Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 150

• Oppose per
  talk, contribs) 01:31, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose Unless the WMF is supporting such a banner (Jimbo != WMF) we have generally decided that politically-oriented banners are not appropriate. If the WMF want to enforce one, if they feel the issue is significant enough, they have ways to push that themselves. --Masem (t) 01:49, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose: While I'm sympathetic to the arguments here, I am somewhat weary of requests for politically-oriented banners. If the Foundation wishes to do it themselves, they can (and, by all means, they should, if they feel that strongly about this issue), but the voters of Europe have made their choices, and it's not our place, as a worldwide community of editors, to browbeat, cajole, or even attempt to persuade them otherwise, through the usage of Wikipedia. So, just as I voted on net neutrality (twice), I vote again: please, no more political banners/alerts/whatever on Wikipedia. — Javert2113 (talk; please ping me in your reply on this page) 02:40, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose for many of the reasons stated above. While I can see the harm to the wider internet if this passes, I'm not convinced that this poses an existential threat to Wikipedia which I believe is the only case where such banners are appropriate. Winner 42 Talk to me! 02:55, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
  • @Winner 42: this article outlines the direct threats of the law to Wikipedia, thanks, John Cummings (talk) 19:54, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
    • Wow, that reads like it was written in response to this thread. I did find one factual error though. Doctorow states, "Every file on Wikipedia is licensed for commercial use." A relatively large amount of copyrighted content is already used under fair use doctrine and is not licensed for commercial reuse. That said, this hardly rises to an existential threat. Worst case, some European sources get harder to find. I think Wikipedia could reasonably ignore most of what this is because it is US based and I seriously doubt that Europe has the political capital to block or fine Wikipedia. Winner 42 Talk to me! 17:18, 8 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose any political banners, as always. — Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 03:44, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose As above and echoing the oppose votes for net neutrality banner further up. We should be careful with political banners. doktorb _words^deeds 04:38, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per TonyBallioni and oppose Political banners and this is a political issue and feel there other fora are better for this.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 05:49, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose Though I'm sure the proposal is with good intent, ultimately this is an encyclopedia and not a campaign rally. Chetsford (talk) 07:27, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose and suggest some plan to formally document somewhere that generally politically-themed banners from any country will not be run, to save editors time in discussions like this. It is all evident from recent proposals, that consensus cannot be reached on issues like this. –Ammarpad (talk) 07:35, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. I don't think we should be in the business of championing political causes, and adding a guideline to that effect sounds like a good idea. If the WMF decided this was a threat to the movement and wanted to campaign against it, that would be a different matter. That is part of their job, after all. – Joe (talk) 10:59, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose. On June 11, net neutrality will be adopted as official U.S. policy, and if internet can survive in America, it can survive in Europe too.
  ^^^ 11:48, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose, at this point we should ask WMF for more information and advice about this situation instead of speculating based on opinion pieces and advocacy sites (such sites may very well be correct, but they do not offer an unbiased perspective on controversial topics). Also, as already pointed out by others: it would be helpful to discuss a more general guideline about prohibiting political (and other) advocacy on English Wikipedia and to clarify the handling of possible exceptional cases (if any). GermanJoe (talk) 12:27, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Comment Not an existential threat as Wikipedia can easily exist without the EU, see also the Turkey block. While bad for editors in the EU (including myself), if this comes to pass we might as well fork the encyclopedia, it seems a saner strategy at this point. I find it interesting btw. how people point at WMF whereas WMFs strategy has been to ask the community. Seems a bit circular. :) —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:01, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
  • Sure, for that matter Wikipedia can continue existing even if tomorrow a biological attack kills the entire humanity. It just won't have any user. --Nemo 21:09, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
    • Well it's clear that the community is fine with that, isn't it ? The ideals have eroded to the point where we effectively ARE the Encyclopaedia Brittanica that we replaced. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:19, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support, we need to be able to address laws that directly affect Wikipedia. (Note that I am not thrilled by the not very informative nature of https://saveyourinternet.eu/ ). We regularly have banners claiming Wikipedia will die if users don't donate -- the potential threat from bad legislation seems worse than two years without donations. —Kusma (t·c) 14:07, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose, the community is here to build an encyclopedia, not for political campaigning. Proposals like this are on their way to
  WP:PERENNIAL. – Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 18:45, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support compared to net neutrality, this appears to actually have a direct and major effect on wikipedia in the EU, closer to
  WP:SOPA. Hope to get a statement from the WMF on how exactly this would affect us though. Galobtter (pingó mió) 21:05, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• As Galobtter and Kusma say, this is legislation which directly affects our copyleft and wiki model: not only it directly affects Wikipedia, but of all possible topics in the world it's the one where we can't avoid having an opinion and can't avoid being the most competent to talk (copyleft is the
  JURI vote and the final call to arms will be before the vote in the European Plenary, like last time. After the committee vote, it's certainly too late to have a good law, but it won't be too late to stop a bad one. If we use all our bullets now, we will be harmless when the lobbies come up with yet another trick against Wikipedia. --Nemo 21:30, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support great idea. Nocturnalnow (talk) 21:45, 5 June 2018 (UTC)
• NEUTRAL Oppose yet ANOTHER PROPOSED WIKI-BANNER CRYING WOLF about the end of civilization as we know it. When can these well-intentioned—but badly conceived proposals—and the accompanying Wiki lawyering, just stop? If the WMF speaks out on the issue, ping me... GenQuest ^{"Talk to Me"} 23:17, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Ping. This is highly relevant for everyone to read.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 14:04, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

I agree the article makes a good point. Particularly about how difficult this would make editing for our average users, per:

...Third, the broad and vague language of Art. 13 and the compromise amendment would undermine collaborative projects that rely on the ability of individuals around the world to discuss controversial issues and develop content together. Free knowledge that is inclusive, democratic, and verifiable can only flourish when the people sharing knowledge can engage with each other on platforms that have reasonable and transparent takedown practices. People’s ability to express themselves online shouldn’t depend on their skill at navigating opaque and capricious filtering algorithms. Automatic content filtering based on rightsholders’ interpretation of the law would—without a doubt—run counter to these principles of human collaboration that have made the Wikimedia projects so effective and successful.

For that reason alone, I would not condemn action by the site regarding this issue regarding Article 13, and change my opinion to Neutral for this activity if it is deemed by consensus that either a Banner or Blackout to be necessary by the WMF. Thanks for the input, Jimbo. Regards, GenQuest ^{"Talk to Me"} 23:04, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose per all the oppose comments - Exactly as the opposition to the US net neutrality banner. Also this would mean identifying from cookies/IP adresses the location of our users/readers. Our encyclopedia is international and it must remain apolitical. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 07:42, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

@Kudpung: "Also this would mean identifying from cookies/IP adresses the location of our users/readers" eh. we already do that for almost every single banner.. Since at least 2009. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:24, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

TheDJ, I have no idea. I'm an editor not an IT expert. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 14:23, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Apolitical? LOL. I have a list of articles I would like you to make apolitical.... HiLo48 (talk) 08:12, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

HiLo48 then as a Wikipedia editor there are things you can do about it. Hope your list is not too long...Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 14:23, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

owned by unprincipled Admins who would rather see me banned forever. There is no hope there. (For those articles or those Admins, and maybe Wikipedia.) HiLo48 (talk) 21:48, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose Not appropriate to push that POV, even though many of us might agree with it. HiLo48 (talk) 08:14, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose per GenQuest. Wikipedia is not for
  righting great wrongs, in articles or otherwise. --Joshualouie711^talk 15:13, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose We are not a forum, and that must just as much apply to this as anything else. Wikipedia must not and should not engage in advocacy. Once we do that then any claim of neutrality goes out of the window, we play into the hands of those who say we are not neutral.15:17, 6 June 2018 (UTC)Slatersteven (talk)
• Support. Like the net neutrality proposal, this is not inherently political. Like net neutrality, this also has to do with something that threatens the very premise of WMF's purpose. But unlike net neutrality, this law may prevent EU users from accessing Wikipedia because Wikipedia doesn't pay the appropriate fees to news sources for using short snippets of text, and so forth.
  I initially thought this was about the image copyright law that banned images of certain structures in the EU, but this is much, much worse. Talk about heavy-handed... epicgenius (talk) 15:58, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose We are not a forum, and that must just as much apply to this as anything else. Wikipedia must not and should not engage in advocacy. Once we do that then any claim of neutrality goes out of the window.Slatersteven (talk) 14:58, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
  • Too late. clpo13_(talk) 17:06, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
    • The whole point of the project and the foundation is advocacy for free and open knowledge, for everyone to contribute, share and make money off. A highly radical concept in 2001 and still in most parts of the world. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 19:33, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
      • Completely wrong. Not right at all. 100% wrong and 0% right. The point of the project is to provide that free and open knowledge. Not to advocate for it, or for anything else whatsoever. --Trovatore (talk) 19:36, 6 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support: this law will have very serious consiquences for Wikimedia projects as outlined by the proposer, Julia Reda, WMF, WMDE and others. John Cummings (talk) 15:48, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support although I doubt a proprosal on en-wiki can affect all other language wikis, so probably just here. I'm quite flabbergasted whenever I hear the "we shouldn't be doing advocacy"-line. Obviously we shouldn't be advertising for political parties or recommending the next big dietary supplement, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with telling our readers whenever a proposed policy would severely **** with our editing model. I wonder if one would get the same reaction if the proposal was more obviously authoritarian. It's also incorrect that the WMF hasn't said anything about this as explained above, and various elements of the WMF-affiliate ecosystem has been working against this, such as the WM EU-group (full disclosure, WMDK, which I'm a part of, has done so as well). Despite the carveouts for online encyclopedias in the proposal, it would still impact some of our other projects, as well as the general free-knowledge infrastructure, such as forced remuneration. Sincerely, InsaneHacker (💬) 16:28, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

I absolutely agree. This is not just a vague human rights thing, this is something that may well have direct financial consequences for WMF. On that bases I'd go as far as to support WMF overriding whatever consensus happens here to make the blackout happen. Daß Wölf 02:49, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

• Oppose – Wikipedia is
  not a soapbox, whether political or not. But wait, why would we think this is a bad idea anyway? Isn't a robust and effective filter to prevent copyright violations one of the things we've repeatedly asked the Foundation for in the various community wishes consultation exercises? Isn't it exactly what we desperately need and want for this project, instead of relying on a script written by a user and the one dedicated admin who monitors it? Since the vote is imminent, can we take it that the WMF has already dedicated substantial human and financial resources to preparing an effective filter in case it turns out to be needed? Will it be ready in time? Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 17:17, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
  • @Justlettersandnumbers: this article outlines the direct threats of the law to Wikipedia (and more generally why its a terrible idea). John Cummings (talk) 19:59, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support I agree with Kusma, including caveat that the saveyourinternet link is not ideal. Mike Linksvayer (talk) 17:22, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support Before it is too late. Yann (talk) 20:42, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
• Strong oppose - Copied from the recent proposal for a Net Neutrality banner, after reading much of this discussion (I can't say it any clearer than this). I'll note that something does not need to be "partisan" to be political by my understanding and use of the word. First definition at m-w.com: "of or relating to government, a government, or the conduct of government".
  Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a platform for political statements supported by a majority of the few editors who happen to show up in a discussion on this page. That's regardless of the merits of the issues or how Wikipedia might be affected by them. We are Wikipedia editors, not political activists (although each of us is free to be a political activist off-wiki). In my view, this proposal should go the way of the proposal to show an anti-Trump statement before the U.S. presidential election. Furthermore, I think we should consider an explicit policy against using the encyclopedia as a platform for political statements. ―Mandruss ☎ 21:13, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support per Guy Macon and Wnt. Jc86035's alternate account (talk) 06:43, 8 June 2018 (UTC)
  • I will abstain from voting. But just to point out that if we do it, we should have our own banner, as we did on de.wp and bg.wp. We are in a particular situation where Wikimedia projects have been carved out from the proposal as the text currently stands. We need to explain why we still worry with a little bit more nuance, at least on the landing page. --dimi_z (talk) 08:22, 8 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support Wikimedia projects and the Wikimedia commununity get involved in any political issue which is an existential threat to Wikimedia projects. There is a preponderance of evidence that this political issue is an existential threat to Wiki and for that reason it is fine for us to take a political position. It is true that Wiki is "neutral" but neutrality is relative and rational and aligns with an ethical code. Our ethic code includes values like "publishing an encyclopedia" and "making the encyclopedia accessible". I feel that we have met an appropriate standard of evidence in this case, and I agree that WP:reliable sources say that Wikimedia projects are facing an existential threat with this political issue. It is fine for us to advocate, lobby, and demand our right to develop and provide access to the encyclopedia we are sharing. I also feel that it is not necessary to settle any political controversy around this issue. I am willing to acknowledge the legitimacy of critics' concerns about our incomplete information on the law and lack of total certainty that this law is bad. For me, it is enough that we are diligent to cite reliable sources which confirm that some authorities have identified a danger.

I see "oppose" !votes which suggest that Wikipedia should avoid reacting to any country's legislative process as a way of achieving neutrality. I feel that this is misguided, because while Wikipedia is neutral about many topics, we always take a position that every country should allow Wikipedia, access to information, and the educational resources we provide. I will not entertain anyone's arguments that restricting access to Wikipedia should be part of the Wikipedia mission. There is no reason why we should expect that the law of every country is best for Wikipedia. It is fine for us to say that Wikipedia is basically good, and to expect that the laws conform to the existence of Wikipedia. Citizens like us make laws for the public good. People do not exist to conform to laws which fail to consider the public good. It is right to start with the assumption that Wikipedia is good and that good laws will encourage its development. Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:31, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

• Strong support A lot of the oppose votes seem to come from editors who won't be affected by this legislation, which makes me question if they truly understand the potential consequences. Speaking as someone who will be, from what I understand of it (correct me if I'm wrong), it will make it nigh-on impossible to do anything more than trivial edits. We would no longer be able to upload fair use images, cite web sources, or even quote copyrighted material. How on Earth are we supposed to write decent articles with those restrictions? This could be detrimental to Wikipedia and those in the EU who wish to edit it. The WMF may not be bound by this legislation, but my ISP will be. This is not just a political crusade. Adam9007 (talk) 22:03, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

• Comment: Then do something about your law makers. Do you understand the current legislative actions affecting internet, copyright law, and legality of use for our users in China? How about Turkey? Spain? Thought so. Wikipedia is here for people to access—or not. They can do so, as best they can from the countries they live in. These are countries where they have –politically– elected the officials who then propose, debate, and enact the laws they deem necessary. We are not here to advocate for or against any such laws, any such country, or any such lawmakers. That's politics. We're here to build an encyclopedia. Period. GenQuest ^{"Talk to Me"} 00:13, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

Remember that proposed copyright legislation a few years back? It would have made many, many free images used here subject to copyright. We had a banner about that, because it would have directly and adversely affected us. I don't see how this is any different. Adam9007 (talk) 15:23, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

Yep. And I was against that action too, but consensus was against me. I stopped editing for about year afterwards, too, because I saw that these kinds of political actions would become perennial requests. Judging from, counting this one, three discussions so far just this year, I guess I wasn't far wrong. GenQuest ^{"Talk to Me"} 16:57, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

• Conditional moot. This discussion will probably be closed after 20 June 2018. Steel1943 (talk) 22:38, 8 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose - Just like the net neutrality discussion we had a while back: I'm sympathetic to the ideals, but I'm opposed to Wikipedia being used as a political platform regardless of ideology. Unless of course, the Wikimedia Foundation itself decides to release a statement themselves, but in any case, there are alternative outlets for statements like these to be expressed.
  csdnew 23:18, 8 June 2018 (UTC)
• Strong oppose Direct advocacy on a political matter is about the farthest you can get from maintaining neutrality. "Please do not add commentary, your own point of view, or your own personal analysis to Wikipedia articles", to quote {{uw-npov2}}. Go start a blog if you want to publicize your opinions about political matters, whether in your own country or another. Nyttend (talk) 22:58, 8 May 2018 (UTC) This is intentionally copy/pasted from my vote on net neutrality. Nyttend (talk) 02:20, 9 June 2018 (UTC)
• Strong support. The oppose voters must be missing the fact that a major part of fair use methodology that is absolutely essential for Wikipedia's functioning will be rendered effectively illegal unless Wikipedia tithes to every news source it cites and quotes. If we're not going to protest for the sake of the internet, then do it for the sake of Wikimedia's budget. Daß Wölf 02:37, 9 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support. If the legislation passes, it would almost certainly be illegal to access most Wikipedia articles from the EU, and Wikimedia and/or individual contributing editors might be found liable for copyright violation. Certainly downstream commercial users would be found liable if they did not block access from the EU, even if Wikipedia and individual contributors were exempt. We need a banner within 3 days. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 04:48, 10 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support: SOPA is a precedent, but this actually is much worse. Wikipedia is a name synonymous with open content online, and if they try to assert the "it applies to any website which serves European users regardless of where its being run from" card like GDPR is, this is an existential threat that goes much farther than just Wikipedia. ViperSnake151  Talk  15:28, 10 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support per Blue Rasberry. Double sharp (talk) 03:20, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support for the convincing reasons given in the proposal. Kevin (aka L235 · t · c) 03:21, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Strong possible support Being apolitical does not mean being blind to threats to Wikipedia. The Red Cross is apolitical. That doesn't mean they can't take a stand against a proposed law that would make it harder to give blood.
  b} 03:53, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Comment: Let me share you a Wikipedia [Hungary] story, happened a few years ago and handled by yours truly: a large number of Wikipedia editors (image uploaders) got email from a large lawyer firm which stated that they have violated the rights of a LargeImagePublisherHouse™ since they have illegally used their imagery without their permission and they are commanded to immediately remove the image (from WM Commons) and immediately pay a large sum of money or they will be brought to courts. Possibly hundreds of such. The users got really scared, and I tried to figure out what was going on. After contacting the lawyering gang it took a weird turn: turned out they have used a company specialising in content filtering to scan millions of web images against their image catalog and flag copyvio [and have paid a helluva lotsa dinero for that], then started sending out harrassing mail en masse. The problem was, however, that their library ("accidentally") have included lots of images from Wikimedia Commons! So they have "claimed" their copyright, matched against, well, the originals then sent out the pay-or-get-sued mail. Obviously when they've been shown this they were hugely embarrassed and apologised and sent out correctional mail in the following weeks. Nevertheless, the harm's been done: some people left Wikipedia immediately and disappeared for ever. This is the same principle and technology They™ would like to enforce on Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, and apart from that basically everyone around your internet cable. Whether this is existencial or not… decide for yourself. Compulsory monitoring by copyright owners (not the authors, mind you)? Veto right for them? And we have to pay for that technology, implementation, and by the way accept all responsiblity for misfiltering, either way? I do not think that would get unnoticed in Wikipedia and Wikimedia operations. --grin ✎ 07:57, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support. Unlike the US net neutrality issue, this impacts Wikipedia as a project much more immediately and negatively, and it is legitimate to oppose it from this operational perspective. Sandstein 12:53, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support very clearly something that negatively supports our community's direct mission and activity, Sadads (talk) 16:11, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support This is an instance where being "political" is unavoidable: the political aspect is baked into the very idea of a free encyclopedia. XOR'easter (talk) 18:34, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose Wikipedia is not a political platform, even if the policy issue impacts (to some) our continued existence. Chris Troutman (talk) 21:58, 11 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose For the same reasons I've opposed other similar proposals, we shouldn't be using banners to urge action in a particular way. That said, the issue is quite important and under-reported. I could support a neutrally worded banner that linked to some neutral information sites, but not one that advocates opposition or support. I think most readers are smart enough to make up their mind, if they are given information.--S Philbrick(Talk) 21:30, 12 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose because Wikipedia should not be using its position to influence the way the world is run. Our founding principles stated in Wikipedia:Five pillars include that "Wikipedia is not a soapbox" and that "We avoid advocacy and we characterize information and issues rather than debate them." SilkTork (talk) 10:04, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

It's worth pointing out that we already use edit filters on Wikipedia: Edit filter management and MediaWiki talk:Spam-blacklist. The concerns raised in last year's WikiMedia blog do not appear to have considered our own existing filters and the way we operate them. SilkTork (talk) 10:25, 14 June 2018 (UTC)

• Support per Blue Raspberry. --Carwil (talk) 16:45, 14 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support Has a significant risk of impacting our ability to function. Agree with User:Sandstein. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 19:46, 14 June 2018 (UTC)
• Support per my comments below. — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 07:43, 16 June 2018 (UTC)
• Oppose a banner linking to a page explicitly in opposition to Article 13, Neutral on a banner linking to a NPOV summary of the facts. --Joshualouie711^talk 00:44, 17 June 2018 (UTC)

WAIT. before you oppose on 'not-political' grounds, be aware that this is not something that it politicised in the EU, it is something that has not been reported on in the media, and the public are largely not aware of. This EU proposal is far more dangerous than any of the net neutrality debates, in a direct way to Wikipedia. Net Neutrality doesn't directly affect Wikipedia, but the changes to copyright that article 13 contains may make it impossible for Wikipedia to operate in the EU; the 'link tax' might completely shut down access to Wikipedia in Europe if enforced, and the rules for copyright basically eliminate fair use, making all the European branch language Wikis largely impossible. That is way more of a big deal than a bit of political activism. Please do not bandwagon this one, THINK. I was against the other net neutrality banners, but this is NOT THE SAME THING. I urge you guys to please reconsider, because this is not a partisan political issue in the EU, and that this is actually a potentially huge existential threat to Wikipedia itself. Even Jimbo Wales has said so over on his talk page.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 20:39, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• It is being done through the political process, thus it is political. The WMF isn't worried about it, so why should we be? TonyBallioni (talk) 21:01, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Where have you been told that the WMF isn't worried about it? It is not a partisan issue like net neutrality, so Wikipedia wouldn't be 'taking sides'. This is trying to be snuck through the political process with nobody noticing. — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 21:09, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Regardless, if this is a threat to the WMF model, then the WMF should be clearly issuing a statement against it and/or issuing something to say they support a message. (WMF supported the Protests against SOPA and PIPA). If we had this, I would see no problem then including a banner message to warn about this. --Masem (t) 21:16, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Err, they already did: wmfblog:2017/06/06/european-copyright-directive-proposal/. Judging from the statement, WMF seems rather worried about article 13, which would probably make the WMF subject to some kind of liability. The European users and associations originally cared about other things, necessary for our copyleft wikis: freedom of panorama, public domain, orphan works. But then, maybe that's considered "political" too. --Nemo 21:17, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• I detest hidden pings; if you're going to ping me, at least make it so I can see my name. Anyway, I agree with Tony and Masem; if it's an existential threat in the view of the whole of the Foundation, not just Jimbo, something will be done. Moreover, it's not our place to attempt to sway the minds of voters regarding the proposed policies of their lawmakers. (Hint: contact your lawmakers and spread the word about this.) — Javert2113 (talk; please ping me in your reply on this page) 21:22, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

@Javert2113:Sorry about the hidden ping, I pinged everyone that had made a 'political' oppose above, and it was a long list of names. — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 21:51, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

It's fine. I'm just a bit grouchy today, to be honest. Thank you for the ping; I probably wouldn't have seen this otherwise. — Javert2113 (talk; please ping me in your reply on this page) 21:52, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• Whether or not the WMF is worried about it, or whether or not I'm personally worried about it, I still oppose. While I understand the proposed banner would not be encyclopedic per se, I think the general spirit of
  WP:NPOV should still apply to publicly-facing content and the proposed banner - linking to a site that says a specific piece of legislation "threatens everything you do" - is not in line with that. That said, I appreciate the spirit in which the banner is proposed. Chetsford (talk) 22:11, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• Is there anyone here who would change their position if the banner was worded differently or linked to another page such as [ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/10/digital-rights-groups-demand-deletion-unlawful-filtering-mandate-proposed-eu ]? I am guessing that the answer is no. --Guy Macon (talk) 22:23, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• I think your guess is probably a good one. I'd be opposed to any type of persuasive banner regardless of the specific words used or the topic referenced. Chetsford (talk) 22:35, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• I think the issue is that it isn't clear exactly what consequences this might have, particularly for Wikipedia. Article 13 is pretty broad in its language, which makes it a bit unclear where it will be enforced and where it won't. When similar laws passed in Spain I know that google news shut down in that country (at least linking to Spanish publishers). A lot of these links are pretty fearmongery, and I am not sure anyone really knows what consequences this might actually have. Everyone seems to agree that it will be bad to some degree however. If a Lawyer from the WMF could give us confirmation on this (can someone ping somebody?) that would be the best. I'm not sure if wmfblog:2017/06/06/european-copyright-directive-proposal/ represents a WMF position on the topic or not... — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 22:44, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• The worst case scenario, it seems, is that Wikipedia in the EU goes the way Google News did in Spain. That, in the future, Wikipedia will be inaccessible to EU citizens. However, I oppose the persuasive banner regardless of the consequences. If the citizens of the EU, acting through their MEPs, decide WP is not welcome in the EU we should respect their decision, not chain ourselves in the guest bedroom and demand to stay. Again, though, I do appreciate the spirit in which the banner is proposed and agree it would be unfortunate if the worst came to pass. Chetsford (talk) 22:52, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

• Meh, the WMF is not worried about it. They are insulated by being (as an entity) based in the US, the material based in the US etc. This will not impact Wikipedia or any of the major encyclopedias in any significant manner. It will be an issue for editors in the EU but as to how much - that remains to be seen. What it is highly likely to totally fuck right up is Wikia - a site that routinely (and is in fact built around) violates copyright. And since Wikia is a for-profit cash-generating machine of a certain someone, who happens to live in the EU and so is subject to EU law, its not surprising they are 'concerned' about legislation that will directly impact that. Only in death does duty end (talk) 10:10, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

For those few interested, tomorrow Julia Reda (one of the few defenders of the Internet within the EU politics), is doing an AMA tomorrow at 12:00 CEST on reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/ —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 14:03, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Looks like it has started: https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/8oywxz/i_am_mep_julia_reda_fighting_to_saveyourinternet/ --Nemo 11:29, 6 June 2018 (UTC)

Cory @Doctorow: has written an article for Electronic Frontier Foundation that outline the threats posed by the law to Wikimedia projects and what can be done to oppose it:

• The EU's Copyright Proposal is Extremely Bad News for Everyone, Even (Especially!) Wikipedia.

— Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)} 21:31, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Directive_on_Copyright_in_the_Digital_Single_Market has been started, it is currently not very comprehensive, please help expand it. John Cummings (talk) 21:20, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

According to the (fairly critical) de:Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger Germany has already such legislation, maybe that is something worth inspecting? Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 21:34, 8 June 2018 (UTC)

Germany already has the link tax aka article 11, see Google News (it failed miserably, so the EU lobbies are now proposing an even worse version). The biggest danger for Wikimedia is probably article 13 (mandatory upload filters and liability). --Nemo 08:31, 9 June 2018 (UTC)

It also appears to be poised to but some real teeth in the EU right to disappear, with hefty daily fine if a US website like Wikipedia refuses to delete a BLP article on demand. --Guy Macon (talk) 08:11, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Hi everybody, since some people have been asking about it, I wanted to confirm our position very briefly: the Wikimedia Foundation is deeply concerned about requirements for mandatory upload filtering to fight copyright violations or other problematic content that could appear in the future. Therefore, we oppose Art. 13 of the proposed Copyright Directive due to its potential harm to freedom of expression, user privacy, and collaboration on the internet. We believe that a general monitoring obligation for platforms would threaten user rights. Best, --JGerlach (WMF) (talk) 06:16, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

JGerlach (WMF), As I pointed out at User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 229#How about a far less controversial EU Copyright law proposal? the WMF position you just linked to is over a year old, and the proposed regulation has changes significantly since then. See Talk:Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market# Timeline of the proposal (prepared by Cory Doctorow) for a list of the changes. The leaked secret proposal to make the upload filter in Article 13 more extreme especially troubling and might require an additional WMF comment.

May I request an updated position statement? If there are no updates, may I request a simple republishing with a comment to the effect of "in the year since this was published, our position has not changed"? --Guy Macon (talk) 08:08, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

Guy Macon, I can confirm that our position has not changed and we oppose Art. 13, in its amended version too. Even with the recent changes and the exception for non-commercial purposes, we oppose this proposed norm because it would establish a dangerous precedent and threaten user rights on the internet. --JGerlach (WMF) (talk) 17:34, 12 June 2018 (UTC)

@

• Still oppose as bringing politics into Wikipedia. TonyBallioni (talk) 04:59, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• I would still think that if the WMF felt this needed to be known, they can force a banner across all projects. limiting to just en.wiki is not a good idea. --Masem (t) 05:26, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Same view with Masem. If the Foundation felt it is "necessary," just run banner across all projects as non-overridable
  Office action. But waiting for en-wiki crowd to agree first means it is not as "dangerous" as pro-banner camp are making it to look like. –Ammarpad (talk) 06:01, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Still oppose. To be clear: the WMF statement contains many valid thoughts and concerns (although a bit vague in some parts), but it does not demonstrate an immediate threat to Wikipedia's core mission. GermanJoe (talk) 06:18, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• I remain opposed to a banner of any kind. Regardless of the WMF's position, I remain unconvinced that Wikipedia should be used as a platform for programs such as this. This would violate NPOV and other related policies, including the Five Pillars.
  csdnew 06:29, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Still oppose. We have to be careful about hosting political banners. Think of the unintended consequences... doktorb _words^deeds 08:04, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Still oppose It is not an issue of the rights and wrongs of this directive, but out commitment not only to the concept the the principle of neutrality. I believe that you should obey not just the letter of the law (or you should stop using commitment to the law as a kind of Moral VC to tell people how great you are).Slatersteven (talk) 09:45, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Not one bit different; WMF's stand does not change the fact that this would put political advocacy atop every page. Nyttend (talk) 11:31, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Thanks for the ping, but I already commented on that year old blog article in my oppose. I'm not sure that the Foundation is aware that we already use edit filters created by our users, some of which are designed to combat copyright violations. But even if they are, I think it's OK for the Foundation to say that they are opposed to stuff which they feel impacts on Wikipedia. What is wrong is for anyone to use Wikipedia as that platform. Those folks who are opposed to this (and that includes our blessed Jimbo) should use legitimate platforms to express their concerns or disagreements. SilkTork (talk) 12:12, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• No change, if the WMF wants to take an office action to run a banner I could tolerate that but I wouldn't be incredibly happy about it. That said, I have already been mass pinged twice to this discussion and would appreciate it if this was the last one. W42 13:18, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Continue to oppose: Thank you for the ping, but this has not affected my position, either, nor the ones of my fellow editors, I daresay. My position may best be summed up as a combination of Ammarpad's thoughts, Narutolovehinata5's beliefs, and Winner_42's hope to not be pinged again. If you care to read it all, it's below.
  First, the Foundation may say whatever it likes, naturally, but they don't post their (inherently political) statement on English Wikipedia: neither should we. As it stands, there are other platforms that should be used to political lobbying and discussion instead of our collaborative encyclopedia. Moreover, of course, the Foundation could force Wikipedia to run a banner, and there'd be bobkes we could do about it, but they haven't; whilst one may see that as respecting the autonomy of our efforts here, I see that much in the same way GermanJoe and Ammarpad do: this isn't something that is wholly inimical to Wikipedia as a core threat to our mission and our future. Finally, as a standard matter of policy, we do not engage in political campaigning on the encyclopedia, and we do not allow campaigning or
  WP:ADVOCACY (our stance against SOPA and PIPA being a notable exception). It would behoove us, in my opinion, to continue such a policy. —Javert2113 (Let's chat!|Contributions) 15:21, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• WMF's opinion never made any difference to me; I find them despicable. I still oppose this political jousting being hosted on Wikipedia. Chris Troutman (talk) 15:59, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• I concur with the comments on this matter made above by TonyBallioni, Doktorbuk, and Nyttend. — Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 17:10, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• continue to oppose If WMF wants to influence EU legislation, they should hire a lobbyist. —
  talk, contribs) 20:13, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• Reaffirming oppose per TonyBallioni. --Joshualouie711^talk 21:30, 17 June 2018 (UTC)
• I had reasoned that my !vote would stand unless I modified it, but a large number of editors appear to feel that it would be effectively withdrawn if I didn't re-affirm it here. Shrug. Still oppose as there has been no counter to my argument, let alone a persuasive one. ―Mandruss ☎ 22:45, 17 June 2018 (UTC)