Update on this thread:
The on-wiki discussion has now been admin-closed, an extract from the
closing statement reads:
The result of this discussion is that there is a broad consensus to have a
banner for readers in Australia about the proposed
change to Australian
law. There is precedent for this form of advocacy, particularly around
Freedom of Panorama. The consensus supports raising the awareness of
readers in Australia, while ensuring readers are “empower[ed] … to get
access to knowledge and information” (wording from WMF Legal).
(for the full closing statement, go to :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Australian_Wikipedians%27_notice_bo…
)
Subsequent to this, a video-conf meeting was held including representatives
of WMF, Australian Digital Alliance, Electronic Frontiers Australia to 'get
the ball rolling'.* Most importantly, the timing recommendation from ADA is
that there will *probably* be other related legislation debated in federal
parliament (regarding to 'Safe Harbours') in the near future - so Fair Use
discussion will not be centre-stage until *probably* May. This is our
working-theory timeframe for a banner campaign.
So as not to bore people here with ongoing updates - I've created a project
page on Meta with a timeline etc:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fair_Use_in_Australia
That will be, eventually, where the banners' landing page will be. For any
really major updates (such as, that we're close to 'launch') I'll put a
note here (and on the Australian Wikipedians' Noticeboard). Meanwhile, if
you'd like to be involved in drafting the landing page etc, please
watchlist that page on Meta.
Also arising from the community discussion is the draft "History of Fair
Use proposals in Australia" page (currently in my userspace draft) - help
improving that before moving to mainspace would be appreciated:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Wittylama/History_of_Fair_Use_proposals_…
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this discussion thus far,
- Liam / Wittylama
*5 Australian-based en.wp admins were invited but unfortunately none could
make it - just so you know that I am trying my best to be as transparent as
possible about all this :-)
wittylama.com
Peace, love & metadata
On 3 March 2017 at 18:20, Liam Wyatt <liamwyatt(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Public Policy wikifolk,
As some of you may be aware, I've been working with Jessica Coates (cc'd)
- of the Australian Digital Alliance(ADA) - formerly from Creative Commons
international - on a Wikimedia advocacy campaign in Australia with regards
to the possibility that Fair Use legislation could be introduced into the
Australian Copyright Act. This has been recommended many times before by
various government enquiries, and the Library and Education sectors of
Australia have long hoped for its introduction. Our current system - known
as Fair Dealing - is extremely limiting and prescriptive, which is why it
was illegal, for example, to use a personal VCR recorder in Australia until
2006, just to take one example...
Having sought and received confirmation from WMF-Legal that the proposal
is technically and legally allowable, and also received confirmation from
the ADA that their staff/communications/documentation resources would be
available to do the 'heavy lifting' in terms of public communications, I
have been running this straw poll/consultation with the Australian,
english-Wikipedia community:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Australian_
Wikipedians%27_notice_board#Fair_Use_campaign_-_Next_steps
You can see there the details of the proposed advocacy campaign on-wiki,
and also the background details of why this legal issue is relevant right
now in the Australian political landscape.
In short - I'm proposing to run banners on en.wp to logged out users in
the Australian-IP range who are viewing WP articles which include a Fair
Use image (e.g. corporate logo, album cover, film title card...), which
will point them to a landing page [probably on meta] explaining what Fair
Use in Australia would mean in practice, and why it's not nearly as scary
as the Copyright Lobby would have them believe. It can then point people to
further resources on the ADA website, ask them to contact their local
politician on the matter etc. [I do NOT intend for wikimedians to be
collecting a petition]. In this regard it is rather similar to the FoP
advocacy campaign run in Europe.
here's some local political context:
http://www.smh.com.
au/comment/productivity-commission-to-say-fair-use-
could-get-us-ahead-and-end-the-copyright-protection-
racket-20161214-gtau3u.html and here's a video that ADA produced a couple
of years ago for their previous lobbying campaign in this topic (which was
pitched to an audience of online-creative industry in general)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%
3ACreationistas_-_Australian_Copyright_Is_Broken.webm
And here's the actual government enquiry report which is currently sitting
in front of the politicans waiting for a formal reply:
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/intellectual-property/report
As you can see at the Straw Poll/Consultation page the comments so far are
heavily (though not unanimously) in favour of running this advocacy
campaign on-wiki. It has been advertised through watchlist notifications in
the Australian IP range, emails to the Australian-chapter mailing list, as
well as talkpage notices to the 1700 people in the category:Australian
Wikipedians.
So, as people involved in wikimedia/open-access advocacy in general,
you're welcome to comment on that page yourselves (though - do please
indicate if you're actually going to be affected by this proposal, since
it's only going to be visible in Australia). Equally - I'd love your
feedback and help in designing the banner and landing page (on meta?) IF
the consultation is eventually closed as demonstrating confirmed
relevant-community consensus to support. Obviously there's a Communications
side of this as well.
Sincerely,
Liam / Wittylama
wittylama.com
Peace, love & metadata