Dear Friends,
[image: image001.jpg]
*To attend the event please r.s.v.p. to marcel.kolaja(a)europarl.europa.eu
<marcel.kolaja(a)europarl.europa.eu> with the following information: family
name, first name, date of birth, nationality,type of ID card, N° ID card*
A Citizens' Struggle: combatting disinformation by self-organised online
communities.
Perspectives from Ukraine and Czech Republic
December 1st at 12:00
at the European Parliament -- room ASP 5E1
Wikipedia is the only top 10 website in the world where content is entirely
maintained by a community. It is also an important source of facts and
knowledge about any major global development. Communities of editors and
contributors put care and effort in ensuring that the information presented
is true, factual and well documented also under rapidly evolving
circumstances. What are the key mechanisms for transparency and good
collective enforcement of rules? How does community governance manage risks
of disinformation?
Anton Protsiuk and Mykola Kozlenko from Wikimedia Ukraine and Klára Joklová
from Wikimedia Czech Republic will present cases and stories illustrating
these efforts around articles, imagery and conversations between
editors.Rebecca MacKinnon, the Wikimedia Foundation’s VP for Global
Advocacy, will give a broader overview of how the foundation supports
volunteers in fighting disinformation as well as insights on how
policymakers can best support the Wikimedia movement and other free
knowledge communities in countering disinformation.
--
Anna Mazgal
Senior EU Policy Advisor
Wikimedia
http://wikimedia.brussels
@a2na
mobile: +32 487 222 945
12 Rue Belliard
BE-1040 Brussels
--
Wikimedia Belgium vzw
BE 0563.775.480
- RPR Brussel
Antwerpselaan 40
Boulevard d’Anvers 1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
www.wikimedia.be
<https://www.wikimedia.be/>
info(a)wikimedia.be <mailto:info@wikimedia.be>
Dear all,
I hope you've had a great start to the week. I'm writing to encourage folks on this list to consider submitting a session to RightsCon 2023.
RightsCon 2023, hosted by Access Now, brings together people from around the world to discuss human rights in the digital age. RightsCon will be a hybrid event, open to online participation as well as in-person from 5–9 June, 2023. It is a free event; everyone can apply, and everyone can register to attend.
The call for proposals is open until January 12, 2023. Wikimedians who host sessions help other RightsCon participants understand the value of community moderation and debate, how Wikimedia projects can be a vehicle for documenting key global issues, and why it is important for even more people to become editors and contribute to the projects. In the past they've shared information about their work countering disinformation, running awareness campaigns about human rights, preserving cultural heritage, and more. Joining RightsCon is also a great opportunity for Wikimedians to hear about developments in the digital rights space, learn about advocacy tactics, and build new relationships.
You can learn more about RightsCon 2023 and how to submit a proposal here [1]. Please feel free to share this opportunity with your networks!
Warmly,
Ziski
_ _ _ _
[1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/11/27/represent-the-wikimedia-movement-at-r…
Hello everyone,
MEP Marcel Kolaja and Wikimedia Europe <http://wikimedia-europe.eu> have
the pleasure to invite you to a discussion:
A Citizens' Struggle: combatting disinformation by self-organised online
communities.
Perspectives from Ukraine and Czech Republic
December 1st at 12:00
at the European Parliament -- room ASP 5E1
Wikipedia is the only top 10 website in the world where content is entirely
maintained by a community. It is also an important source of facts and
knowledge about any major global development. Communities of editors and
contributors put care and effort in ensuring that the information presented
is true, factual and well documented also under rapidly evolving
circumstances. What are the key mechanisms for transparency and good
collective enforcement of rules? How does community governance manage risks
of disinformation?
Anton Protsiuk and Mykola Kozlenko from Wikimedia Ukraine and Klára Joklová
from Wikimedia Czech Republic will present cases and stories illustrating
these efforts around articles, imagery and conversations between
editors.Rebecca MacKinnon, the Wikimedia Foundation’s VP for Global
Advocacy, will give a broader overview of how the foundation supports
volunteers in fighting disinformation as well as insights on how
policymakers can best support the Wikimedia movement and other free
knowledge communities in countering disinformation.
--
Anna Mazgal
Senior EU Policy Advisor
Wikimedia
http://wikimedia.brussels
@a2na
mobile: +32 487 222 945
12 Rue Belliard
BE-1040 Brussels
--
Anna Mazgal
Senior EU Policy Advisor
Wikimedia
http://wikimedia.brussels
@a2na
mobile: +32 487 222 945
12 Rue Belliard
BE-1040 Brussels
--
Wikimedia Belgium vzw
BE 0563.775.480
- RPR Brussel
Antwerpselaan 40
Boulevard d’Anvers 1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
www.wikimedia.be
<https://www.wikimedia.be/>
info(a)wikimedia.be <mailto:info@wikimedia.be>
Hi everyone,
As Brussels and the EU are becoming increasingly important in shaping the
future of the internet and content moderation rules, we need someone to
reinforce our team.
Please see more details here:
https://jobs.euractiv.com/job/senior-eu-public-policy-specialist-mfd-241891
We are grateful to the European affiliates that have taken on the endeavour
to establish Wikimedia Europe
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Europe#top/>, and to the
Wikimedia Foundation that has supported the process and ensured we have
what it takes to move ahead. We are determined to keep our Brussels policy
presence as a showcase of collaboration within Wikimedia.
If you have any further questions, please contact me on or off the list.
Cheers,
Dimi
---
Dimitar Dimitrov
EU Policy Director
wikimedia.brussels
mobile: +32497720374
Rue Belliard 12 Belliardstraat
Brussels
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.*
www.wikimedia.org
--
Wikimedia Belgium vzw
BE 0563.775.480
- RPR Brussel
Antwerpselaan 40
Boulevard d’Anvers 1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
www.wikimedia.be
<https://www.wikimedia.be/>
info(a)wikimedia.be <mailto:info@wikimedia.be>
Hi everyone,
Don't miss out on your chance to attend WikiConference North America this weekend. It is co-hosted with OpenStreetMap and will run from Friday, Nov. 11 to Sunday, Nov. 13. The conference is fully remote and free to all. See link to register [1] and link to the full programme [2].
The WMF Global Advocacy team will be hosting two conversations on Saturday, November 12 (details below).
Additional programme highlights include: A tagging party to stump OpenStreetMap; EFF Director of Investigations demonstrating how his team is combining public records, satellite imagery, and virtual reality to reveal the locations of surveillance towers; OpenStreetMap and Pokemon GO; Future of North American Wikimedia affiliates.
--------
"Wikimedia sued the National Security Agency for mass surveillance. Now what?" [3]
Saturday, Nov. 12 @ 13:00 EST
Panel discussion featuring
* Sarah Taitz, staff attorney, ACLU National Security Project
* Patrick Toomey, Deputy Director of ACLU National Security Project
* Alex Abdo, Litigation Director, Knight First Amendment Institute
* James Buatti, Legal Director, Wikimedia Foundation
--------
"Reclaiming the right to privacy, the bottom-up way: grassroots activism tactics" [4]
Saturday, Nov. 12 @ 13:45 EST
Panel discussion featuring
* Evan Greer, Director, Fight for the Future
* Micah Epstein, Founding member, Coveillance Collective
* Dr. Matt Mahmoudi, Researcher & Adviser, AmnestyTech
* Jennifer Lee, Technology & Liberty Project Manager, ACLU-WA
We hope to see you there!
Ziski & the WMF Global Advocacy Team
____
[1] https://pretix.eu/openstreetmapus/wcna-mappingusa/
[2] https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2022/Schedule
[3] https://wikiconference.org/wiki/Submissions:2022/Wikimedia_sued_the_Nationa…
[4] https://wikiconference.org/wiki/Submissions:2022/Reclaiming_the_right_to_pr…
Dear list,
Several of you asked Anna and myself about the Big Fat Brussels Meeting
VIII [1]. In particular, what to expect, how to prepare and whether you can
join without prior experience (yes, of course!).
On a more general note I will share that the event has three functions:
1) Re-build the network of advocates, that started fading away over the
last two years
2) Share what issues are relevant and topical around the continent
3) Make concrete plans for actions to be taken on some of these topics
If you feel like you need to ask you more specific questions or suggest
some agenda items ahead, we are inviting you to an office hour next week:
*Thursday, 17:00 CET (Brussels), meeting link
<http://meet.google.com/mpg-smeb-djb>*
Cheers,
Dimi
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting_VIII
--
Wikimedia Belgium vzw
BE 0563.775.480
- RPR Brussel
Antwerpselaan 40
Boulevard d’Anvers 1000 Brussel/Bruxelles
www.wikimedia.be
<https://www.wikimedia.be/>
info(a)wikimedia.be <mailto:info@wikimedia.be>
The European Commission released part of its work programme for 2023. The
DSA was published in the Official Journal. The AI Act is progressing
through the instances.
======
Artificial Intelligence Act
======
Lawmakers are trying to hammer out rules that will protect people from
potentially harmful artificial intelligence. The main scenarios being
discussed are instances in which opaque and biased algorithms make
life-changing decisions (think education admissions, social benefits,
policing).
—
As the EU doesn’t want to impose bureaucracy and strict obligations on all
software and AI, it becomes necessary to look for criteria that limit the
scope. One such way out proposed is to target the strictest rules on
“High-Risk AI” only, a definition that includes systems that could put the
life and health of citizens at risk or may determine the access to
education and professional course of someone's life .
—
A High-Risk AI system would need to undergo an approved conformity
assessment and continuously comply with AI requirements as set forth in the
regulation. For certain systems an external body will carry out conformity
assessment. Furthermore, registration of stand-alone Hi-Risk AI systems
will take place in a dedicated EU database, a declaration of conformity
must be signed and the Hi-Risk AI system must carry the CE marking
(Conformité Européenne).
—
From what we know and observe, machine learning systems and tools developed
by Wikimedia organisations or deployed on Wikimedia projects are currently
not falling under the “high risk” category. But as the European Parliament
and the Council continue to squabble about rewording definitions, changes
are possible.
—
As the EU can’t and doesn’t want to control whether data is reliable and at
which point human oversight is necessary for each and every system, the AI
Act leans heavily on industry forums (e.g. ETSI.org) to outline their own
technical instructions that will aim to ensure AI systems are trained on
unbiased data and ultimately determine how much human oversight is needed
and what needs to be done to prevent the software from going off-track.
—
Relying on the industry’s own bodies to call shots on ethical questions has
some stakeholders and lawmakers worried, as they fear it would clash with
their business interests. Hence, this is currently also a hotly debated
issue in parliamentary committees.
—
[1][2][3]
========
Draft Work Programme
========
The European Commission has published its draft work programme for the
second quarter of 2023. [4] It is mostly made up of non-legislative
initiatives, one of which will deal with online piracy of live sports
events (live streams). The broadcasters and the sports federations have
been pushing hard for hard law on this and will be disappointed.
—
Among the legislative proposals we can find a file with the working title
“Compulsory Licencing of Patents”. EU countries regulate their own
compulsory licensing schemes and the Commission believes that during some
crises a EU-level rule might make sense. The scope is still unclear, it
will for sure cover pharmaceuticals, but the file is included in the
“digital section” of the programme, so we expect some possible applications
to online services.
—
Where is the right to repair? [5] The European Commission was expected to
propose legislation encouraging the repair and refurbishment of digital
products by the end of the year. Talk of town has it that it was reordered
to rework its initiative by the legal services. Now MEPs are worried it
might get scrapped at the last moment and are exerting pressure to either
go ahead quickly or include it in the work programme.
============
Net Neutrality
=============
Parts of the European Commission, led by Commissioner Thierry Breton, are
pushing hard for a legislation that would oblige tech companies using a
significant portion of web traffic to pay telecoms. [6] Depending on how
it's done, this could undermine the principle of “net neutrality”. In
Brussels the vocal deliberations by Breton have unfolded a lobbying battle
between “big telcos” and “big tech”, respectively between Member States and
MEPs. [7].
—
Looking at the Commission’s work programme, a public consultation can be
expected in the first quarter of next year. However, according to Politico,
the Commission is planning to send out a “questionnaire” to telecoms and
technology firms on 21 December with the idea of getting a broader picture
on the topic in advance. Fom experience we know that publishing anything
this close to Christmas and sidestepping formal procedures are often
indicators of controversial plans. We will definitely ask to receive the
“questionnaire”.
—
Our position: Wikimedia has had a zero-rating project in the past:
Wikipedia Zero. It was dropped for various reasons, though no clear
explanation has been communicated. Asking around our movement, one hears
arguments such as “low user numbers” and “incompatibility with basic
principles”. In any case, as a movement we have an interest to ensure that
access to all platforms and projects, including small and not-for-profit
alternatives, remains equal.
=====================
Big Fat Brussels Meeting
=====================
The draft programme is out! Additionally, you could help us by indicating
on the Meta-Wiki page whether you plan to come:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting_VIII
====
END
====
[1]
https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?refere…
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence_Act
[3]
https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/ai-act-eu-parliaments-discuss…
[4]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iFj9ubNnfJXp9lyJ1_6ZG7Jv80lWsn8S/view?usp=…
[5]https://repair.eu/
[6]
https://www.reuters.com/technology/eu-consult-big-tech-contribution-telco-n…
[7]
https://www.euractiv.com/section/digital/news/seven-eu-countries-warn-the-c…