting initiative and would like to help us out, please get in touch here or directly contribute to the Meta-Wiki page. Cheers and have a great weekend! Dimi [1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Engage/FoI

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Publicpolicy September 2016