Something I don't see in the FAQ - could the use of WMF funds to defend someone for actions taken in a project role imperil the immunity of the WMF? If the organization is seen to provide for the defense of its functionaries, and describes those people as taking "official action" in its FAQ, is there any bleedover risk for the Foundation itself?
Nathan
On Fri, Aug 31, 2012 at 4:35 PM, Geoff Brigham gbrigham@wikimedia.org wrote:
Note: You may also read this announcement in DE - ES - FR - IT - JA - RU
Many Wikimedians take on key support roles that help ensure that the community’s projects run smoothly and effectively. The Wikimedia Foundation -- under the lead of the Finance Department and the Legal and Community Advocacy Department -- is proposing the Legal Fees Assistance Program. This program is intended to help find qualified lawyers or pay for the legal defense fees of eligible users in specified support roles. The assistance would be available in the unlikely event those users were ever named in a legal complaint as a defendant because of their support roles on any Wikimedia project. The program would apply to all projects and languages.
We have started a request for comment to see what the community thinks of this proposed initiative, and we would like those who are interested to look at the proposed program itself and let us know your thoughts. If you have further questions, we have prepared an FAQ, and we will be available to discuss via the talk pages.
Many thanks,
Geoff
Geoff Brigham General Counsel Wikimedia Foundation
Garfield
Garfield Byrd Chief of Finance and Administration Wikimedia Foundation
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
Forwarding, as this doesn't yet seem to have made it through from the Announce list (possibly because of the HTML content; but trying anyway).
The original message can also be read at http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaannounce-l/2012-August/000467....
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Geoff Brigham gbrigham@wikimedia.org To: wikimediaannounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org Cc: Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2012 22:35:39 +0200 Subject: Request for Comments: Legal Fees Assistance Program *Note: You may also read this announcement in DEhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/Announcement/de- EShttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/Announcement/es- FRhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/Announcement/fr- IThttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/Announcement/it- JAhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Request_for_comment/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/ja- RUhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Request_for_comment/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/ru *
Many Wikimedians take on key support roles that help ensure that the community’s projects run smoothly and effectively. The Wikimedia Foundation -- under the lead of the Finance Department and the Legal and Community Advocacy Department -- is proposing the Legal Fees Assistance Program. This program is intended to help find qualified lawyers or pay for the legal defense fees of eligible users in specified support roleshttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program#Eligibility. The assistance would be available in the unlikely event those users were ever named in a legal complaint as a defendant because of their support roles on any Wikimedia project. The program would apply to all projects and languages.
We have started a request for commenthttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Request_for_comment/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Programto see what the community thinks of this proposed initiative, and we would like those who are interested to look at the proposed program itselfhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Programand let us know your thoughts. If you have further questions, we have prepared an FAQhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program/FAQ, and we will be available to discuss via the talk pages.
Many thanks,
Geoff https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:Gbrigham
Geoff Brigham General Counsel Wikimedia Foundation
Garfield https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:Gbyrd Garfield Byrd Chief of Finance and Administration Wikimedia Foundation
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