Dear friends,
We are reaching out with an exciting opportunity! The WMF Global Advocacy team is submitting a handful of session proposals for RightsCon 2022 (June 6-10, 2022). We wish to feature the work of the incredible volunteers behind the diverse Wikimedia projects.
To apply, please submit your rough proposal outline by January 10. Details about the process and proposal resources are included in the application form. Form link here: https://forms.gle/BcXAqYTFc3xJTnhEA
About RightsCon: RightsCon is the world's leading summit on human rights in the digital age. It brings together academics, experts, rights activists, and all kinds of wonderful internet humans to problem-solve, share ideas, and launch new projects. Learn more about RightsCon here: https://www.rightscon.org/
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Ziski Putz
Dear all,
The policy team at WMF is very proud to announce the approval of the Human Rights Policy by the Board of Trustees on 8 December 2021. The full policy as well as some FAQs about it are available to read via this link: https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Human_Rights_Policy#Frequently…
For more information about the policy and what it means for the Wikimedia Foundation’s work in
the coming years, you can check out our blog post on Diff: https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/12/09/what-the-wikimedia-foundations-new-hu…
We invite you to join representatives of the Foundation’s Global Advocacy and Human Rights teams here for a conversation hour tomorrow, 10th
December, at 10:00 AM ET (15:00 UTC) to address any immediate concerns, questions, or suggestions regarding this policy or how it will be implemented. Please use this link to join: http://meet.google.com/wio-vdkw-phd
The session will be recorded for later viewing and you may submit questions by email to myself (fputz(a)wikimedia.org) or Ricky Gaines (rgaines(a)wikimedia.org) ahead of or following the conversation hour. Additional conversation hours on this policy will be made available in the coming weeks.
All the best,
Ziski Putz
Hello,
Creative Commons, SPARC, and EIFL are launching a global campaign<https://creativecommons.org/2021/11/08/creating-a-campaign-to-increase-open…> to make open sharing of climate and biodiversity research the default. Open Society Foundations is pleased to support this campaign.
We are looking for an enthusiastic Campaign Manager to devise, plan, and create materials for a four-year global campaign to open climate and biodiversity research; and then organize, coordinate, and deliver on that detailed campaign plan.
Job posting: https://creativecommons.org/about/team/opportunities/opportunity-campaign-m…
Application deadline January 4, 2022.
Cheers,
Melissa
Melissa Hagemann
Senior Program Officer
Information Program
Open Society Foundations
1730 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #700
Washington, DC 20006
U.S.A.
'
Our Privacy Policy<https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/policies/privacy> sets out how and why we collect, store, use, and share your personal data, and it explains your rights and how to raise concerns with us.
'
The online regulation files are moving forward at light-speed by Brussels
standards. Proposed December last year, the Council has now wrapped up its
position on both files, while the Parliament has its position on the
Digital Markets Act. On the Digital Services Act we expect the lead
committee to come to an agreement before the Christmas break. This way the
final, inter-institutional negotiations can start very early 2022. Also,
the Data Governance Act is the first digital file to be finalised during
the current legislative period.
Anna & Dimi
This and previous reports on Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Monitor
======
Digital Services Act (DSA)
---
In the Council, Member States agreed on a negotiating position.
Expectations were that the French Presidency would have to wrap it up in
January, but Slovenia actually managed to pull everyone together. From our
perspective we can welcome a “fix” and we helped avoid several pitfalls.
---
The fix is the language surrounding “actual knowledge”. Initially the text
sounded like any notice a service provider receives would lead to an
obligation to act and remove content. The agreed upon version of Article
14.3 is very clear that only some notices point to illegal content and
gives the provider space to assess. Another argument was around whether
there should be fixed deadlines for content removal. An interim version of
the DSA text suggested either 24h and 48h. We, and many others, made the
rounds arguing against it. In the end, this was dropped, the most
convincing argument for Member States being that this regulation is
horizontal, covering many types of content. It seemed to lawmakers that a
universal deadline can’t be appropriate for everything from Gucci handbags,
over sports live streams and music videos to holiday photos. Wikipedia is
likely to be categorised as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under this
new law. This will come with new transparency, risk assessment and
reporting duties, some of which we already cover. As Wikimedia projects
don’t run advertising, many VLOP obligations won’t apply. We discussed
whether we should ask for a carve-out, but strategically decided that we
want to demonstrate that we can take on responsibility and be open about
analysing our challenges and risks. This contrasts well against the
resistance coming from most for-profit platforms. Full negotiated text: [1]
---
Member States’ positions on the agreed negotiating position indicate that
quite a number of countries have an appetite to re-open some parts down the
line. Such statements are common. They indicate priorities, but as there is
already an agreed text, they often remain “for the record”. In this case
Germany and Denmark say they want stronger rules for marketplaces and
physical goods. Something that might come, as the EP rapporteur Schaldemose
also looks in this direction. Italy and Luxembourg indicated that they are
open to limit targeted advertising, also something still discussed in
Parliament. France reiterated that it wants the European Commission to be
responsible for the enforcement against VLOPs. Hungary and Poland want each
national regular to have powers over all VLOPs.
---
In the European Parliament, negotiations in the Internal Market and
Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) are still ongoing, with large parts of
the file already agreed upon. We are expecting the position to be adopted
in committee in December and in plenary in January. Similar to the
Council, the European Parliament has also fixed the “actual knowledge”
language in Article 14.3. Several attempts at fixed removal deadlines and
stay-down obligations have also been fended off. The EP will introduce some
sort of waiver for some requirements for some non-for profits (but only
covering small platforms) and some limitations on targeted advertising.
Details depend on the final round of compromises between MEPs. A clearer
language distinguishing between rules made by the service provider and
rules made by the community, somenthing we have advocated for, is part of
one of the compromise amednments and likely to be adopted at this point.
[2]
======
Digital Markets Act (DMA)
---
Achievement unlocked! The DMA went through the Council of the EU and the
IMCO Committee, ready for the intern-institutional negotiations a.k.a.
trilogues. The parliament version is still pending a plenary vote on
December 16.
---
The debate during the trilogues will centre on a fundamental question: does
Europe want to seriously target big tech and only big tech, or do we prefer
targeting more platforms with fewer obligations? Since both positions have
strong support, it may take months to agree which approach is the winning
one. We have a detailed scoop on what are the points of divergence and
where there will be little discussion in our blog. [3]
======
Data Governance Act (DGA)
---
Lawmakers from the Council and the Parliament reached an agreement on the
DGA yesterday. The DGA will create data clearinghouses to incentivise
companies sharing data among each other on a neutral space that belongs to
all. These will essentially be a new category of platforms called
“providers of data intermediation services”, which willl need to be
registered and come with a set of obligations. Unlike the Commission
proposals, services like Europeana and Wikidata are not in the scope in
this final version. One positive win is that public sector data re-use will
become a little bit easier, as the regulations prohibits public sector
bodies from using the sui generis database right to hinder re-use. The GDPR
remained untouched, which was an issue of many digital rights groups.
Finally, there will be a volutnary certification and logo - “data altruism
organisation recognised by the EU”, available to services that gather data
for the public interest and respect all of the EU’s data rules. The final
compromises can be seen here: [4]
======
Transposition of Copyright Directive
---
In France a new ordinance transposing the copyright directive was presented
to the Council of Ministers by the Minister of Culture Roselyne Bachelot.
The text implements exceptions for data mining, the use of protected works
in the context of digital and cross-border educational activities and
preservation of cultural heritage into French law. It only takes the bare
minimum of the European law on board. The educational exception only covers
parts of works and completely carves out works designed for educational
purposes and musical scores, which might actually go against the directive
and be a reason for litigation. France also “skips” the transposition of
Article 14 a.k.a. “public domain safeguard”, which might also be
incompatible with EU law. [5][6]
---
Spain: The government also wanted to implement the copyright directive by
Royal Decree, thus bypassing the parliamentary process. Wikimedia Spain,
Creative Commons Spain and partners are calling for a thorough
parliamentary deliberation: https://demud.wikimedia.es/
======
wikimedia.brussels
---
Our November blog posts for you:
-
e-Privacy: our quick fix to help nonprofits and protect consent
<https://wikimedia.brussels/e-privacy-our-quick-fix-to-help-nonprofits-and-p…>
- ePrivacy regulation will be another pillar, next to the GDPR, or
sustainable privacy practices online. It will also, potentially, make the
lives of nonprofits harder and Anna proposes how to avoid this unnecessary
pitfall.
-
Editorial: The DSA debate after Haugen and before the trilogues
<https://wikimedia.brussels/editorial-the-dsa-debate-after-haugen-and-before…>
- the recent Facebook (or shall we say “Meta”?) whistleblower was all the
rage in town in November. In his editorial, Dimi proposes an outlook on the
DSA taking on some of Ms Haugen’s points
-
DMA votes: IMCO vs. Council, users vs. Member States
<https://wikimedia.brussels/dma-votes-imco-vs-council-users-vs-member-states/>
- DMA has now a Council of the EU version and the IMCO version that goes
under a Plenary vote in December. Anna looked into differences and
similarities to make some predictions for the 2022 trilogues.
======
END
======
[1]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1R3u5eg3PfPs_tCeD9rFp-UDUY3_gHD4z/view?usp=…
[2]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/11KnGAAExje1rTNPlgC2u8_nKVPUMpBVG/view?usp=…
[3]
https://wikimedia.brussels/dma-votes-imco-vs-council-users-vs-member-states/
[04]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RSaPMtQhExzQW6L0jHdLtfCXXV1j8OQC/view?usp=…
[5]https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000044362034
[6]https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000044362026