Wikimedia Conference 2012/Documentation/Day 1/Politics-lobbying

  • finding one's own role in context of copyright wars
  • sopa, pipa, acta: same logic behind them
  • cooperation between rights holders and service providers
  • acta: vague and blurred language
  • jan. 2012: shutdown wikipedia
  • german clash of cultures: conservative tried to start shitstorm against german wikipedia on twitter
  • in germany free knoweldge is associated with piracy
  • how to communicate to the public what's at stake?
  • language on acta is so vague that lawyers can't even give advice
  • which side to be on as wikimedia official?
  • hard work to keep up credibility
  • need to professionalize in terms of old school lobbying
  • legal restrictions in germany for how much lobbying a non-profit can do?
    • no lobbying register yet in germany
  • advocacy agenda of wikimedia is posted online
  • general public is just realizing how copyright laws influence them
  • difficult to create messages when acts (sopa, pipa etc.) are so vague: all get together for message
  • shift the message to wikimedia and not only wikipedia
  • who entitles us to this message? the community?
  • we got a lot of power because we are loved by the public so much
  • still no office in brussels
  • wikipedia is neutral but the movement is not
  • get rid of negative connotation of lobbying
  • build up broad alliances throughout the field
  • contact with NGOs or politicians at wikimania in d.c.
  • need to talk about censorship when wikipedia expands to south: position of the foundation?
  • no answer yet, foundation can't promise legal defense for people who get in trouble for editing wikipedia, focus efforts on maximizing effect - anything likely to help a large number of people is more likely to be funded.

Hope could help each other countries in copyright reform and notesharing on good and flawed lP laws

  • subtle move towards censorship when people want their personal entries in wikipeda changed/deleted
  • should foundations/chapters etc. act when censorship laws come into action?
  • our mission is to create educational material
  • alternative to sopa: OPEN act - collaboratively edited online.
  • what is a democracy today? hard to create majorities for issues in europe
  • need list of beliefs/values that we can cite
  • more red tape in other countries, makes it hard to keep wikipedia articles intact, e.g. images/articles need to be taken down

main points:

  • politics of licensing and lobbying for it
  • have a common message, issue management, what are we advocating?, list of values, e.g. when talking to the media
  • separation of tasks between foundation, chapters etc.
  • incorporating human rights issues into our goals (censorship as obstacle to free knowledge) --> human rights that are related to our mission
  • constituency matters (readers, editors, donors, re-users etc.)
  • protect integrity and credibility of the brand
  • use chapters council to coordinate actions
  • wikimedia foundation office in brussels? resources? outsourcing?

create global partnerships and relationships!