Hi folks - sharing a news release that WMF issued this morning along with STC. (This press release is also posted on the WMF wiki at https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/WMF_and_STC_partner_on_… ) '''The Wikimedia Foundation and Saudi Telecom (STC) partner to provide access to Wikipedia free of mobile data charges in the Middle East''' ''Service available immediately to STC customers in Saudi Arabia'' San Francisco, California and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- October 14, 2012 -- Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and the Wikimedia Foundation announced a new partnership today to offer Wikipedia free of data charges on mobile devices to STC customers in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. By making Wikipedia available to its 25 million mobile customers, STC and the Wikimedia Foundation commit to increasing access to the free and open knowledge available on Wikipedia. Wikipedia Zero enables customers to browse the website for free and with high flexibility on all mobile phones. This partnership is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's mobile strategy, which focuses on reaching billions of people around the world whose primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a mobile device. This initiative is particularly important, given that the Foundation has made Arabic language countries a special priority in its strategic planning. “We are thrilled that STC has joined us in removing a major barrier to accessing Wikipedia on mobile phones. Improving access to the Wikimedia projects in the Arabic speaking world is a strategic priority for the Foundation, and this partnership is a step forward in our mission to enable everyone on the planet to access free knowledge,” said Kul Takanao Wadhwa, Head of Mobile, Wikimedia Foundation. “With Wikipedia Zero, the Wikimedia Foundation is able to provide free Wikipedia access to almost 230 million mobile users around the world. We’re very excited that STC is joining us in this mission.” In collaboration with “Intigral”, a company specialized in providing digital media solutions to telecom operators, STC subscribers can now access the free service in both Arabic and English by pointing their mobile browser to m.wikipedia.org. A lightweight, text-only version optimized for slower connections is also available at zero.wikipedia.org. The move comes as STC continues to consolidate its leadership in various fields, especially in social awareness and the fostering of a knowledge-sharing culture. Wikipedia Zero will also be available through the mobile browser, and features high browsing speeds despite being a free service. Eng. Ibrahim Al Omar, Vice President for Personal Services, said “One of the principles that STC adheres to is the commitment to spreading social awareness and the fostering of a knowledge-sharing culture that accomplishes the aspirations of all segments of our customer-base.” He then added, “Wikipedia Zero is considered an additional cornerstone that supports the continuous efforts of STC in the field of social awareness.” The launch of Wikipedia Zero comes in line with STC’s strategy to prioritize customer needs, and is an affirmation of the company’s commitment to fulfilling customer expectations while meeting their demands, and to continuously develop its services to satisfy their aspirations and give them a variety of unrestricted options and alternatives. For more information, please refer to the partnership Q&A at: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mobile_partnerships#STC '''About Saudi Telecom''' www.stc.com.sa Saudi Telecom Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides telecommunications services to individuals and businesses primarily in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its GSM segment primarily offers mobile, prepaid cards, international roaming, and messaging services. The company’s Landline segment principally provides fixed line, card telephones, interconnect, and international call services. Its DATA segment primarily offers leased data transmission circuits, DSL, and Internet services. The company also engages in the operation of communications projects; transmission and processing of information; wholesale and retail trade of recharge card services, telecommunication equipment and devices, and computer services; sale and re-sale of various landlines and mobiles telecommunication services; and maintenance and operation of commercial centers. In addition, it provides mobile services, international telecommunications, broad band, and other related services in Bahrain; and operates third generation mobile network in Indonesia. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. '''About Wikimedia Foundation''' http://wikimediafoundation.org http://blog.wikimedia.org The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix, Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 456 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, August 2012). Available in 285 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 22 million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of roughly 100,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants. -- Jay Walsh Head of Communications WikimediaFoundation.org blog.wikimedia.org +1 (415) 839 6885 x 6609, @jansonw _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l

that sounds great! is this offer available to all STC clients, or only restricted to certain plans?

Will access to Wikipedia for people in Saudi Arabia be uncensored? Has there been any agreement with Saudi Telecom on censorship? Andreas On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 6:32 PM, Jay Walsh <jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/WMF_and_STC_partner_on_… _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 3:31 AM, Moushira Elamrawy <moushirah(a)gmail.com Not exactly.[1][2] ;)

Regards Theo [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Saudi_Arabia#Internet [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_articles_censored_in_Saudi_… _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l

Yes, this too, but people always manage to work around it ;) In general it is accessible and better than the censorship status in other countries (Syria!), and the government is investing in increasing Wikipedia Arabic content, so a lot could be done to expand readership and editor base with the current status, even if it isn't perfect. Best, M

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship_in_Saudi_Arabia#Internet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_articles_censored_in_Saudi_… _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l

In collaboration with “Intigral”, a company specialized in providing digital media solutions to telecom operators, STC subscribers can now access the free service in both Arabic and English by pointing their mobile browser to m.wikipedia.org.

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 6:23 AM, geni <geniice(a)gmail.com> wrote: These questions are really for Jay to answer, rather than for us to speculate on. What I mean is: Is there any mention of censorship in the partnership agreement, one way or the other? Is the text of the agreement public? Would it be possible to make it public, for transparency? If not, why not?

Hello, This announcement is worrying, to say the least. In other words, the Wikimedia Foundation is doing a partnership with one of the most retrograde government, which is also a regular censor on Internet content. How could you justify that?

Hello, This announcement is worrying, to say the least. In other words, the Wikimedia Foundation is doing a partnership with one of the most retrograde government, which is also a regular censor on Internet content. How could you justify that?

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 10:35 PM, Yann Forget <yannfo(a)gmail.com> wrote: Hi Yann It's not a partnership with the government, it's with a telecom company to allow its subscriber in KSA (MENA region), free and easy access to Wikipedia. KSA is a big part of the middle-east region, the political reasons aside this helps the public get better access to Wikipedia. There is no reason why we should not increase availability for the general public. I'm not sure about the stance against this either, if a government is trying to censor and restrict access, we should do what? not help provide access to their citizens, not increase availability? how would that help the situation? This is a way of working with the current situation and perhaps around it, its about providing free access to people in the region, which is probably the best thing to do at the time. Regards Theo _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but I don't understand the need for a partnership between the Wikipedia Foundation and the Saudi Telecom Company (STC). If STC wants not to charge its customers for accessing Wikipedia, in what way does it need the help of the Foundation to achieve that?

"... some feature development". Please just tell us: Is there anything about political or any other kind of censorship in the WMF/STC agreement and/or the cooperation? Was the topic ever raised in the discussions? If so, in which contexts? What was decided?

Is it part of the written agreement?

Were any other freedom of expression issues and related technical solutions discussed, or addressed in the agreement?

Hi Andreas, On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 5:07 PM, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote: the *There are absolutely no provisions in our partnership to block or censor the content of our projects. We would not consider any requests from any partner to block or censor content*.

On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 10:35 PM, Yann Forget <yannfo(a)gmail.com> wrote: Hi Yann It's not a partnership with the government, it's with a telecom company to

allow its subscriber in KSA (MENA region), free and easy access to Wikipedia. KSA is a big part of the middle-east region, the political reasons aside this helps the public get better access to Wikipedia. There is no reason why we should not increase availability for the general public. I'm not sure about the stance against this either, if a government is trying to censor and restrict access, we should do what? not help provide access to their citizens, not increase availability? how would that help the situation? This is a way of working with the current situation and perhaps around it, its about providing free access to people in the region, which is probably the best thing to do at the time. Regards Theo _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l

I guess I can see your point there, Yan. But please let me ask you this question : What do you think is the best way to teach people what the word "freedom" means?

-- Ciphers Note : I have been following this list for a while, but this is the first time I feel like posting something here. Apologize in advance if my comments are not in the scope of this list, and I wish posting using my wiki username won`t bother anyone.

The Saudi government is investing in increasing Arabic Wikipedia content? Are you sure? Could you tell us more about this project – i.e. how the funding is distributed, and who does the editing?

Well, this telecom company is the arm of the government to impose censorship in KSA.

Actually, censorship is imposed through a national proxy run by the Communication and Information Technology Commission[1]. ISPs do not get to pick and choose. [0]: http://www.econtent.org.sa/ [1]: http://internet.sa/

Hi Sarah, This is not a stupid question...actually my wife asked me the same thing :) To implement a zero-rated version of Wikipedia we engage and work directly with an operator on multiple levels. Besides spending time with their business/marketing and/or corporate social responsibility staff to take on this program (because it does cost them time and resources) we work with on the technical side to adapt, customize and debug a light-weight version of Wikipedia (i.e., Wikipedia Zero) that their customers can access on their network. ... [snip]