Wikimedia Foundation/Legal/Global Advocacy/Update
We are getting ready to do an update to the Public Policy Portal. This page shows the edits we propose to make.
We invite you to discuss these suggested edits on the discussion page. We would like to do the update to the Portal on Nov. 28, so please leave us your feedback at your earliest convenience. --JGerlach (WMF) (talk) 20:57, 10 November 2016 (UTC) |
Some more fundamental changes include:
- Added “access to history” wording to section on Access
- Added “publicly funded works should be in the public domain” to section on Access
- Added anti-harassment to section on Access
- Added support of FLOSS to section on copyright
- Added paragraph “no new rights for scans etc.” (GLAM) to section on copyright.
- Mentioned self-censorship in section on Censorship
- Added explanation of intermediary liability to that section
- Mentioned tendency towards takedown-and-stay-down in section on Intermediary Liability.
- Added a coherent ending to section on Privacy
Draft revisions
editBelow the current and revised versions of the text on our public policy portal are presented in tables. In the revised sections, the new text is highlighted.
Hyperlinks generally lead to information on Wikipedia, if available.
In addition to the edits suggest on this page, we're also thinking about how we can relevant things to the sections on "Related Resources" (at the bottom of each page). We want to link to important blog posts, for example. Another option is to add an additional page for our comments and submissions to policymakers.
Front Page
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| Intro text | Policies and laws on access, censorship, copyright, intermediary liability, and privacy directly affect the vibrancy of Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. The Wikimedia community is in a unique position to shape these policies to allow people around the world to access, create, share, and remix free knowledge. | Policies and laws on access to knowledge, censorship, copyright, intermediary liability, and privacy directly affect the vibrancy of Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. With thousands of volunteers working towards a common vision, the Wikimedia community is in a unique position to shape public policy to allow people around the world to access, create, share, and remix free knowledge. |
Box on the Right
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| Write | To write and edit a Wikipedia article, Wikipedians need privacy and anonymity to speak their mind so that they can feel safe writing about possibly controversial topics and telling the facts. They need to find public domain or freely licensed media to illustrate articles without the fear of violating copyright. They need fast and affordable access to Wikipedia so that they can spend time improving articles. They need assurance that their Wikipedia community of editors will have full editorial control without interference from the Wikimedia Foundation. To accomplish that, they need the Wikimedia Foundation to remain a neutral host that cannot be forced to delete or alter what people write by governments or other third parties. | To write and edit a Wikipedia article, Wikipedians need privacy and anonymity to speak their mind so that they can feel safe writing about possibly controversial topics and telling the facts. They need to find public domain or freely licensed media to illustrate articles without the fear of violating copyright. They need fast and affordable access to Wikipedia and other knowledge resources so that they can contribute to improving articles. They also need assurance that the Wikipedia community of editors will have full editorial control without interference from the Wikimedia Foundation. To be productive and effectively collaborate, they need the Wikimedia Foundation to remain a neutral host that cannot be forced by governments or others to delete or alter what people write. |
| Share | For an article to be freely shared all over the world, Wikipedia readers need to have fast and reliable access to all of Wikipedia. This means that Wikipedia articles should never be censored by internet service providers. The Wikimedia Foundation should also be able to challenge takedown requests by third parties. And Wikipedia readers need to have privacy when reading Wikipedia articles, so that they can feel safe to feed their intellectual curiosity. | For an article to be freely shared all over the world, Wikipedia readers need to have fast and reliable access to all of Wikipedia. This means that Wikipedia articles should never be censored. The Wikimedia Foundation should also be able to challenge takedown requests by third parties. And Wikipedia readers need to have privacy when reading Wikipedia articles, so that they can feel safe to feed their intellectual curiosity. |
| Remix | Once a Wikipedia article becomes available online, it can be made richer by others' contributions and reuses. Free licenses allow others to build on existing articles where copyright law would not normally allow it. For example, free content like Wikipedia articles can be translated into new languages, shared, and reused by anyone far beyond the Wikimedia projects, without restrictive limitations. | Once a Wikipedia article is created, it can be expanded and improved by others' contributions and reuses. Free licenses allow anyone to enrich and edit existing articles where copyright law would not normally allow it. For example, free content like Wikipedia articles can be translated into new languages, shared, and reused by anyone far beyond the Wikimedia projects, without restrictive limitations. |
| Grow | Wikipedia is never finished. To reach our goal of collecting the sum of all knowledge, Wikipedians must be an inclusive and diverse community. Diversity in this community requires unfettered access to Wikipedia, in all countries around the globe. Although many people have access to the Wikimedia projects, there are many more who are still not able to join our projects today. We need to break down barriers to accessing and creating knowledge. | Wikipedia is never finished. To work towards our goal of collecting the sum of all knowledge, Wikipedians must be an inclusive and diverse community. Diversity in this community requires unfettered access to Wikipedia, in all countries around the globe. Although many people have access to the Wikimedia projects, there are many more who are still not able to join our projects today and others who do not feel safe participating. We need to break down all barriers to accessing and creating knowledge. |
| Research | Access to reliable sources is critical to documenting and sharing knowledge. When researching for a Wikipedia article, Wikipedians need access to books, articles, and other resources. They also need uncensored and reliable information to write a neutral Wikipedia article. If researching online, Wikipedians' reading habits need to be private, so that they can research without the fear that their browsing history will later be misinterpreted or used against them. | Access to reliable sources is critical to documenting and sharing knowledge. When researching for a Wikipedia article, Wikipedians need access to books, articles, and other resources. They also need uncensored and reliable information to write a neutral Wikipedia article. If researching online, Wikipedians' reading activities need to be private, so that they can research without the fear that their browsing history will later be misinterpreted or used against them. |
About this Site
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| Intro | The site focuses on the five policy areas that matter most to the Wikimedia projects and mission. These policy areas include copyright, access to knowledge, privacy, censorship, and intermediary liability. This site explains how Wikimedians can take action to support public policies to expand free knowledge. With the right laws, policies, and principles, free knowledge will be easier to access, create, share, and remix. | The site focuses on the five policy areas that matter most to the Wikimedia projects and mission. These policy areas include access to knowledge, copyright, censorship, intermediary liability, and privacy. This site explains what policies Wikimedians can support to expand and promote free knowledge. With the right laws, policies, and principles, free knowledge will be easier to access, create, share, and remix. |
| Who are we | The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects. The Foundation works closely with Wikimedia community members around the world in shaping public policy to support the Wikimedia mission. This site is a community project to coordinate Wikimedia’s work on public policy, together with other advocacy groups that support free knowledge. | The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and other free knowledge projects. The Foundation works closely with Wikimedia community members around the world in shaping public policy to support our mission. This site is a community project to coordinate Wikimedia’s work on public policy, together with other groups that support free knowledge. |
| Why these policy areas? | This site focuses on five policy areas that directly affect the vibrancy of Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. Public policy on copyright, access to knowledge, privacy, censorship, and intermediary liability have a real impact on Wikimedians’ ability to create, share, and remix free knowledge.
Take the creation of a Wikipedia article as an example. To write and edit a Wikipedia article, you need privacy and anonymity to speak your mind so that you can feel safe writing about possibly controversial topics and tell the facts. You also need fast and affordable access to Wikipedia so that you are able to spend time improving articles. And you need assurance that you and other contributors will have full editorial control without interference from the Wikimedia Foundation. To accomplish that, the Wikimedia Foundation needs to remain a neutral host that cannot be required to delete or alter what you write by governments and other third parties. That’s why public policy on copyright, access to knowledge, privacy, censorship, and intermediary protection is critical for the creation of a Wikipedia article. |
This site focuses on five policy areas that directly affect the vibrancy of Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. Public policy on access to knowledge, copyright, censorship, intermediary liability, and privacy have a real impact on Wikimedians’ ability to create, share, and remix free knowledge.
Take the creation of a Wikipedia article as an example. To write and edit a Wikipedia article, you first need access to the site. You need copyright law that allows you to cite and collect knowledge. You need the Wikimedia Foundation to remain a neutral host that cannot be required to delete or alter what you write by governments and others. This in turn requires that you and other contributors have editorial discretion to write encyclopedia articles without unnecessary interference. Finally, you need privacy and anonymity to speak your mind so that you can feel safe writing about possibly controversial topics and tell the facts. That’s why public policy on access to knowledge, copyright, censorship, intermediary protection, and privacy is critical for the creation of a Wikipedia article. |
| Public Policy List | Join the public policy list to discuss these issues with other Wikimedians.
The Wikimedia public policy list is an open venue for Wikimedians to discuss public policy developments around the world that are important for the Wikimedia mission. |
Join the Wikimedia public policy list to discuss these issues with Wikimedians and other people interested in changing the law to better promote collaboration for free knowledge.
The Wikimedia public policy list is an open venue for Wikimedians to discuss public policy developments around the world that are important for the Wikimedia mission. |
| Get in Touch | If you are organizing a policy action that is within one of our five policy areas, please contact us at [[1]]. | (unchanged) |
Policy pages
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| Access | Knowledge should be freely accessible by everyone, across every country, language, and device.
We believe in a world in which every single person can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. In practice, this means that knowledge should be available to all and free to access. Unfortunately, not everyone has equal access to free knowledge around the world. Technological, financial, and legal restrictions limit the ability of billions of people to share and learn freely. Today, [than 50%] the world does not have open access to the internet. Without it, their access to free knowledge is severely restricted. For many, this is an infrastructure problem; for others, the problem is affordability. Despite tremendous growth in access to devices such as mobile phones, most people simply can’t afford the luxury of mobile data. Through projects that offer offline and no-charge access to Wikipedia, we can alleviate the barrier of connectivity and data costs. All of this work provides millions of people with free access to the largest collaborative free knowledge resource in the world. This allows more people to share in Wikimedia’s vast repository of knowledge, through both reading and making their own contributions. Reliable sources are critical to ensuring that articles on Wikipedia are accurate and reflect our ever-evolving understanding of the world. However, important information is too often behind paywalls and copyright restrictions. We strongly support open access policies, like ours, which help eliminate restrictive paywalls that limit access to valuable research. As more institutions empower researchers to release their findings in freely available venues, more knowledge will be available to everyone to learn, share, and most importantly, expand. The Wikimedia Foundation has signed the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development. Signing the declaration, we joined the many other organizations working to break down the barriers to access to knowledge through open education and information. We believe that policymakers must make these issues a priority, in service of the best interests of their constituents. Working in coordination with advocacy groups around the world, we can identify the largest barriers to accessing free knowledge, and collaborate to break down these barriers. We can take concrete actions, such as educating and influencing governments and policymakers, implementing open access policies, and supporting improved infrastructure in underserved areas. It isn’t enough to grow our shared repositories of free knowledge. We must clear the path for everyone to access knowledge. |
Knowledge should be freely accessible by everyone, across every country, language, and device.
We believe in a world in which every single person can freely share and participate in the sum of all knowledge. In practice, this means that knowledge should be available to all as well as free and safe to access. Unfortunately, not everyone has equal access to free knowledge around the world. Technological, financial, sociocultural, and legal restrictions limit the ability of billions of people to share and learn freely. Today, more than 50% of the world does not have access to the internet. Without it, their access to free knowledge is severely restricted. For many, this is an infrastructure problem; for others, the problem is affordability. Despite tremendous growth in access to devices such as mobile phones, most people simply can’t afford mobile data. Through projects that offer offline and no-charge access to Wikipedia and other knowledge resources, we can alleviate the barrier of connectivity and data costs. All of this work provides millions of people with free access to the largest collaborative free knowledge resource in the world. This allows more people to share in Wikimedia’s vast repository of knowledge, through both reading and making their own contributions. We believe in the importance of access to history. We all write this history together, every day. This means that everybody should be able find truthful information about historic and current events online and that private interests should not be an excuse to censor search engines or other websites. Therefore, we oppose laws that aim to restrict access to factual and historic information. Reliable sources are critical to ensuring that articles on Wikipedia are accurate and reflect our ever-evolving understanding of the world. However, important information is too often behind paywalls and copyright restrictions. We strongly support open access policies, like ours, which help eliminate restrictive paywalls that limit access to valuable research. We want to make sure publicly funded research is available to the public. As more and more governments and institutions empower researchers to release their findings in freely available venues, more knowledge will be available to everyone to learn, share, and most importantly, expand. The Wikimedia Foundation has signed the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development. Signing the declaration, we joined the many other organizations working to break down the barriers to access to knowledge through open education and information. We believe that policymakers must make these issues a priority, in service of the best interests of their constituents. We also work to create a productive and collaborative environment on the Wikimedia projects. Therefore, we promote friendly space policies on our sites and seek to curb harassment because it effectively prevents some individuals from actively participating on Wikipedia. Working in coordination with advocacy groups around the world, we can identify the largest barriers to accessing free knowledge, and collaborate to break down these barriers. We can take concrete actions, such as educating and influencing governments and policymakers, implementing open access policies, and supporting improved infrastructure in underserved areas. It isn’t enough to grow our shared repositories of free knowledge. We must clear the path for everyone to access knowledge. |
| Copyright | People don’t just read; they create, share, and remix. Copyright law should evolve to reflect this new reality.
Everyone should have the right to access, create, share, and remix knowledge. Remixable knowledge can be used for textbooks, websites, art, and other creations. These reuses make free knowledge more widely available. As a result, more people are reading and improving it every day. Together, they create knowledge that belongs to everyone. Reforming copyright laws will help make this a reality for people across the globe. Expanding access to knowledge means addressing limitations on access to original as well as secondary sources. Wikimedia’s GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) initiative (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) works to make cultural assets available on the Wikimedia projects. If the assets are not already in the public domain, they are posted under a free license, such as a Creative Commons license. This way, they don’t only enrich the projects, but can be reused in a wide variety of contexts. Free licenses, like Creative Commons licenses, can help people share beyond the Wikimedia projects, including on social media sites. This will allow everyone to share and reuse knowledge more broadly, on and offline. Within the next few years, the United States’ copyright laws will likely be reformed. This process is already underway in the European Union. As copyright law is modernized for the digital age, legislators should consider the wide variety of new content creators on the web. Works funded by the public should belong to the public. Works created by governments should therefore always enter the public domain. In the United States, works of the federal government are automatically in the public domain, while many works of European governments usually are not. Laws need to be reformed to ensure that public works are actually public, in the European Union and around the world. As more and different types of works enter the public domain, they can be made widely available. This will give everyone the freedom to find and use sources of important information. It will also expand the knowledge base upon which community members can draw to create content on the Wikimedia projects. While advocating for broad availability of works in the public domain or under fair use, we also push for more specific reforms. For example, the Wikimedia community has recently taken a strong position on freedom of panorama in the European Unionto protect the right to publish photos of buildings. We believe this right should extend to all photos of buildings in public spaces, for commercial and non-commercial reuse. We encourage all countries, across the European Union and around the world, to institute freedom of panorama rights. Wikipedia’s users are authors, creators, and artists who choose to freely share their works with others. The internet empowers people to share, remix, and reinterpret works in ways previously not thought possible. Copyright law needs to protect these rights. To that end, we call for shorter copyright terms and stronger, more comprehensive fair use exceptions, widespread freedom of panorama, and more support for free licenses. People should be free to comment on or remix a work without the fear that they will accidentally violate copyright law. |
People don’t just read anymore; they create, share, and remix. Copyright law should evolve to reflect this new reality.
Everyone should have the right to access, create, share, and remix knowledge. Remixable knowledge can be used for textbooks, websites, art, and other creations. These reuses make free knowledge more widely available. As a result, more people are reading and improving it every day. Together, they create knowledge that belongs to everyone. Reforming copyright laws will help make this a reality for people across the globe. We support a strong public domain as well as free licenses, such as a Creative Commons license. Freely licensed works not only enrich the projects, but can be reused in a wide variety of contexts. Free licenses can help people share beyond the Wikimedia projects, including on social media sites. This will allow everyone to share and reuse knowledge more broadly, on and offline. As part of our commitment to sharing free knowledge, we also support free and open source software. The software that powers Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites is free for anyone to run, study, share, and improve. We support software freedom as a way to build a democratic information infrastructure for the digital age. Within the next few years, the United States’ copyright laws will likely be reformed. This process is already underway in the European Union. As copyright law is modernized, we want to make sure it is actually made fit for the digital age. We encourage legislators to consider the wide variety of new content creators on the web. Works funded by the public should belong to the public. Works created by governments should therefore always enter the public domain. In the United States, works of the federal government are automatically in the public domain, while many works of European governments usually are not. Laws need to be reformed to ensure that public works are actually public, in the European Union and around the world. As more and different types of works enter the public domain, they can be made widely available. This will give everyone the freedom to find and use sources of important information. It will also expand the knowledge base upon which community members can draw to create content on the Wikimedia projects. While advocating for broad availability of works in the public domain or under fair use, we also push for more specific reforms. For example, the Wikimedia community has recently taken a strong position on freedom of panorama in the European Union -- and Member States -- to protect the right to publish photos of buildings. We believe this right should extend to all photos of buildings in public spaces, for commercial and non-commercial reuse. We encourage all countries, across the European Union and around the world, to institute freedom of panorama rights. In the context of copyright legislation, we also aim to address limitations on access to original as well as secondary sources. Wikimedia’s GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) initiative works to make cultural assets available on the Wikimedia projects. Truly modern copyright should not create new rights that lock in the public domain, just because a work is copied or digitized. Among Wikipedia’s users are authors, creators, and artists who choose to freely share their works with others. The internet empowers people to share, remix, and reinterpret works in ways previously not thought possible. Copyright law needs to protect these rights. To that end, we call for shorter copyright terms and stronger, more comprehensive fair use exceptions, widespread freedom of panorama, and more support for free licenses. People should be free to comment on or remix a work without the fear that they will accidentally violate copyright law. |
| Censorship | Everyone should have the right to share and access knowledge free of government censorship.
“When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie.” —Yevgeny Yevtushenko Freedom of expression is a foundation of free knowledge. Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects provide valuable information about history, public figures, culture, and every other corner of society. Local language communities independently create free knowledge on the Wikimedia projects in over 200 languages around the world. For many people, Wikipedia is the most accessible source of neutral information in their language. It may contain content that some readers consider objectionable or offensive, but offensiveness alone should never be grounds for the removal of truthful information. We believe that everyone in the world has a fundamental right to freely share and access knowledge. And we strongly oppose censorship, including blocking, filtering, and any other efforts to remove legitimate information. Governments and internet service providers have censored Wikipedia in several countries, both in the context of widespread internet censorship as well as targeted censorship of certain information. For example, the Wikipedia domain or select Wikipedia articles have been blocked in the United Kingdom, Iran, Syria, and Tunisiain recent years for content that authorities deemed politically sensitive. In order to combat targeted censorship, Wikimedia Foundation secured access to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects with HTTPS and Strict Transport Security. HTTPS makes it more difficult for internet service providers or others to monitor browsing and selectively censor articles or other content. The Wikimedia Foundation also actively resists censorship in the form of requests to change or delete content. Every year, we receive requests from governments, individuals, and companies. We grant few to none of these requests, complying only when legally required. We also receive Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices asserting copyright infringement. We thoroughly analyze each notice to ensure that it is valid and that the DMCA process is not being abused to censor the Wikimedia projects. We assess the copyright eligibility of the work being infringed, the likelihood of actual infringement, and the possibility of fair use. When we must remove content based on a DMCA request, we record the takedown in our bi-annual Transparency Report and post the request online, which allows others to do the same analysis. We actively opposed legislative policies that could lead to more online censorship. In 2011, Italian Wikipedia protested an Italian law that would limit free speech. In January 2012, English Wikipedia went dark in protest of the en:Stop_Online_Piracy_Act Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would have seriously undermined free speech on the internet. Later in 2012, Russian Wikipedia protested a Russian law that would enable internet censorship. More recently, the Russian Wikipedia responded to threats of censorship with a steadfast commitment to delivering neutral, reliable information. It is not enough to fight censorship only when it threatens Wikimedia. Information is an ecosystem, and censorship anywhere is harmful to free knowledge everywhere. |
Everyone should have the right to share and access knowledge free of government censorship.
Freedom of expression is a foundation of free knowledge. Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects provide valuable information about history, politics, culture, and every other corner of society. Local language communities independently create free knowledge on the Wikimedia projects in over 200 languages around the world. For many people, Wikipedia is the most accessible source of neutral information in their language. It may contain content that some readers consider objectionable or offensive, but offensiveness alone should never be grounds for the removal of truthful information. We believe that everyone in the world has a fundamental right to freely share and access knowledge without fear of repercussions. And we strongly oppose censorship or threats that lead to self-censorship, including blocking, filtering, and any other efforts to remove legitimate information or prevent access to it. Governments and internet service providers have censored Wikipedia in several countries, both in the context of widespread internet censorship as well as targeted censorship of certain information. For example, the Wikipedia domain or select Wikipedia articles have been blocked in the United Kingdom, Iran, Syria, and Tunisia in recent years for content that authorities deemed politically sensitive. In order to combat targeted censorship, Wikimedia Foundation secured access to Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects with HTTPS and Strict Transport Security. HTTPS makes it more difficult for internet service providers or others to monitor browsing and selectively censor articles or other content. The Wikimedia Foundation also actively resists censorship in the form of requests to change or delete content. Every year, we receive requests from governments, individuals, and companies. We grant few to none of these requests, complying only when legally required. We also receive Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notices asserting copyright infringement. We thoroughly analyze each notice to ensure that it is valid and that the DMCA process is not being abused to censor the Wikimedia projects. We assess the copyright eligibility of the work being infringed, the likelihood of actual infringement, and the possibility of fair use. When we must remove content based on a DMCA request, we record the takedown in our bi-annual Transparency Report and post the request online, which allows others to do the same analysis. We are concerned with proposed revisions to copyright laws that may impose automated filtering technologies that lay the groundwork for broader internet censorship and surveillance. The Wikimedia movement has an impressive history of active opposition to legislative policies that could lead to more online censorship. In 2011, Italian Wikipedia protested an Italian law that would limit free expression. In January 2012, English Wikipedia went dark in protest of the en:Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would have seriously undermined free speech on the internet. Later in 2012, Russian Wikipedia protested a Russian law that would enable internet censorship. More recently, the Russian Wikipedia responded to threats of censorship with a steadfast commitment to delivering neutral, reliable information. It is not enough to fight censorship only when it threatens Wikimedia. Information is an ecosystem, and censorship anywhere is harmful to free knowledge everywhere. |
| Intermediary Liability | The law should allow internet platforms to stay out of editorial decisions so that people can share and speak freely.
The Wikimedia projects are built and maintained by extraordinary people around the world. They contribute text and images, develop and support editorial policies, and resolve disputes when they occur. The Wikimedia Foundation hosts and supports the Wikimedia projects, but it does not control what people write and contribute to the projects. The Wikimedia projects are neutral, open platforms where people are free to learn and share knowledge. Neutral online platforms and publishers are critical to the free exchange of knowledge, on Wikipedia and elsewhere. Wikimedia projects receive hundreds of edits per minute, totaling billions of edits since the projects were founded. As a nonprofit, the Wikimedia Foundation is only able to host this much rapidly evolving content because of protection from intermediary liability. This protection provides a safe harbor, or legal exemption from liability, for hosting user generated content in many circumstances. In the US and Europe, laws such as Section 512 of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act (CDA Section 230), and the EU E-Commerce Directive are essential to ensuring this neutrality. They provide crucial immunity from intermediary liability that allow the Wikimedia Foundation to host Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects as a neutral platform. If the law did not provide a safe harbor, many sites, including the Wikimedia projects, would not be able to host contributions from users. It is relatively rare that the Wikimedia Foundation is required to remove illegal content. Wikimedia community members work diligently to prevent copyright infringement or other illegal content on the Wikimedia projects and quickly resolve any other content issues. When the Wikimedia Foundation does respond to the handful of valid takedown notices we receive, we document them in our bi-annual Transparency Report. Increasing a platform’s responsibility to monitor and proactively remove user generated content will make it impossible for free culture and open source groups to grow as an online community. We need to track new developments in this area of the law, explain how they affect neutral platforms like Wikipedia, and defend safe harbors when they come under attack. |
The law should allow internet platforms to stay out of editorial decisions so that people can share and speak freely.
The Wikimedia projects are built and maintained by extraordinary people around the world. They contribute text and images, develop and support editorial policies, and resolve disputes when they occur, including conflicting views over facts, relevance, or the copyright status of a work. The Wikimedia Foundation hosts and supports the Wikimedia projects, but it does not control what people write and contribute to the projects. The Wikimedia projects are neutral, open platforms where people are free to learn and share knowledge. The legal basis for these great collaborative projects is the somewhat obscure concept of protection from intermediary liability that allows the Wikimedia Foundation to waive editorial control. Neutral online platforms and publishers are critical to the free exchange of knowledge, on Wikipedia and elsewhere. Wikimedia projects receive hundreds of edits per minute, totaling billions of edits since the projects were founded. As a nonprofit, the Wikimedia Foundation is only able to host this much rapidly evolving content because of protection from intermediary liability. This protection provides a safe harbor, or legal exemption from liability, for hosting user generated content in many circumstances. In the US and Europe, laws such as Section 512 of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act (CDA Section 230), and the EU E-Commerce Directive are essential to ensuring our neutrality. They provide crucial immunity from intermediary liability that allow the Wikimedia Foundation to host Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects as a neutral platform. If the law did not provide a safe harbor, many sites, including the Wikimedia projects, would not be able to host contributions from users. However, lawmakers have suggested to oblige intermediaries to actively monitor platforms, or even implement systems that automatically detect copyright infringement, which seriously harm free knowledge. That is why we oppose such new rules that restrict the ability to collaboratively collect educational content. It is relatively rare that the Wikimedia Foundation is required to remove illegal content. Wikimedia community members work diligently to prevent copyright infringement or other illegal content on the Wikimedia projects and quickly resolve any other content issues. When the Wikimedia Foundation does respond to the handful of valid takedown notices we receive, we document them in our bi-annual Transparency Report. Increasing a platform’s responsibility to monitor and proactively remove user generated content will make it impossible for free culture and open source groups to grow as an online community. We need to track new developments in this area of the law, explain how they affect neutral platforms like Wikipedia, and defend safe harbors when they come under attack. |
| Privacy | Everyone should be free to read and write without governments looking over their shoulders.
Privacy is the bedrock of free knowledge. It sustains freedom of expression and association, which in turn enable inquiry, dialogue, and creation. Privacy is essential to Wikimedia’s vision of empowering everyone to share in the sum of all human knowledge. People should not have to look over their shoulders before searching, pause before contributing to controversial articles, or refrain from sharing verifiable but unpopular information. The Wikimedia projects serve as a platform for people from all over the world to share and study knowledge. Sometimes, people may need to remain anonymous for personal or political reasons when contributing to the Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia allows people to edit under a pseudonym, without providing any personal information, or without even creating an account. Anonymity and pseudonymity can protect people from retaliation for contributing to the Wikimedia projects. People also need to feel comfortable that they can read Wikipedia without the fear that the government or other third parties are tracking or watching them. In June 2015, the Wikimedia Foundation implemented the HTTPS protocol to encrypt all traffic to and from the Wikimedia projects. We also use Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which instructs web browsers to only interact with Wikimedia projects over an encrypted connection, protecting against efforts to break HTTPS and intercept traffic. Wikimedia projects are not built in isolation. The privacy practices of other sites with reliable sources impact the Wikimedia mission to collect and share knowledge. For our free knowledge projects to work, we need security and privacy across the internet so editors and readers can freely research the sources needed to build Wikipedia. In particular, internet users cannot be subjected to mass surveillance, which chills intellectual curiosity and creativity. Privacy is a fundamental right recognised under international law like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(Article 17) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 12). Indiscriminate mass surveillance violates this fundamental right. We strongly oppose mass surveillance by any government or entity. To that end, we signed the Necessary and Proportionate Principles on the application of human rights to surveillance that demand that governments respect basic principles such as:
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Everyone should be free to read and write without governments looking over their shoulders.
Privacy is the bedrock of intellectual freedom and thus of free knowledge. It sustains freedom of expression and association, which in turn enable inquiry, dialogue, and creation. Privacy is essential to Wikimedia’s vision of empowering everyone to share in the sum of all human knowledge. People should not have to look over their shoulders before searching, pause before contributing to controversial articles, or refrain from sharing verifiable but unpopular information. The Wikimedia projects serve as a platform for people from all over the world to share and study knowledge. Sometimes, people may need to remain anonymous for personal or political reasons when contributing to the Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia allows people to edit under a pseudonym, without providing any personal information, or without even creating an account. Anonymity and pseudonymity can protect people from retaliation for contributing to the Wikimedia projects. People also need to feel comfortable that they can read Wikipedia without the fear that the government or other third parties are tracking or watching them. Therefore, aIl traffic to and from the Wikimedia projects is encrypted through the HTTPS protocol. We also use Strict Transport Security (HSTS), which instructs web browsers to only interact with Wikimedia projects over an encrypted connection, protecting against efforts to break HTTPS and intercept traffic. Wikimedia projects are not built in isolation. The privacy practices of other sites with reliable sources impact the Wikimedia mission to collect and share knowledge. For our free knowledge projects to work, we need security and privacy across the internet so editors and readers can freely research the sources needed to build Wikipedia. In particular, internet users cannot be subjected to mass surveillance, which chills intellectual curiosity and creativity. Privacy is a fundamental right recognised under international law like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 17) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 12). Indiscriminate mass surveillance violates this fundamental right. We strongly oppose mass surveillance by any government or entity. To that end, we signed the Necessary and Proportionate Principles on the application of human rights to surveillance that demand that governments respect basic principles such as:
In a time when the collection of private data has become a business model, Wikimedians believe in the importance of privacy. This human right protects our users and consequently the creation of free knowledge. |