[Foundation-l] Politico: "Wikimedia foundation hires lobbyists on sopa, pipa"

[Mike Godwin]

Cyrano writes:

> Mike, I don't know how's the political landscape is in the USA, but you
> would say that there is few significative corruption and collusion?

No, I wouldn't say that. Whenever you have enough human beings
assembled to create a political environment, you create the potential
for corruption and collusion, and no nation, including the USA, is
immune from that. But you also create the potential for idealism,
principled activism, collective progressive action, humanitarianism,
and the growth and sharing of knowledge. And it was the better side of
human nature that we witnessed among our colleagues and allies in
working against these bad legal proposals.

To be effective politically you have to have a deep understanding of
the political environment you're working in. That's why the Foundation
drew upon knowledgeable people for advice as we all went forward in
expressing our concerns about SOPA and PIPA. In no instance has the
Foundation indulged in or supported anything that counts as corruption
or collusion. I think the Wikimedia Movement should be proud that the
Foundation has lived up to the Movement's highest ideals. The efforts
these last weeks have been both admirably transparrent and admirably
effective, and I think we all learned a lot from them.


-Mike