Thank you for your questions, Legotkm, and for your clear explanation, Phil!
I'm Miguel, the senior editor at the Foundation's Global Advocacy team [1], and wanted to confirm that we'll be publishing a Diff blog post on the topic next week, and that the Global Advocacy team does indeed manage the Medium blog [2] that you mentioned, Legotkm, as well as a Twitter account. [3] Cheers, and have a nice day, everyone! Miguel [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/10/26/meet-the-wikimedia-foundation-global-advocacy-team/ [2] https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy [3] https://twitter.com/wikimediapolicy On Thu, Apr 27, 2023 at 9:55 AM Phil Bradley-Schmieg <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Legotkm, > > My name's Phil <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:PBradley-WMF> - > French-speakers on this list might know me as the panelist who spoke at > length about the DSA at the WikiConvention Francophone 2022 in November. I > also spoke about it (in English this time!) at the Big Fat Brussels Meetup > a few weeks later; and I more recently briefed Wikimedia Deutschland's > policy person, so she could relay that to WMDE folks. I'm one of a few > people here that are working on some DSA workstreams. There are various > bits and bobs up on Meta > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&limit=500&offset=0&ns0=1&ns1=1&ns2=1&ns3=1&ns4=1&ns5=1&ns6=1&ns7=1&ns8=1&ns9=1&ns10=1&ns11=1&ns12=1&ns13=1&ns14=1&ns15=1&ns200=1&ns201=1&ns202=1&ns203=1&ns206=1&ns207=1&ns470=1&ns471=1&ns482=1&ns483=1&ns710=1&ns711=1&ns828=1&ns829=1&ns866=1&ns867=1&ns1198=1&ns1199=1&ns1728=1&ns1729=1&ns2300=1&ns2301=1&ns2302=1&ns2303=1&search=%22digital+services+act%22>, > too, from various sources. We'll also get a Diff post up, soon. > > Thanks in part to the efforts of WMF's Global Advocacy team and the > FKAGEU/Wikimedia Europe folks, back when this law was just a draft, I think > the DSA thankfully preserves, at its heart, the notice-and-takedown ("mere > host safe harbour") intermediary liability model that we see as really > important for community-driven projects on the Web. > > The DSA came into force last year, and we're in its implementation phase > at the moment. Wikipedia's "VLOP" designation (which was based on these > estimates > <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:EU_DSA_Userbase_Statistics>, > published in February) had been expected. So although it has the effect of > bringing forward the application date (i.e. shortening how long we're given > to prepare) - it's nonetheless something we've been cracking on with in the > background. That includes, as you noted, a few Terms of Use changes > (though there are DSA-unrelated TOU changes too). > > So - certainly plenty to keep us busy; but from our perspective, if we can > handle the bureaucracy of compliance without impacting the community, > great! > > A few things should visibly get better - including more data in future > Transparency Reports; possibly a few procedural tweaks to how we handle > Office Actions; and (not that this will change much) reasonable openness to > researchers. To be honest, we're not too bad at that stuff already, and > we're really excited to see the other platforms following suit. > > VLOP status brings mandatory "systemic risk and mitigation" (SRAM) > obligations, for Wikipedia specifically (the other Wikimedia projects are > not VLOPs). So there will need to be an annual, honest look at whether > Wikipedia is contributing to any systemic risks in the EU - say, for > instance, electoral disinformation - and whether our Movement is adequately > doing its part in mitigating those. For now, we're hoping to heavily base > that assessment on the existing Human Rights Impact Assessment work, > regular human rights due diligence (HRDD, e.g. for specific features or > policy changes), and the upcoming Childrens' Rights Impact Assessment. As > you can imagine, that's because we have neither the inclination nor the > resources to reinvent the wheel if we don't have to, just to meet one > specific region's laws. > > So far as the regulators' expectations go, the need for us (the Movement > as a whole, and WMF specifically) to make any further changes (i.e. to > introduce/refine some "mitigations" for systemic risks), will depend on how > well the regulator sees us as addressing those risks. So as with all things > Wikimedia, community initiative and empowerment remains absolutely critical > to meeting the challenge ahead! > > Plus, of course - the general caveat: it's a new law; it's pretty fuzzy > and/or demanding in some areas; and it applies across a very large and > diverse region of the world, full of people that will all, doubtless, want > / expect different things. So we should also in a limited sense "expect > the unexpected". Though we certainly intend to be smart and robust about > all this. > > Zooming out (and getting really tangential to your questions), it's worth > noting that the EU DSA is part of a new wave of laws rolling out across the > world, seeking to make platforms more accountable. > > Wikipedia, for example, was mentioned a number of times by UK legislators > on Tuesday > <https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2023-04-25/debates/8A42D322-903C-485F-907E-11FDF4EDCB08/OnlineSafetyBill>, > during debates around the UK Online Safety Bill. The Foundation and local > community members & affiliates are working intensively to ensure the best > possible outcomes for our movement in these debates (e.g. Jimmy Wales and I > held meetings at the House of Lords on Monday; but that UK engagement a > much wider team effort, including Wikimedia UK's wonderful CEO Lucy > Crompton-Reid, our own Rebecca McKinnon, and too many other stars to list > out here - they deserve plenty of wikilove/barnstars, though). As you can > appreciate, that's a huge amount of work, and you never get every win > you're hoping for. But our hope is that in doing this advocacy work, we're > not just helping make these incoming laws better tailored to our own > Movement's model, but also preserving a good environment for online > communities and A2K more generally. > > Regards, > Phil > > > On Wed, 26 Apr 2023 at 19:51, Kunal Mehta <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi all, >> >> On Mastodon we've started to get questions[1][2] about how the Digital >> Services Act will affect Wikipedia and what our position on it is. After >> some searching I found: >> >> * A Medium post by the WMF from Dec. 2021[3] (but not posted on a >> Wikimedia-controlled site?) >> * The "EU Policy Monitoring Report - February 2023" on this list[4] >> * The proposed TOU changes related to DSA[5] >> >> Is there anything more recent than that I missed that we can point >> people to? >> >> Is it correct and fair to say that we don't expect DSA to result in >> major changes to Wikipedia's operation? (Or will it?) >> >> [1] >> >> https://fediverse.giorgiocomai.eu/objects/ce5497b5-8b71-448e-a437-11733bc62cd8 >> [2] Replies to https://mastodon.social/@dangillmor/110263646051276933 >> [3] >> >> https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/european-parliament-vote-on-the-digital-services-act-supports-a-free-non-commercial-internet-664ab4fdd1db >> [4] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/NLSW5XFAX3HZNT3FU22ZF7UOVDU5GDJJ/ >> [5] >> >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Legal_department/2023_ToU_updates/About#Section_10_management_of_websites >> >> Thanks, >> -- Kunal / Legoktm >> _______________________________________________ >> Publicpolicy mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> > _______________________________________________ > Publicpolicy mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > -- Miguelángel Verde Senior Editor, Global Advocacy Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
_______________________________________________ Publicpolicy mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
