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Freedom of Panorama has been picked up in Paris, Brussels, Rome and Tallinn after our EU-wide #saveFoP campaign [1] last year. A step in the right direction in any of these capitals would immensely contribute to our EU reform effort.
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France: After Wikimédia France has managed to amend [2][3] the loi pour une République numérique in the National Assembly so that it includes at least partial Freedom of Panorama, we are now expecting the Senate vote to be in May or June. Anything is still possible, from full exception to a complete deletion. Anyone speaking French should keep their eyes open and offer their help. Activities are being prepared ;)
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Belgium: The consequent positioning Wikimedia Belgium is finally beginning to pay off. Members of Parliament of the ruling coalition have proposed a full Freedom of Panorama exception in the house. It it is a mix of personal contacts (e.g. the reception in honour of the founding of Wikimedia Belgium was hosted by the President of the Federal Parliament [5]) and spillover effects from the European #saveFoP campaign that has generated enough traction for this to happen. The goal now will be to keep the file going and not let disappear at the bottom of the waiting list.[6]
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Italy: Wikimedia Italia is working to untie a double knot. Not only is Italy completely lacking the notion of Freedom of Panorama, but beyond that their Heritage Law theoretically protects any building that is considered a cultural heritage. [7] Preliminary meetings with the Minister of Culture and Members of Parliament are taking place in order to find a way forwrad. The idea is to use the media buzz around Wikimania to help us get some political traction.
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Estonia: Freedom of Panorama is a given in Estonia, but only for non-commercial purposes. Wikimedia Eesti is working strategically and hard to change this. They have spend the past 6 months talking to almost every relevant stakeholder in the country. Their masterpiece: A letter written by the Estonian Architects’ Association supporting extending the exception to all uses. A public letter that we are allowed to show around! [8]
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Net Neutrality guidelines: Since the end of last year, the European Union has a new Telecommunications Single Market (TSM) framework. Part of the package are rules on mobile roaming and network neutrality. The Regulation will become applicable in April. Interestingly, BEREC (the body of national European telecoms regulators) has the final word on some key questions. It is currently producing implementation guidelines [9], that will settle practical questions around “traffic management”, “specialised services” and “zero-rating” very soon. Several wide cast lobbying campaigns targeting the national capitals (each national regulator is a member of BEREC) are underway.
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Commissioners talk the talk: The two Commissioners on every Brussels digital geek’s watchlist had several public appearances. Naturally, this led to a fair share of stargazing by all concerned stakeholders. At the launch of Startup Europe Week, Vice-President Ansip was envisioning “a single and connected European ecosystem” and pointing out “differences in national regulations” are an impediment to that. [10] Commissioner Oettinger confirmed the Audio-Visual Media Directive would be re-opened and also didn’t miss to mention a “single regulatory framework”. [11]
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In-house news
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WMUK had its first Advocacy Working Group meeting to make out its public policy priorities in the UK. The results show that text & data mining as well as orphan works are the two issues they want to look into more closely. [12]
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WMCZ, together with its free&open coalition partners, will organise a public policy advocacy seminar on 7 April. Yours truly will be there.
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WMNO & WMLVUG: The Wikimedia groups in Norway and Latvia have co-signed the Statement of Intent, appointed contact people and are now members of the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU. [13] This brings the totals up to 18 with Bulgaria expected to join in the coming weeks. Anyone in touch with WMPT?
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WMCH & WMNO: Have decided to pitch into the EU policy fund for this year. Thank you!!! <3 Switzerland and Norway are not EU members, but their countries’ deals with Brussels oblige them to implement considerable parts of EU legislation, including on digital matters. [14]
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[1]https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Freedom_of_Panorama_2015
[2]http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/amendements/3399/AN/250.asp
[3]http://blog.wikimedia.fr/aujourdhui-adoption-de-la-liberte-de-panorama-en-france-mais-8623
[4]http://www.lachambre.be/FLWB/PDF/54/1484/54K1484001.pdf
[5]https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Founding_event_of_Wikimedia_Belgium_19_November_2014
[6]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/WMBE/FoP
[7]https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libert%C3%A0_di_panorama#Italia
[8]https://ee.wikimedia.org/wiki/Pilt:EALi_vastus_panoraamivabadus.pdf
[12]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/WMKUK
[13]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Statement_of_Intent#Signatories
[14]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Funding/2016#Actual_Budget_for_2016