The European Commission is flooding Brussels with the last batch of
legislative proposals, including updated liability for software and AI
tools. Meanwhile online platforms are beginning to look into the
implementation of the Digital Services Act.
====
DSA Implementation
---
The very final version of the text of the Digital Services Act (a
corrigendum) is available [1] and will be nodded off by the Council and
Parliament in the coming days. After that it will be published in the
Official Journal of the EU and enter into force 20 days after publication.
Most obligations will apply 15 months after entry into force or from 1
January 2024, whichever is later. However, some obligations on providers of
online platforms, such as publishing the number of average active
recipients and obligations on Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) after
designation, will apply from three months after entry into force.
---
The European Commission is expected to lay out its plans on designation and
supervision of VLOPs by the end of this year. This will take the form of
so-called delegated acts (a.k.a. implementing acts). Apart from a
designation process we also expect the Commission to publish a supervisory
fee structure and how they intend to enforce the rules.
====
Data Act
====
The lead rapporteur for the Data Act, Pilar del Castillo Vera (EPP ES) in
the Industry Committee, has published her draft report with proposed
amendments. [2] One area where she suggests clarification is the provision
under which governments may request data from services during a “public
emergency”. She tries to integrate the notion of rapidity and explicitly
mentions public health emergencies and major natural disasters. Her
suggestions would also exclude all SMEs from the scope. Another limitation
that she proposed to write into the text is to explicitly exclude “personal
data or data covered by professional secrecy”. Our position on this is the
same as during the DSA: The term “public emergency” and the procedures that
trigger it must be clearly defined.
---
Meanwhile in the Council the Czech Presidency is moving ahead with the
negotiations among Member States in the Council. There is a proposal to
extend Article 35, which limits the sui generis database right (SGDR), even
further. Under the Czech proposal the SGDR would never apply to machine
generated data. Under the Commission proposal it wouldn’t apply only when a
user asks for access to data generated by a product or service they use. We
welcome the proposal and also spoke in favour of it with relevant MEPs.
Some background: [3]
======
AI Liability
======
The European Commission presented a new AI Liability Directive. [4] The
stated goal is to complement the AI Act in making sure people and companies
who were harmed by high-risk AI systems (think recruitment, admissions,
autonomous drones, self-driving cars) are able to seek damages. Under the
proposed text the burden of proof on the claimant would be reversed under
certain conditions, as it would be very hard for an outside person to
understand how the AI algorithm works. Also, courts will have the explicit
right to request companies to disclose technical information about their
algorithms.
---
In a related move, the Commission also presented its proposal for an
updated Product Liability Directive. [5] This Directive covers all unsafe
products, including software and digital services, meaning it also covers
machine learning algorithms. Under the new rules providers would be
responsible for software updates and patches. The proposal asle makes one
huge exception: free and open source software provided outside the course
of a commercial activity will not be covered. This provision appears in a
recital only. Perhaps it would be best to move it to a proper article.
========
EMFA
========
The European Media Freedom Act was proposed by the European Commission. [6]
It has the aim of helping journalists and media protect their independence
across the EU, but reads a little like a smörgåsbord covered with soft law
measures. It prohibits Member States from surveilling media or journalists,
except under a “national security” clause. It obliges Member States to have
“open and non-discriminatory” prodecudure for electing heads of public
broadcasters and to distribute public advertising funds fairly. The idea
seems to be that by stating these principles in EU law, citizens and media
would be able to enforce them in court.
---
As expected, an alteration of the so-called “media exception” resurfaced in
the proposal. Media companies had unsuccessfully tried to make it harder
for online platforms to remove or restrict visibility to their content in
the Digital Services Act. The new provision asks some online platforms to
send registered media outlets a prior warning before removing or
restricting their content. The provision will essentially only apply to
Very Large Online Platforms (as per DSA) that allow business users to offer
goods or services to consumers (as per Regulation on fairness for business
users of online intermediation services).
==============================
Combatting Violence Against Women
==============================
A directive on combatting violence against women and domestic violence [7]
is currently in the works of the European Parliament and the Council. While
the piece of legislation doesn’t focus on the online world it nonetheless
has provisions against the non-consensual sharing of intimate or
manipulated material, cyber harassment, cyber stalking and cyber incitement
of violence and hatred. It would mandate that all EU Member States make
these actions punishable as criminal offences. Member States must also
ensure that competent judicial authorities can issue binding legal orders
to remove or disable access to such material from online platforms.
=====================
Political Advertising Online
=====================
The EU is trying to come up with universal rules on political advertising
online. [8] The definition of what constitutes political advertising is
quite broad, which is one major point of discussion. It is not directly
related to payment, which causes quite a bit of confusion. Potentially even
a Wikipedia article about a candidate could fall into this category.
However, the obligations are mainly addressed at “providers of advertising
services”, which effectively leaves Wikimedia projects out of scope.
---
Another point of tension is whether political advertisements can be
targeted. The DSA will already prohibit the use of sensitive personal data
(e.g. political preferences, sexual orientation, religous beliefs), but
some lawmakers would like to go further. Others say that politicians should
be able to target voters online with ads only if they have explicitly
agreed to give some data like gender, age and location. A clear majority is
not in sight.
=====================
Big Fat Brussels Meeting
=====================
We have published the dates, location and a draft agenda for this year’s
Big Fat Brussels Meeting (2 &3 December). Feel free to add your name to the
participants list if you plan to come:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting_VIII
====
END
====
[1]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HaPpOkD5DdMsYlJXt-tBQtax7yduCcek/view?usp=…
[2]https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/ITRE-PR-732704_EN.pdf
[3]
http://copyrightblog.kluweriplaw.com/2022/03/04/a-vanishing-right-the-sui-g…
[4]https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_5807
[5]
https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/document/3193da9a-cecb-44ad-9a9c…
[6]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18YDbhYiSQVa2x2upKW4nBipgpgQdI2Xc/view?usp=…
[7]
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_…
[8]
https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/ficheprocedure.do?refere…
(Read this message in other languages on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Leadership_Development_Working_Group/Call_f…>:
español • Русский • বাংলা • 한국어 • Português • العربية •हिन्दी • עברית
• Ìgbò • català• Yoruba)
TL;DR: The draft leadership definition[1] prepared by the Leadership
Development Working Group is ready for community feedback! Please share
your feedback on Meta[2], the feedback form[3] or the Movement Strategy
Forum[4]. You can also directly mail us at
leadershipworkinggroup(a)wikimedia.org. The feedback will be collected till
October 6, 2022.
Hello everyone!
I hope you are aware that the Leadership Development Working Group[5] has
been working over the past few months to formulate and find ways to nurture
the leadership of our movement. The Leadership Development Working Group
(LDWG) is a group of Wikimedia volunteers representing different
communities, languages, roles, and experiences. We are pleased to inform
the community that our draft definition of leadership is now available for
community feedback. This first draft definition of leadership was written
after months of discussion, learning, and sharing from our community
perspective. The Wikimedia Movement, which is by nature diverse and
distinctive in its own way, is expressly addressed by this definition.
Please consider going through the definition and letting us know what you
think by *October 6, 20**22.* The draft definition includes a general
definition of leadership and subcategories that elaborate on the actions,
qualities, and outcomes of good leadership.
There are many places where you can express your ideas, suggestions, and
comments, such as the meta talk page[2], the feedback form[3], and Movement
Strategy Forum Post[4]. You can also directly mail us at
leadershipworkinggroup(a)wikimedia.org.
You can check if the general definition, and the subcategories align with
your idea of leadership in the movement. You can also try finding the gaps,
maybe some qualities of a leader or anything else are missing in the draft
definition or you can check if the definition applies to all cultural,
linguistic, community or other contexts of the movement and share your
thoughts with us.
Together, let's celebrate the movement's diverse and distinctive
leadership!
Thank you.
[1] Link to the draft definition on meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Leadership_Development_Working_Group/Content>
[2] Link to meta talk page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Leadership_Development_Working_Group>
[3] Link to the feedback form <https://forms.gle/o7a4FYV8ZkisJF3KA>
[4] Link to the Movement Strategy Forum post
<https://forum.movement-strategy.org/t/leadership-development-working-group/…>
[5] Link to the meta page of LDWG
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Leadership_Development_Working_Group>
Cassie Casares
Program Support Associate
Community Development
Wikimedia Foundation
ccasares(a)wikimedia.org
Dear friends,
You are warmly invited to the Global Advocacy/Public Policy team's monthly
conversation hour on *September 24 & 29* about *anti-surveillance *efforts
within the Free Knowledge Movement*.*
Our guest speakers are Andri Humardhani (Board of Wikimedia Indonesia),
Pepe Flores (President of Wikimedia Mexico) and Kate Ruane (WMF). All
details including how to add to the agenda can be found on on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_policy/Conversation_hours_and_Events…>
.
Hope to see you there!
Ziski & the Global Advocacy Team
Franziska Putz (she/her)
Movement Advocacy Manager, Global Advocacy
Wikimedia Foundation
Fputz(a)wikimedia.org
*UTC timezone
Dear enthusiasts,
It has been a couple of years that we have had a proper meet-up of
volunteers and staff working on public policy issues in Europe, a.k.a. a
Big Fat Brussels Meeting.
Recently we were consumed by an array of organisational and administrative
questions, but policy work is continuing and we would like to bring the
focus and movement attention back to it. Exciting files are on the line,
such as the Data Act, the AI Act, initiatives on content moderation
against child abuse material, disinformation, media freedom, right to
repair, net neutrality and more.
We were wondering whether it would make sense to get together at the
beginning of December? If you're interested, please indicate in this poll
whether any of the dates 2-4 December would work for you:
https://dud-poll.inf.tu-dresden.de/S6oeJf6RTQ/
If we see that many interested people can't make it, we may move the event
to the first quarter 2023.
Thanks and cheers,
Dimi
Hello Wikimedia friends,
To make open sharing of research outputs the norm in climate science, Creative Commons<https://creativecommons.org/>, SPARC<https://sparcopen.org/> and EIFL<https://www.eifl.net/> have launched a 4-year Open Climate Campaign<https://openclimatecampaign.org/>.
Climate change, and the resulting harm to our global biodiversity, is one of the world's most pressing challenges. While the existence of climate change and the resulting loss of biodiversity is certain, knowledge and data about these global challenges and the possible solutions, mitigations and actions to tackle them are too often not publicly accessible.
The Open Climate Campaign is one of the initiatives in the growing Open Climate movement. To learn more, check out SPARC's recent post: https://sparcopen.org/news/2022/climate-change-urgency-prompts-efforts-to-p….
Cheers,
Melissa
The Open Climate Campaign is made possible by grants from the Open Society Foundations<https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/> and Arcadia - a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.<https://www.arcadiafund.org.uk/>
'
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.
'
Dear friends,
The WMF Global Advocacy team has released our "Don't Blink" monthly retrospective for August:
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/09/13/dont-blink-public-policy-snapshot-for…>
The blog post covers the actions we’ve taken this past month to advance fundamental rights online. Highlights include:
* Asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take our lawsuit against mass surveillance. To learn more, join our monthly conversation hour at the end of September.
* Collaborations with Wikimedia Chile to connect with government officials, researchers, academics, civil society organizations, and legislators in Chile to raise awareness and advance public policy priorities to promote the free knowledge movement.
* The Global Advocacy team's recently published ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ (FAQ) resource on Meta-Wiki!
If you want more information about any of these initiatives, or wish to share something of your own, join us at our monthly conversation hours at the end of the month. Details can be found on our Meta-Wiki page: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_policy/Conversation_hours_and_Events>
We hope you enjoy the read!
Ziski & The Global Advocacy Team
Dear all,
We wanted to share two exciting announcements with you. We simply couldn't wait for the "Don't Blink" publication!
***** (1) Wikimedia Foundation v. National Security Agency *****
WHAT: There is a new development in our lawsuit challenging the United States’ Upstream mass surveillance program. We first filed this lawsuit in March 2015, to protect the privacy and free expression rights of Wikimedia users worldwide. Last Friday, alongside the American Civil Liberties Union and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, we filed a petition before the Supreme Court of the United States in which we urged U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to NSA’s Mass Surveillance.
WHY: Under the mass surveillance practices we are challenging, the U.S. government is collecting, filtering, and searching trillions of internet communications that pass through international cables. This data shows what Wikimedia users are reading, and what contributions they make to the projects. This not only violates user privacy, but is also an attack on freedom of expression. Users anywhere in the world should be able to read and share free knowledge without the U.S. government—or any government—looking over their shoulder.
MORE: You can read more about this development in a press release we published on our website: <https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/08/26/wikimedia-foundation-aclu-a…>.
***** (2) 20+ Questions about advocacy and public policy at the Wikimedia Foundation *****
WHAT: The Wikimedia Foundation has published a 'Frequently Asked Questions' (FAQ) resource on the Global Advocacy Team's Meta-Wiki page: <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_policy/FAQ#General_questions_about_o…>. The list clarifies the Foundation's public policy priorities, who works on what, how various teams within the Foundation collaborate, and much more.
WHY: The free knowledge movement needs to work together to ensure that everyone, anywhere, can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. A small but important step in this collaboration is to help build bridges and make connections. Our FAQ is part of an effort to "Build a Better Front door" [1] and to "Speak human" [2]. It should be easy to find information, resources and support related to the Foundation's public policy and advocacy work, just as that information should be conveyed in language that is simple, relatable and translatable.
MORE: We hope that our FAQ is useful and welcome feedback. Do you have another question? Do you want more details in one of our answers? Do you love it? Share your feedback via talk page, email to Ziski (fputz(a)wikimedia.org), or comment on the Movement Strategy Forum [3].
Have a lovely week!
Ziski, on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Global Advocacy Team
____________
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_communications_insights/Report/Fro…
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_communications_insights/Report/Spe…
[3] https://forum.movement-strategy.org/t/feedback-faq-about-wikimedia-foundati…
Dear all,
Wikimania is finally live!!
The Wikimedia Foundation's Global Advocacy team has picked a few that closely align with the advocacy priorities of the free knowledge movement.
The array of sessions is incredible. You can see the full schedule here: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Program/Schedule>. Registration is free & most sessions are virtual. Selecting only ten to share was, of course, an impossible task. There are many sessions beyond this list that feature knowledge equity, access, privacy, human rights, etc...so we'd love to hear from you!
Which sessions are on your radar?
Below are ours. Enjoy the festival,
Ziski & the Global Advocacy team
*** GLOBAL ADVOCACY'S WATCH-LIST ***
1) Digital Security Basics (Thursday @ 10:35 UTC)
Overview: Join us for a beginner-friendly session on digital security best practices. Garner a basic understanding of digital security best practices and steps you can take to protect yourself online. Engage in a discussion session about experiences with digital security from fellow Wikimedians.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Digital_Security_Basi…>.
____
2) Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines Roundtable (Thursday @ 14:05 UTC)
Overview: Wikimedians will join Revisions Committee members as well as members of the Trust & Safety Policy team staff in a roundtable to discuss. Main topics will include discussion of some changes to the UCoC and the revisions to the enforcement guidelines currently being worked on by a staff-volunteer Revision Committee.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Universal_Code_of_Con…>.
____
3) Documenting the Chilean constitutional convention on Wikipedia (Friday @ 14:40 UTC)
Overview: This session aims to share experience working inside the Chilean Constitutional Convention’s facilities where the new Constitution is written, documenting this historical event on the web’s largest encyclopedia. To contribute to creating and diffusing relevant, reliable, and easy-to-understand information about the Convention, Wikimedia Chile created a series of strategies to support local volunteers who document this process in Wikipedia, including signing an agreement to have me as a Wikimedian in Residence.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Documenting_the_Chile…>.
____
4) Evolving Threats of State-Led Censorship and Response Strategies (Saturday @ 00:45 UTC)
Overview: In the last few years, we have witnessed people in positions of power engage in legislative and legal jiu-jitsu to shape the Internet, which has led to platforms to cave into governmental requests and resort to the slicing of the Internet through geo-blocking. This session delves into the unique challenges the Wikimedia Foundation is currently facing as the authorities backed by legislative mandates attempt to compel the movement to fall in line. We will discuss the Russian Government's demands, censorship in Indonesia, the recent resolution of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. v. Turkey, and the strategies the Foundation is adopting to respond to such threats.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Evolving_Threats_of_S…>.
____
5) Copyright and the Wikis roundtable: know your rights when using copyrighted material for the public good (Saturday @ 10:45 UTC)
Overview: Copyright related concepts that provide for copyright exceptions for public benefit, such as Fair Use and Freedom of Panorama, are important to both Wikipedia editors and contributors to Wikimedia Commons. Many of these concepts remain poorly understood within the Wiki Community creating confusion and uncertainly which hurts our ability to edit the Wikis for the public good. This round table event intends to discuss and clarify copyright exceptions when editing Wikipedia.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Copyright_and_the_Wik…>.
____
6) Responsible community governance: Equity and access to mental health information on Wikimedia projects (Sunday @ 10:45 UTC)
Overview: How can community governance models adapt to subjects that require additional expertise, including mental health-related topics? Join us for a virtual card game show focused on Wikipedia-specific challenges related to community governance issues, sensitive topics, and content moderation, followed by an open discussion with expert panelists. Learn how community governance models can be extremely effective at handling content moderation at scale and in ways that are less biased than top-down models...and at the same time, how inconsistent communication among subject matter experts, platform representatives, regulators, and volunteer editors can result in policies which fail to address the actual needs of users.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Responsible_community…>.
____
7) Open Culture, Brighter Future? An international policy outlook (Sunday @ 8:15 UTC)
Overview: Cultural heritage institutions face many difficulties in realizing their missions in digital environments as copyright laws often represent a significant barrier to the missions of cultural heritage institutions, limiting individuals' rights to culture and education. Creative Commons argues that copyright must be reformed to be conducive to GLAMs’ missions. This session aims to gather experiences of on-the-ground national reform to help us move from a theoretical policy document to a practical resource that addresses the urgent need of realizing open culture for all: the forthcoming CC copyright guide for policymakers on open culture.
Session details: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Open_Culture,_Brighte…>.
____
8) Growing WikiForHumanRights: Learning from a Global Topics for Impact Campaign (Sunday @ 15:55 UTC)
Overview: In this panel conversation, we will share what we learned from running the second version of the Earth Day \Right to a Healthy Environment campaign\ and how it can help us think about. We will present first what happened this year, invite several local event organizers to describe their experience working with at the intersection of human rights and environmental issues, and how to iterate the campaign and combine it with a pilot Wikimedia Foundation training later this year focused on what we have learned from the campaign and topic for impact organizing.
Session info: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Growing_WikiForHumanR…>.
____
9) Democracy and Wikimedia - sharing insights on how our work strengthens civil society (Sunday @ 17:25 UTC)
Overview: Join for a reflection on how Wikimedia activities increase information literacy skills, which in turn boosts people's capacities to become engaged, skilled, and informed citizens - something that the world needs at this moment. This session highlights how important Wikimedia programme activities are in the context of fake news and the shrinking civil society space globally.
Session info: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Democracy_and_Wikimed…>.
____
10) Workshop: Community-Centered Implementation of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Human Rights Policy (Sunday @ 17:45 UTC)
Overview: Learn about the progress the Foundation is making to implement its Human Rights Policy and discuss solutions to addressing specific human rights challenges facing our platforms - including harmful content, harassment, government surveillance and censorship, and challenges to knowledge equity.
Session info: <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2022:Submissions/Workshop:_Community-C…>.
To all of you lovely, subscribed, free knowledge-loving folks,
The WMF Global Advocacy team has released our "Don't Blink" monthly
retrospective for July: <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/08/10/dont-blink-public-policy-snapshot-for…>
The blog post covers the actions we’ve taken this past month to advance fundamental rights
online. Highlights include:
* How the Wikimedia Foundation gained accreditation as an observer by the United Nations and what that means for the movement
* Details about the Wikimedia Foundation's Human Rights Impact Assessment and how you can get involved
and Protection Act
* Argentina’s Supreme Court protects Freedom of Expression
* Launch of a Wikimedia-wide public mapping project to counter disinformation.
We hope you enjoy the read! We also welcome any thoughts/comments on how these monthly
digests can be improved to suit your interests.
Warmly,
Ziski & The Global Advocacy Team
Dear public policy pals,
An exciting announcement: this month the Global Advocacy team's conversation hour will focus on copyright!
Our monthly conversation hours are always open to all, but a special reminder is in order given how beloved this topic is. We are hosting two calls in different time zones:
* August 26 @ 14:00 UTC
* August 27 @ 8:00 UTC
In the first half of the call we will discuss community approaches to copyright advocacy, featuring Dimi Dimitrov from the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU as well as Amanda Lawrence from Wikimedia Australia. After that, it is up to you!
The conversation hour will be on Zoom and will be recorded. The recording will be uploaded to our Meta-Wiki page. All details including how to add to the agenda can be found on on Meta [1].
Please share with your network. Hope to see you there!
Ziski (on behalf of the Global Advocacy Team)
_______
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_policy/Conversation_hours_and_Events…