[Foundation-l] Letter to Baidu and press release "Baidu Baike copies content from Wikipedia without attribution" draft

[Thomas Dalton]

I'm sorry, where was the decision made to write a press release? I'm
really not sure that's the best approach. What attempts at direct
communication have been attempted so far?

On 24 April 2011 09:45, WereSpielChequers <werespielchequers at gmail.com> wrote:
> 16,000,000 out of 3,000,000 articles sounds high to me, it would mean
> over 500% of it was copyvio. Could that be individual edits?
>
> Otherwise I suggest:
>
> day mon, 2011
> Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), a non-profit project run by the
> Wikimedia Foundation, uses an open licence but with some terms.
> The Chinese Wikipedia community welcomes the development of Baidu's
> encyclopedia project Baidu Baike, as Baidu's efforts to build a
> Chinese language encyclopaedia are complementary to Wikimedia's aims
> to make the sum of human knowledge freely available to everyone in the
> world. However, Baidu Baike has repeatedly violated the copyright of
> Wikipedia. Wikipedians have complained many times but without result.
>
> Baidu Baike started in April 2006, and now has more than 3 million
> articles. However, Wikipedian's investigations indicate that more than
> 16,000,000<seems high should this be 160,000?> of the edits that
> created these articles were copies from the Chinese Wikipedia or
> translations from the English or Japanese versions of Wikipedia. These
> copies and translations were done without complying with the licence
> adopted by Wikipedia. This is a copyright violation against Wikipedia
> editors, who write for free, asking only that their work remains free
> and is attributed to them. So the contents of Wikipedia are available
> to all under  the CC-by-sa-3.0 and GDFL licences, including to Baidu.
> But Baidu Baike doesn't comply with these licences, and claims
> ownership of all content contributed to it with "? 2011 Baidu" stated
> at the bottom of every page. As for attribution, according to some
> users, even if all content is copied from
> Wikipedia, Baidu' does not allow Wikipedia even to be listed as a
> reference. When Wikipedians find people have copied and pasted content
> from Baidu Baike into Wikipedia they quickly delete this as it
> breaches Baidu's copyright. But Baidu Baike editors take insufficient
> action when they see copyright violation. The terms of use of Baidu
> Baike say the users who post  material are responsible for the
> copyright issues, but as the operator of Baidu Baike, Baidu should
> also take responsibility to resolve this.
>
> Therefore, the Chinese Wikipedia community has sent a letter again to
> Baidu requesting them to take action, and has decided to escalate
> matters by doing so publicly.
>
> There is a great opportunity here for Baidu and its contributors.
> Moving Baidu Baike to the CC-by-sa-3.0 licence would allow Wikipedia
> and Baidu Baike to exchange content and attribute it to the original
> authors. Users of Baidu Baike would have more confidence that the
> material was legitimate, and writers who contribute to Baidu Baike
> would know that their content could be translated into other language
> versions of Wikipedia with attribution, just as Chinese Wikipedians
> know that some of their writings are translated into other languages
> but still attributed to them.
>
> About Wikipedia
> Wikipedia is an Encyclopaedia written by volunteers, and is the
> largest project of the Wikimedia Foundation. "Imagine a world in which
> every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
>  That's our commitment." This is how Jimmy Wales, the founder of
> Wikipedia, explains the mission of Wikimedia.
>
> About CC-by-sa-3.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CC-BY-SA-3.0
>
> Press contact
> Wikimedia Hong Kong: infowikimedia.hk Tango Chan: tango.chanwikimedia.hk +852
> 9063-2515
> Wikimedia Taiwan: presswikimedia.tw Ted Chien: htchienwikimedia.tw
> Chinese Wikipedia OTRS system: info-zhwikimedia.org
>
> WSC
>>
>> ------------------------------
>
>>
>> English version
>> ________________________________
>>
>> Baidu Baike copies content from Wikipedia without attribution
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>>
>> day mon, 2011
>> Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org), a non-profit project run by Wikimedia
>> Foundation, uses an open licence but with some terms.
>> The Chinese Wikipedia community is glad to see the development of Baidu's
>> encyclopedia project called Baidu Baike, and Baidu's efforts to push forward the
>> growing of knowledge around Chinese people, for Wikipedia also aims at making
>> the sum of human's knowledge free to everyone in the world. However, Baidu Baike
>> keeps violating the copyright of Wikipedia. Wikipedians have complained many
>> times but without result.
>> Baidu Baike started in April 2006, and has included 3 million more articles now.
>> However, Wikipedian's investigation shows that among these articles more than
>> 16,000,000 were copied from Chinese, English or Japenese Wikipedia, and were
>> used in a way against the licence adopted by Wikipedia. This is a copyright
>> violation to Wikipedia editors. Wikipedia releases its contents under
>> CC-by-sa-3.0 and GDFL licences, while Baidu Baike doesn't claim to be using
>> these licences, even with "? 2011 Baidu" stated at the bottom of the page. As
>> for attribution, according to some users, even if all content is copied from
>> Wikipedia, it is not allowed by Baidu's censorship to list Wikipedia as a
>> reference. When Wikipedians encounter contents from Baidu Baike, they will
>> delete them without delay, while Baidu Baike editors take no action when they
>> see copyright violation. Although the terms of use of Baidu Baike sais the users
>> who post it should be responsible for the copyright issues, but as the runner of
>> Baidu Baike, Baidu is also inescapably liable for the such issues.
>> Therefore, the Chinese Wikipedia community has sent a letter again to Baidu and
>> requires them to take action. We hope that the modern media can give a report on
>> this issue in order to let more people know about it.
>> About Wikipedia
>> Wikipedia is the largest project run by Wikimedia Foundation. "Imagine a world
>> in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge.
>> That's our commitment." This is how Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia,
>> interprets the mission of Wikipedia.
>> Press contact
>> Wikimedia Hong Kong: infowikimedia.hk Tango Chan: tango.chanwikimedia.hk +852
>> 9063-2515
>> Wikimedia Taiwan: presswikimedia.tw Ted Chien: htchienwikimedia.tw
>> Chinese Wikipedia OTRS system: info-zhwikimedia.org
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
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>>
>>
>> End of foundation-l Digest, Vol 85, Issue 49
>> ********************************************
>>
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