Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Airtel Offers Nigerians Free Access to Wikipedia

-- Yana Welinder Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 415.839.6885 ext. 6867 @yanatweets https://twitter.com/yanatweets NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer. On Sat, May 31, 2014 at 5:52 AM, Jens Best jens.best@wikimedia.de wrote: > News from Chile > > Chile’s Subsecretaria de Telecomunicaciones just decided that zero-rating > is a promotion tool which is against net neutrality. Therefore all > zero-rated-related marketing deals have to stop at the 1st of June. > According to a WMF-list in Chile no provider has been offering Wikipedia > Zero. Also I'm not sure if this dismissal reflects only on zero-rated > offers where payment of money is done by the content provider. So it still > needs to be checked how/if this decision is influencing our intent to > spread Wikipedia Zero. > > All in all it shows that we have to improve our arguments in a broader > scale if we don't want to get caught by promoting Free Knowledge" but in > fact 'only' pushing the use of a reduced version of one (very well known > and superb) website which stand exemplary for this idea. We are caught in a > dilemma which imho only can be solved when reaching out to more partners > which stand for Free Knowledge and Free Education. Not sure how this could > work, but fortunately that never was a reason to stop. > > News from Chile: > > > http://qz.com/215064/when-net-neutrality-backfires-chile-just-killed-free-ac... > > > http://www.subtel.gob.cl/noticias/138-neutralidad-red/5311-ley-de-neutralida... > > Overview Wikipedia Zero: > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mobile_partnerships > > > > 2014-05-30 6:59 GMT+02:00 rupert THURNER rupert.thurner@gmail.com: > > > participation is another aspect. wp zero allows free reading. it does > > not allow free participation. write emails, search for references, > > download and adjust code. just as a side note, the oxford university > > stated: until 2012, europe, i.e. 10% of the worlds population, > > produced 50%+ of wikipedias geotagged contents [1]. > > > > imo it is not necessary to terminate wikipedia zero, it "just" needs > > to be negotiated differently: if a telco wants to support our case, > > give every person 200mb free internet access. unrestricted. or, if we > > need to break some law like now or be in the grey area, we could > > support additionally a viral model, like: if somebody is a wikipedia > > contributor (as defined in election criteria, or like in ghana, 3 > > edits per week), give them 2 GB free internet traffic for free, > > unrestricted. > > > > if the WMF legal department would be able to negotiate _this_ e.g. in > > nigeria or india, i would have _big_ respect for them, and with > > pleasure say in future: you guys are worth every cent of the 5 million > > we pay you a year. > > > > [1] > > > http://geography.oii.ox.ac.uk/?page=the-geographically-uneven-coverage-of-wi... > > > > On Fri, May 30, 2014 at 12:43 AM, Jens Best jens.best@wikimedia.de > > wrote: > > > "Giving access to educational resources" isn't the same statement as > > > "zero-rating wikipedia" - If the mobile providers are willing to give > > more > > > open educational ressources (incl. video) a zero-rated access to the > > people > > > THEN you can say "giving access to educational ressources for free" - > > right > > > now it 'only' means "giving free access to wikipedia" (which is great > and > > > awesome for the wikipedia and the people). > > > > > > Let's not be naive on the point that mobile providers have different > > > motivations for zero-rating services as the movement has for fighting > for > > > free knowledge around the globe. > > > > > > In the beginning it was mainly zero.wikipedia (text-only), now more and > > > more providers giving access to m.wikipedia (some-pictures), but where > > are > > > their restrictions and what will these restrictions mean for further > > > development on free knowledge and free education? - And above that what > > > will be our argument when other free knowledge/free education > > organisations > > > don't get zero-rated? When it becomes clear that the marketing scoop of > > > giving "free wikipedia" wasn't at all meant as the start of giving free > > > access to free knowledge around the world? > > > > > > I'm all in to make all open knowledge and all open educational > ressources > > > zero-rated available around the globe - but I'm also quite sure that > this > > > is not the deal the mobile providers are looking forward to. I prefer > to > > > stay critical and not giving up an important principle like net > > neutrality > > > just because some mobile providers made a nice marketing deal with us > > which > > > seemed to serve our own goals in short-term, but isn't reflected enough > > on > > > its deeper implications on a free web and its liberated use. > > > > > > > > > best regards > > > > > > Jens Best > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > 2014-05-29 23:31 GMT+02:00 Marc A. Pelletier marc@uberbox.org: > > > > > >> On 05/29/2014 05:24 PM, Jens Best wrote: > > >> > A noble cause > > >> > doesn't necessarily make breaking an important principle > > unproblematic. > > >> > > >> In my opinion, if the definition of the principle makes the obviously > > >> perverse conclusion that a beneficial thing like giving access to > > >> educational resources for free to the world's least economically > > >> fortunate people "a bad thing", then the definition is obviously > broken. > > >> > > >> > It could be the time to start talking > > >> > globally about an in-the-future exit strategy on the surely noble > > >> > initiative e.g. when certain milestones are reached in participating > > >> > countries/regions. > > >> > > >> So you're telling me that there is a point where we can say "Oh, you > > >> can't afford access? Too bad." and it's not a bad thing because some > > >> /other/ metric has been reached? > > >> > > >> -- Marc > > > -- > > > Jens Best > > > Präsidium > > > Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. > > > web: http://www.wikimedia.de > > > mail: jens.best http://goog_17221883@wikimedia.de > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe > > > > > > -- > -- > Jens Best > Präsidium > Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. > web: http://www.wikimedia.de > mail: jens.best http://goog_17221883@wikimedia.de > > Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V. > Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts > Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig > anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, > Steuernummer 27/681/51985. > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe >