This lawsuit seems to me to be attacking broadly shared peace and prosperity for the long term, as described in my Wikiversity article on "Information is a public good: Designing experiments to improve government":
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Information_is_a_public_good:_Designing_expe...
This includes multiple citations to a 2002 World Bank report on "Right to tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development", including comments by then-World Bank President James Wolfensohn, who wrote, "free press is not a luxury. It is at the core of equitable development. ... But ... the independence of the media can be fragile and easily compromised. ... Sometimes control by powerful private interests restricts reporting. ... [T]o support development, media need the right environment — in terms of freedoms, capacities, and checks and balances." That citation and others in this tech report documents substantial research that might be useful in combating attacks like this on free press.
*** ACTION BY WMF PORTUGAL?
What might it take to have the European Portuguese Wikipedia display a banner documenting this case and the threat it poses to free speech everywhere, including link(s) to document(2) like my Wikiversity piece cited above? (And maybe even have it highlighted more broadly?)
Spencer Graves, PhD User:DavidMCEddy 4550 Warwick Blvd 508 Kansas City, Missouri 64111 USA
On 7/27/23 12:05 PM, Ndahiro Derrick Alter wrote:
So unfortunate to hear that we still have cases of people who want to control the free flow of information. Hoping the Wikipedia editors get the protection that they deserve
On Thu, 27 Jul 2023 at 19:01, <fputz@wikimedia.org mailto:fputz@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Dear Friends, We wish to bring your attention to important developments in Portugal. We are concerned that an ongoing lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation in Portugal may be a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) designed to suppress well-sourced public information. To summarize, the court has so far ordered the Foundation to delete information from articles about the notable person who is suing us, and to identify the Wikipedians who added the content. The case could end up with a ruling that punishes individuals simply for summarizing and publishing on Wikipedia what was said about a notable person in news media. If a volunteer editor who works on an article can become liable for everything that is in the article, contributing to Wikipedia will become much more difficult not only in Portugal, but potentially elsewhere as well. This would have an undue chilling effect on freedom of expression and information worldwide. We want to assure you that we are fighting this case for two reasons: 1) to protect the user data of volunteers contributing to political biographies; and, 2) to set an important precedent protecting the ability to write biographies of living persons. In the process, the Foundation has not provided any user data in this case. We are hopeful that the courts will agree with us on the importance of protecting freedom of information and good-faith discussion of public interest topics. You can learn more about the details of the case and what it could mean for Wikimedia projects and volunteers in this blog post [1]. All the best, Ziski & WMF Global Advocacy Team ----- [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/07/27/high-stakes-for-the-wikimedia-projects-in-portugal-fighting-a-strategic-lawsuit-against-public-participation-slapp/ <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/07/27/high-stakes-for-the-wikimedia-projects-in-portugal-fighting-a-strategic-lawsuit-against-public-participation-slapp/> _______________________________________________ Publicpolicy mailing list -- publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:publicpolicy@lists.wikimedia.org> To unsubscribe send an email to publicpolicy-leave@lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:publicpolicy-leave@lists.wikimedia.org>
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