[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation and Saudi Telecom (STC) partner to provide access to Wikipedia free of mobile data charges in the Middle East

[Andreas Kolbe]

"... some feature development". Please just tell us:

Is there anything about political or any other kind of censorship in the
WMF/STC agreement and/or the cooperation? Was the topic ever raised in the
discussions? If so, in which contexts? What was decided?

Is it part of the written agreement?

Were any other freedom of expression issues and related technical solutions
discussed, or addressed in the agreement?



On Tue, Oct 16, 2012 at 12:13 AM, Kul Wadhwa <kwadhwa at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> Hi Sarah,
>
> On Mon, Oct 15, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Sarah <slimvirgin at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Apologies if this is a stupid question, but I don't understand the
> > need for a partnership between the Wikipedia Foundation and the Saudi
> > Telecom Company (STC).
> >
> > If STC wants not to charge its customers for accessing Wikipedia, in
> > what way does it need the help of the Foundation to achieve that?
> >
>
> This is not a stupid question...actually my wife asked me the same thing :)
>
> To implement a zero-rated version of Wikipedia we engage and work directly
> with an operator on multiple levels. Besides spending time with their
> business/marketing and/or corporate social responsibility staff to take on
> this program (because it does cost them time and resources) we work with on
> the technical side to adapt, customize and debug a light-weight version of
> Wikipedia (i.e., Wikipedia Zero) that their customers can access on their
> network. Sometimes this includes, but is not limited to, creating a
> country-specific landing page, developing banners so customers know they
> are not paying when they are using it, and some feature development. We
> also need to make sure that it works within their billing systems so
> customers don't get charged for using it. Operators have varying technical
> infrastructures (some completely different from others) so we have to make
> adjustments for each one. Then we spend a lot time testing with them to
> make sure it's running properly.
>
> You can find more information here:
>
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero
>
> --Kul
>
> --
> Kul Wadhwa
> Head of Mobile
> Wikimedia Foundation
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