Dear Angela;
Regarding one of the ongoing legal issues, I have heard that you
expressed your view that the process of deletion request does not
constitute a libel.
I agree.
In Japanese legal context, based on precedents and the letter of law,
it seems to me that requesting a deletion of a page for potential
copyright violation is quite safe of an action.
I am not sure if you have heard of it, but there is now an apology
is requested from a person in the ongoing issue. The details are not
clear at this point, but it will not be about admitting any (legal)
guilt of placing his contributions to the deletion request page. If
such an apology happens (which is far from certain at this point),
it will be more likely to be about mishandling of certain cases,
violating not law, but standards of etiquettes.
In any case, just to clarify further, the apology will not be
presented as that of the Foundation, nor, as I see it, the
japanese wikipedia community at large, but that of specific
wikipedians who share a certain view on certain point. And it
might well be stated in the apology that the view is a contested one.
Thanks for your concern, and all your work for the Foundation
and Wikimedia projects,
Tomos