Can we have a "San Francisco Tea Party" telling the UK government that Wikimedia projects would rather block access to the United Kingdom than comply with their misguided requirements?
> ---------- Forwarded message --------- > From: <fp...@wikimedia.org> > Date: Mon, May 15, 2023, 2:56 AM > Subject: [Publicpolicy] How the UK Online Safety Bill might impact Wikimedia > To: <publicpol...@lists.wikimedia.org> > > > Dear all, > > Some of you may be following the developments of the UK Online Safety Bill, > others may have heard of it a year ago and ignored it since. Wherever you > fall on the spectrum, you may be interested in a new blog post titled "Good > intentions, bad effects: Wikimedia projects and the UK’s draft Online Safety > Bill." [1] > > In this piece, Lucy Crompton-Reid, Chief Executive of Wikimedia UK, and Phil > Bradley-Schmieg, Lead Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, detail how > elements of the bill may require significant changes to how Wikipedia and > other Wikimedia projects operate. Particular attention is given to the > proposed “under-18 exclusion” rule since it has been the subject of a number > of UK headlines. > > If you are interested in the actions that Wikimedia UK and the Foundation > have taken related to the OSB, I recommend that you read Lucy's e-mail to the > Wikimedia UK mailing list from April 23, 2023 [2]. I have copied her message > below the line and links of this email. You can learn more about the UK OSB > by reading our 'deep dive' from November 2022 [3] or 'early impressions' post > from March 2022 [4]. > > Phil and Lucy are both members of this mailing list. Your feedback is > welcome; we're always keen to learn from others on this mailing list, answer > questions, and to discuss how best to protect the free knowledge movement in > the midst of national legislative developments. > > Enjoy the read! > > Ziski > - - - > [1] > https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/11/good-intentions-bad-effects-wikimedia-projects-and-the-uks-draft-online-safety-bill/ > [2] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediauk-l.lists.wikimedia.org/ > [3] > https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/deep-dive-the-united-kingdoms-online-safety-bill-b7020723dd39 > [4] > https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/early-impressions-of-the-uk-online-safety-bill-72ae8b1aedbc > _________________________________________________ > > Lucy Crompton-Reid via lists.wikimedia.org > Apr 23, 2023, 10:24 AM > to UK > > Dear all > > As I know many of you will be aware, the long heralded Online Safety Bill is > now making its way through Parliament and is currently at the Committee stage > in the House of Lords. The Bill will establish a new regulatory framework for > online services, with Ofcom becoming the regulator. As it currently stands, > the requirements of the Bill in terms of content moderation, age gating and > user verification are incompatible with Wikipedia’s model, and the Wikimedia > Foundation has stated that they will not be age gating the platform. > > Wikimedia UK has been highlighting concerns about the proposed new > legislation since the Online Harms White Paper, published four years ago. We > have responded to various consultations, run by Ofcom as well as the > government, and met with staff from both. One of the key issues highlighted > by Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia Foundation - as well as many organisations > in the civil society sector - was the requirement to remove content that was > “legal but harmful”. This was fortunately dropped from the Bill as it moved > through the House of Commons at the end of last year. However, there remains > much cause for concern. > > Working closely with the Wikimedia Foundation, I have been in touch with a > number of peers (members of the House of Lords) over the past few months to > highlight the unintended consequences of the proposed legislation on > Wikimedia, and to advocate for changes to the Bill to protect our movement > and safeguard open knowledge. The Lord Moylan has tabled a series of > amendments on our behalf which address some of these issues, including a > proposed exemption for small, community moderated and/or public benefit > websites that are currently within the scope of the Bill. It’s likely that > these amendments will be debated in the House of Lords on Tuesday or Thursday > next week. Today, I will be sending a written briefing (attached for your > information) urging support for these amendments to a target list of peers, > and Jimmy will be giving an in person briefing at Parliament on Monday. > > We are envisaging further advocacy activities before and during the Report > Stage in the House of Lords, which is when amendments that have made it to > that point will be voted on. If you are interested in supporting these > advocacy efforts, please let me know. > > All best > > Lucy > _______________________________________________ > Publicpolicy mailing list -- publicpol...@lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe send an email to publicpolicy-le...@lists.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/7TJT5CYGJE3QTYFY2BIXHH6KEIWXYDGV/ To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
