Before building on top of this, I wanna shortly appreciate the resilience of
the Pakistani community, who made it to the 21st position of the WLM 2023
international winner list despite these challenges and lack of support.
So, where do we stand now?
Two takeaways from Stephen's statement:
-
Sysops can set an IP block exempt group for other users (including
themselves) in their local wiki. The procedure is different in different
wikis, but for example, in Finnish Wikipedia, you need to ask for it, and
the admin will add you to the group if you have a reasonable reason, such
as the
Unfortunately a VPN is not a solution at the moment.
Because of interesting historical reasons, people using VPN or other
"open proxies" cannot edit most Wikimedia projects, as default
- even if they are logged-in
- even if they are autopatrolled
- even if they are sysop (!)
- ecc.
This is an
Dear Saqib,
If you receive press enquiries, you can ask journalists to email
pr...@wikimedia.org and our external communications team will provide them
with the relevant information. They don’t usually post statements on
long-running issues like traffic disruptions unless there's more clarity on
Dear Mr. Stephen LaPorte
Thank you for commenting.
Recently, I have been in contact with several journalists who have
expressed their interest in covering this issue and have been attempting to
reach out to WMF for an official statement. but unfortunately, they have
reported difficulty in
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
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
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
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?
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.
>
>
>
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
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
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
It's truly disheartening to see the WMF's lack of action, especially when
Yaroslav himself reported the issue to the WMF, and they confirmed the
blockage of Commons in Pakistan.
This neglect is unacceptable, considering Pakistan's significant population
of 170 million internet users, making it
I feel this discussion is veering off course. Let's set aside the debate on
whether using VPNs is appropriate or not. Instead, let's focus on taking
action to unblock the website. This can begin with the WMF releasing a
statement. Once this gains attention from the wider news media, authorities
- Blocking a free knowledge repository = attack on freedom of speech and free
knowledge
- Suggesting VPN = suggesting to use the backdoor instead of fighting back for
free knowledge and freedom of speech
- Foundation is not interested in commons, previous archives informs that
mystery.
- One
By the way, I don't understand why Pakistan blocked Commons. My guess is it
was blocked by mistake or unintentionally because I don't think there's
anything on Commons that is critical or bothersome to the government. At
least I don't know of any such content. So if WMF raises its voice, I'm
sure
Well Twitter has actually been blocked for the past 01 month, right after
the general election. There's been a lot of uproar about it, but it's
uncertain when they will unblock it. Meanwhile, at least WMF should issue a
statement condemning the blockage of Commons.
--
Saqib Qayyum
On Tue, Mar
OMG, how did I miss meeting both of you Yaroslav and Mr. James
--
Saqib Qayyum
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 10:11 PM Yaroslav Blanter wrote:
> I have been to Pakistan in July and indeed discovered that Wikimedia
> Commons was blocked. I complained to the WMF (using the Village pump on
> Commons
Unfortunately, there’s a history of an overwhelming amount of vandals using
VPNs to, well, vandalize Wikipedia, hence the block on known VPN and the
bureaucracy surrounding them. If the block is removed, it’ll quite likely
become a problem again. It really is a situation of people behaving
That doesn't seem logical or fair. If a user is registered and not already
blocked, the IPs they are using shouldn't matter at all.
Personally, I've never used a VPN before I got it this way (even living in the
PRC), but I understand that some people might need to do so for privacy
reasons.
> A few years ago, I acquired a VPN as part of an antivirus package. However,
> when I tried to use it for other services, I encountered an unexpected issue
> switching on wiki platforms: despite being there as a registered user, I
> found myself unable to edit them.
>
> So how can VPN be a
Why is there so much discussion about using VPNs as a solution? A few years
ago, I acquired a VPN as part of an antivirus package. However, when I tried to
use it for other services, I encountered an unexpected issue switching on wiki
platforms: despite being there as a registered user, I
Just to clarify, at least in my case, the embedded Commons files were
visible on Wikimedia projects (including the English Wikipedia) when I was
in Pakistan. I just could not open them on Commons or upload any files.
Best
Yaroslav
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 7:13 PM Risker wrote:
> VPNs and IP
VPNs and IP block exemption may or may not be useful for contributing to
Commons, but contribution is not the only thing at issue here.
The purpose of Commons is to act as a media repository for (a) all
Wikimedia projects and (b) the world as a whole, without cost or licensing
issues. Every day,
Hello Mr James
Certainly, using a VPN is a workaround, but it's worth noting that
obtaining an IP block exemption is still necessary to edit Commons, and
this is not always feasible for all users. Many may not even be aware of
its existence. For instance, I couldn't edit Commons since October
While a good stop-gap measure, VPNs can be expensive enough that it’s not
really a permanent solution. The ultimate solution is to get Commons unblocked,
if that’s possible. Of course, getting it unblocked might prove impossible.
From,
I dream of horses
She/her
> On Mar 19, 2024, at 9:33
I have been to Pakistan in July and indeed discovered that Wikimedia
Commons was blocked. I complained to the WMF (using the Village pump on
Commons when I was back), they were apparently not familiar with the
situation but investigated it and acknowledged that Commons is indeed
blocked in
Can you not just use a VPN?
James
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 9:29 PM Saqib Qayyum wrote:
> TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
>
> I am writing to you as a concerned volunteer from Pakistan regarding a
> critical issue that has been persisting for several years now. Despite
> multiple attempts to communicate
On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 9:29 PM Saqib Qayyum wrote:
> TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
>
> I am writing to you as a concerned volunteer from Pakistan regarding a
> critical issue that has been persisting for several years now. Despite
> multiple attempts to communicate this matter to members of the WMF's
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