[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Announcement: Building a new Legal and Community Advocacy Department & Promotion of Philippe Beaudette

[Andreas K.]

On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 2:23 AM, Philippe Beaudette
<philippe at wikimedia.org>wrote:

> I'm not really sure where you get that, MZ.  Politics and lobbying were not
> mentioned at all.
>
> What was mentioned was advocacy... advocacy for the community, in varying
> roles and flavors.
>
> So to clear it up: this is not a lobbying or political wing.  Or anything
> that even resembles it.  :)
>
> There's a reasonable discussion in the page, linked from the announcement.
>
> pb
>


Well, what do "fighting for content online", "providing information about
legislative initiatives worldwide that impact online content and
censorship", and "support the advancement of legal conditions that enable
unimpeded access to information online, worldwide" mean?

Is this program not in one way or another the result and an extension of
the recent SOPA blackout?

"We have found that our community has a keen interest in legal and
legislative issues (and the policy makers in those areas return the
interest), so we would like to explore new ways to support better the
community within the goals of the Foundation. We want to improve our
communication with international communities, ensuring that the voice of
the global community is heard on important initiatives."

How does this not mean that Wikimedia will in part be a lobbying
organisation? Or in other words, how can you advocate effectively for
favourable legal conditions without involving lobbying and politics?

A.