[Wikimedia-l] questions on the use of banner space to promote a cause

[James Salsman]

In today's Office Hour[1] I had some questions about the "Promotional Use
of Website Assets" section of the Foundation Policy and Political
Association Guideline[2] which I'm not sure were addressed in accordance
with what that guideline actually says. And it was made clear that
decisions about it have been made in one-on-one and small group
discussions, instead of the wider consultations which the guideline
contemplates. I've asked similar questions on the Advocacy Advisors list
which weren't directly answered. So I want to ask some specific questions
and a general question of the community at large:

(A) Should the Foundation devote banner space on project home pages to
CISPA advocacy?[3][4]

(B) Should the Foundation devote banner space on project home pages to
CALEA advocacy?[5]

(C) Should the Foundation devote banner space on project home pages to CFAA
advocacy?[6]

(C) As there are economic issues on which advocacy would support the broad
volunteer editor community, but which could in some cases be seen as
politically partisan, where should the line be drawn on economic advocacy?
As a more specific practical reformulation of this question, how bad would
poverty in developed countries have to become before it would be
appropriate for the Foundation to advocate on the issue? Is it already
appropriate? Would it only be appropriate if the proportion of editors
leaving the project due to personal poverty was increasing? Would it never
be appropriate?

Sincerely,
James Salsman

[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2013-03-30

[2]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Foundation_Policy_and_Political_Affiliations_Guideline#Promotional_Use_of_Website_Assets

[3]
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/consequences-cispas-broad-legal-immunity

[4]
http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/03/22/pro-cispa-lawmaker-deletes-retweet-about-money-received-from-pro-cispa-groups/

[5]
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/03/26/andrew_weissmann_fbi_wants_real_time_gmail_dropbox_spying_power.html

[6]
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/congress-new-cfaa-draft-could-have-put-aaron-swartz-jail-decades-longer-he-was