Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-11-16/In the news

German lawsuit, Jimbo interview and more

Germans file suit against Wikimedia Foundation

British broadsheet The Guardian and American paper the New York Times report that two German citizens, Wolfgang Werlé and Manfred Lauber, have filed a lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation in a Hamburg court. The Guardian reports that the two men are convicted murderers who wish to regain anonymity, noting that "Germany's courts allow a criminal's name to be withheld in news reports once they have served a prison term and a set period has expired." This puts German law into conflict with US law, which allows a greater freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. While the German Wikipedia has already removed the names of the two men, the English Wikipedia still publishes their names in the article on the victim, Walter Sedlmayr. The New York Times reports that "Wikimedia questioned the relevance of any judgments in the German courts, since, it said, it has no operations in Germany and no assets there".

France 24 interview Jimmy Wales

On 13 November, France 24 published an interview with Jimmy Wales, in which Wales commented on the Usability Initiative, which he hoped would "attract more users", and the implementation of

, which Wales was hopeful would "be implemented in December."

Fundraiser coverage

The launch of this year's fundraiser (see full story) has garnered online press coverage. TechCrunch reports that despite having a no ads policy, Wikipedia was displaying "house ads reiterating the policy that Wikipedia will never have ads. But they clearly are ads." A number of commentors on the story pointed out that the fundraiser was an annual event, and the article was amended accordingly. Venture Beat reported on the higher target the Foundation hoped to achieve this year, writing that "it's settings its sights higher this time, with a target of $7.5 million."

Softpedia quoted Wikimedia executive director Sue Gardner's words on how the money would be spent, which Gardner had posted to the Wikimedia blog: "That money will go towards technology and people — the servers and bandwidth required to operate the site, and the staff of 30 people who keep it running".

Briefly

• Craig Newmark and Newsweek put Wikipedia top of the list of Things Unknown In '99, Indispensable Now.
• The BBC talks to Jimmy Wales about Wikipedia's future in Africa.