[Wikimedia-l] Invitation to DCW Conversation Hour March 2024

[Namrah]

Greetings,I'm glad to invite you to the 15th DCW Conversation Hour, happening on March 24, 2024 at 15:00 UTC (08:30 PM Indian time) The conversation hour features Amal Ramadan, a Senior Community Relations Specialist at the Wikimedia Foundation, and aims to address the challenges and understand the dynamics of user engagement and retention with a particular reference to Wikimedia Mobile Apps. More details about the conversation hour are on our website: https://dcwwiki.org/dc-2z I look forward to seeing your presence in the Conversation Hour. Thank you Namrah___
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Urgent attention required because Commons is blocked in Pakistan

[Saqib Qayyum]

As of now, only the Commons is blocked.
--
Saqib Qayyum


On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 9:14 PM Risker  wrote:

> Could someone please explicitly state which Wikimedia projects are blocked
> in Pakistan?  This thread starts around the blocking of Commons, but
> information provided by James Heilman implies that (at least one point) ALL
> Wikimedia projects are blocked.  So, to be clear, are Wikipedias also
> blocked?  Other projects?  Understanding the extent of the block will help
> the broader community to best assist our Pakistani colleagues in continuing
> to contribute, and for helping the broad Pakistani citizenship to access
> our work.
>
> It may be helpful for someone from the WMF who is in a position to report
> to tell us exactly which projects are currently blocked, and whether or not
> any of the originally blocked projects have now had blocks lifted.
>
> Risker/Anne
>
> Risker/Anne
>
> On Wed, 20 Mar 2024 at 11:21, Saqib Qayyum  wrote:
>
>> I remember this statement was issued when Wikipedia was briefly blocked
>> last year.
>> --
>> Saqib Qayyum
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 7:54 AM James Heilman  wrote:
>>
>>> Here is the press release from Feb 3, 2023 from the WMF urging Pakistan
>>> to unblock Wikimedia Projects.
>>>
>>>
>>> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/03/wikimedia-foundation-urges-pakistan-telecommunications-authority-to-restore-access-to-wikipedia-in-pakistan/
>>>
>>> Appears the reason has to do with religious content
>>>
>>>
>>> https://netblocks.org/reports/wikipedia-restricted-in-pakistan-over-alleged-sacrilegious-content-nAg35pAp
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>> On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 6:40 PM Neurodivergent Netizen <
>>> idoh.idreamofhor...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
 IP block exemption is already automatically granted to admins, at least
 on the English Wikipedia; it’s rarely needed enough that further automatic
 exemption doesn’t really make sense. VPNs, typically costing money, aren’t
 an accessible workaround, anyways. Let’s redirect attention back to getting
 Commons unblocked.

 From,
 I dream of horses
 She/her





 On Mar 19, 2024, at 2:40 PM, Alessandro Marchetti via Wikimedia-l <
 wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:


 It's intriguing (to me) to contemplate how the notion of restricting IP
 editing in specific circumstances is often viewed as a violation of
 principle, even when supported by examples or data, yet a restriction like
 requiring long-standing users to jump through hoops just to use a VPN for
 privacy—something standard nowadays—is considered necessary and acceptable.
 Both policies aim to address issues while weighing the pros and cons and
 inevitably curbing some degree of freedom.

 Personally, I question the efficiency of the VPN restriction. I hold a
 different perspective: implementing a one or two-year, 100-500-edit
 registration threshold for automatic exemption of registered users seems
 reasonable.

 Nevertheless, it's important to recognize that nothing is inherently
 necessary; these are always political and not technical choices.

 It's not just vandals ruining it; it's also the approach taken. By
 granting trolls immense power to disrupt everyone's activities, you fuel
 their mischief. Thus, every time these extreme measures are enforced and
 standardized, they inevitably lead to wasted time and endless debates about
 the status quo, and regular users pay a price. Not hypothetically, for
 real we know. Whoever prioritizes the pursuit of trolls and vandals
 over the work of regular users, de facto feeds the troll.

 It's important to clarify: as seasoned users, many of us have kinda
 learned to navigate this "mess" and endure it... similar issues have
 been grappled with for years, Commons management shows little sign of
 improvement and we just don't care anymore.

 However, for those who haven't mastered it or are stuck in some
 nationwide quagmire as this one, suggesting VPNs as a solution is
 impractical—unless you anticipate tens of thousands of users from a country
 with millions of inhabitants to individually request IP exemptions. It's
 evident that the log of such a system would not be sustainable.

 I remain skeptical that an alternative solution will be implemented,
 given the likelihood that the approach will mirror that of the VPN case or
 other instances—utilizing massive and/or indefinite self-referential strict
 measures that are seldom evaluated on the long term with some metrics.



 Il martedì 19 marzo 2024 alle ore 20:24:15 CET, Neurodivergent Netizen <
 idoh.idreamofhor...@gmail.com> ha scritto:


 ___
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Urgent attention required because Commons is blocked in Pakistan

[Stephen LaPorte]

Hi all,

I am Stephen LaPorte, the General Counsel at the Foundation.

We have received reports that Wikimedia Commons has been partially
inaccessible in Pakistan—depending on the user's Internet Service
Provider—for multiple years, starting as early as 2021. My understanding is
that it does not affect the display of images on Wikipedia, and it predates
the blocking and unblocking

of Wikipedia in February 2023.

We have not received any formal notice or a recent legal demand related to
Wikimedia Commons, so we do not know on what grounds the site is partially
inaccessible or how many people have been affected since this started.
Overall, traffic to Wikimedia Commons from Pakistan before 2020 is too low
to establish a clear pattern that shows when this started or the extent of
the disruption. All these factors have made understanding the situation
difficult and require a balanced response, and we remain committed to
knowledge access in the country.

After Yaroslav reported

not being able to access the site last year, we investigated further. We've
shared information about this situation with other organizations that
monitor internet censorship and advocate for internet freedom in Pakistan.

We believe that access to knowledge is a human right, and we oppose
internet censorship in all forms. We believe that limiting access to
projects like Wikimedia Commons deprives people of access to important
historical and educational content and makes it more difficult for local
volunteers to share their media with the world.

If you experience censorship of the Wikimedia projects, you are welcome to
report this directly to the Wikimedia Foundation at 
and we can help route the question to the right technical experts within
the Foundation.

Best,
Stephen

On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 10:06 AM Yaroslav Blanter  wrote:

> My understanding is that only Commons is currently blocked in Pakistan.
>
> In July 2023, when I visited, I could (and did) edit Wikipedia and
> Wikivoyage in several languages, as well as Wikidata. To be honest I did
> not try Urdu Wikipedia, but I guess if it were blocked in Pakistan we would
> know this.
>
> My impression from the communication with WMF I described earlier was that
> they learned about the Commons block from me. I might be wrong of course.
>
> Best
> Yaroslav
>
> On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 5:14 PM Risker  wrote:
>
>> Could someone please explicitly state which Wikimedia projects are
>> blocked in Pakistan?  This thread starts around the blocking of Commons,
>> but information provided by James Heilman implies that (at least one point)
>> ALL Wikimedia projects are blocked.  So, to be clear, are Wikipedias also
>> blocked?  Other projects?  Understanding the extent of the block will help
>> the broader community to best assist our Pakistani colleagues in continuing
>> to contribute, and for helping the broad Pakistani citizenship to access
>> our work.
>>
>> It may be helpful for someone from the WMF who is in a position to report
>> to tell us exactly which projects are currently blocked, and whether or not
>> any of the originally blocked projects have now had blocks lifted.
>>
>> Risker/Anne
>>
>> Risker/Anne
>>
>> On Wed, 20 Mar 2024 at 11:21, Saqib Qayyum 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I remember this statement was issued when Wikipedia was briefly blocked
>>> last year.
>>> --
>>> Saqib Qayyum
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 7:54 AM James Heilman  wrote:
>>>
 Here is the press release from Feb 3, 2023 from the WMF urging Pakistan
 to unblock Wikimedia Projects.


 https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/02/03/wikimedia-foundation-urges-pakistan-telecommunications-authority-to-restore-access-to-wikipedia-in-pakistan/

 Appears the reason has to do with religious content


 https://netblocks.org/reports/wikipedia-restricted-in-pakistan-over-alleged-sacrilegious-content-nAg35pAp

 James

 On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 6:40 PM Neurodivergent Netizen <
 idoh.idreamofhor...@gmail.com> wrote:

> IP block exemption is already automatically granted to admins, at
> least on the English Wikipedia; it’s rarely needed enough that further
> automatic exemption doesn’t really make sense. VPNs, typically costing
> money, aren’t an accessible workaround, anyways. Let’s redirect attention
> back to getting Commons unblocked.
>
> From,
> I dream of horses
> She/her
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 19, 2024, at 2:40 PM, Alessandro Marchetti via Wikimedia-l <
> wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>
> It's intriguing (to me) to contemplate how the notion of restricting
> IP editing in specific circumstances is often