[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Foundation applauds IWF decision to reverse Wikipedia censorship in the United Kingdom

[David Moran]

Glad that's over with.

FMF



On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 7:01 PM, Jay Walsh <jwalsh at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> We're quite pleased to share this information with you.  This press
> release was distributed a few hours ago - we now have the news posted
> on the WMF wiki and we've updated the blog.
>
> Thanks are owed to many volunteers who spoke to the media and spread
> the word about this situation, as well as those who have been working
> on these and similar issues for quite some time.  Thank you for
> helping to make this possible!
>
> Best,
>
> --
> Jay Walsh
> Head of Communications
> WikimediaFoundation.org
> +1 (415) 839 6885 x 609
>
>
> >
> > 'Wikimedia Foundation applauds IWF decision to reverse Wikipedia
> > censorship in the United Kingdom'
> > Removal from Internet blacklist will also allow UK Wikipedians to
> > resume editing
> >
> > San Francisco CA, December 9 - Earlier today the Internet Watch
> > Foundation (IWF), a non-profit agency tasked with preventing access
> > to potentially illegal internet content, reversed its ruling earlier
> > this week that prevented over 95% of UK internet users from
> > accessing an article about an album by a German rock band, The
> > Scorpions. As a result, UK Wikipedia users were unable to access all
> > of the editing functions on Wikipedia. With this decision, the IWF
> > has removed Wikipedia from its internet 'blacklist.'
> >
> > "We are grateful to the IWF for making this swift decision, and to
> > thousands of internet users from around the world for their
> > outpouring of support," said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the
> > Wikimedia Foundation. "Millions of Britons now have access to all of
> > Wikipedia, and volunteers can resume their important editing work.
> > The Wikimedia Foundation greatly admires the work of our volunteers
> > - they care deeply about Wikipedia and are the first responders in
> > dealing with potentially illegal content on Wikipedia." Gardner
> > added that both the Foundation and its community of users "work hard
> > to be responsive and responsible when it comes to legitimate legal
> > concerns."
> >
> > Mike Godwin, General Counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation stated:
> > "We recognize the good intentions of Internet watch groups,
> > including their focus on blocking and discouraging illegal content.
> > Nevertheless, this incident underscores the need for transparency
> > and accountability in the processes of the Internet Watch Foundation
> > and similar bodies around the world."
> >
> > Added Godwin, "In the long run, monitoring groups need to develop a
> > public set of 'best practices.' These best practices should, at a
> > minimum, decrease the impact on content found to be lawful,
> > acknowledge the context in which the content at issue occurs, and be
> > maximally transparent both to service providers and to individual
> > users. There should be no false or misleading error messages when
> > online censorship does occur."
> >
> > The Wikimedia Foundation had criticized the the lack of transparency
> > in the IWF's decision making and appeal process, as well as the
> > suspension of editing functions that resulted following the
> > censorship. UK Wikipedia editors account for over 25% of all editing
> > activity on the English Wikipedia.
> >
> > The Wikimedia Foundation is open to dialog on these issues with the
> > IWF and other Internet watch groups.
> >
> > Wikipedia, the fourth most-visited website in the world, is funded
> > in large part by donations from its users. The Wikimedia Foundation
> > is in the midst of its fifth global giving campaign. For more
> > information, visit http://donate.wikimedia.org
> >
> >
> > 'About the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia'
> > wikimediafoundation.org
> > wikipedia.org
> >
> > The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization which
> > operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore,
> > Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia
> > Foundation receive more than 270 million unique visitors per month,
> > making them the 4th most popular web property world-wide. Available
> > in more than 265 languages, Wikipedia provides more than 11 million
> > articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than
> > 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.
> >
> > ---
> >
> > For more information, contact:
> >
> > Jay Walsh
> > Head of Communications
> > Wikimedia Foundation
> > jwalsh at wikimedia.org
> > +1 415-839-6885, ext 609
> > http://blog.wikimedia.org/
> >
> > (To be unsubscribed from this distribution list, please reply with
> > the subject: Unsubscribe)
> >
> >
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>