Hi all,
as Dimi said, there had been some discussions about this topic over the years. Unfortunately they were not taken for serious, for example https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Move_the_WMF_and_Server... .
And there is not only the political issue, there are environmental concerns as well. Earthquakes and fires in California, Hurricanes in the South.
Cheers, Gereon
Am 30.09.2020 um 11:44 schrieb Dimitar Parvanov Dimitrov:
Hi all,
We have had discussions on this with many Wikimedians over the years, but frankly, the issue never seemed pressing enough to pursue more seriously. Some points made that I remember where:
- Perhaps it is enough to just have back-up servers in another jurisdictions that could kick-in and whose capacity could quickly be upgraded in case of need. - Nordic jurisdictions like Iceland and Norway frequently came up with the arguments: stable political systems, solid digital rights track records, a climate that helps save energy on cooling servers & availability of hydropower (i.e. environmental benefits).
I think such a move would require serious studies and long, community-wide debates. I can not assess how urgent it is. But then again, waiting until it is a real issue is probably not a great idea.
Cheers, Dimi
На ср, 30.09.2020 г. в 11:35 Dan Garry (Deskana) djgwiki@gmail.com написа:
On Wed, 30 Sep 2020 at 09:49, Erik Moeller eloquence@gmail.com wrote:
I hope that some preliminary contingency plans exist or are being developed, and I'm sure that the movement-wide debate will widen if the US continues its downward slide into authoritarianism.
I agree with Erik. Even under the Obama administration, there were threats to the existence of the movement, such as SOPA [1] which lead to a blackout [2]. One can extrapolate from current events that these threats could well get larger and more frequent, rather than smaller and less frequent, should someone in the US Government decide to focus their attention on attacking Wikipedia and free knowledge. It would be prudent to create a contingency plan which includes an exploration of other options for a location of operation for the Wikimedia Foundation and/or its servers, with their advantages and disadvantages. I personally wouldn't necessarily advocate for making the plan public; that would be ideal, but I'd be comforted merely to know it exists.
On Tue, 29 Sep 2020 at 23:36, Joseph Seddon josephseddon@gmail.com wrote:
I believe options are going to be explored for sustainability but right
now
legally speaking the US is the best jurisdiction for hosting us now and
the
foreseeable future.
I agree with this too. For now, the United States remains the best place for the organisation to operate out of, and a move should not be actively considered.
Dan
[2]:
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