--- Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
.... We first of all need to be sure of our facts in the matter to avoid making accusations that have no foundation in reality. A cooperative attitude can also be helpful. It would help to know just where the decision came from, and whether there is an accessible higher level bureaucrat who might overrule the decision. It may even be that their requirements are within acceptable levels; we shouldn't presume that they aren't. It would be great if the appropriate officials could be convinced that there is some benefit for the PRC as a whole in having Wikipedia available to its people.
The block seems to have been confirmed, but I'm still not convinced that it was entirely intentional. They could have blocked an entire IP range of spammers or porn sites and we could have been caught in the cross fire. If that is the case then this should be as simple as Jimbo writing the right person in the PRC to explain the situation.
Yes, they are expensive, but we are not looking at lawyers with United States style fee structures. At this point first level lawyer contact would be useful. Its purpose would be to discuss in broad terms what applicable laws and strategies are available. This does not imply that there will ever be any active court case or any other kind of formal procedure.
Yes, it would be great to get a probono lawyer who lives in or near the PRC.
A peaceful settlement of the issue will always be the preferred option.
Absolutely.
-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav)
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