[Advocacy Advisors] Advocacy Advisers feedback

Tue Nov 20 06:21:54 UTC 2012

Hi Stephen,

Would this list be a place to suggest that WMF send letters to individual legislators or other government officials to advocate for particular policies, such as an expansion of US Freedom of Panorama liberties and greater clarity about the copyright status of orphan works?

For example, there are entire old computer programs from companies that seem to have dissolved. I would consider these programs to be orphan works. They are shared on the Internet with no legal threats that I've ever heard. Could some of these venerable and notable programs be hosted in their entirety on MediaWiki for free redistribution? My guess is that WMF would be willing to host these programs for posterity if the U.S. Congress would take some steps to clarify when orphan works effectively become freeware when there is no one able to claim, or interested in claiming, copyright ownership of the software.

Pine

Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:34:23 -0800
From: slaporte at wikimedia.org
To: advocacy_advisors at lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: Re: [Advocacy Advisors] Advocacy Advisers feedback

Hello Pine,
I am interested in the community's perspective on any legal or policy issues that are related to our work. I know there are many Wikimedians who are passionate and knowledgeable in this area, so I hope this list can be a forum to share individual opinions and updates about broader discussions within the community. I am especially interested in any community discussions about advocacy, such as the recent protests on the Italian, Tagalog, and Russian Wikipedias (Wikipediae?).

At the moment, I am sharing news stories I find interesting. These are not necessarily points for advocacy, although any feedback or opinion is certainly welcome. I hope that if someone were to ask me about a point of advocacy (such as, for example, preparing an amicus brief), I could turn to this group for consultation.

The list is relative young, so we are still finding our stride. If you have any suggestions, I would be happy to hear it!
Cheers,Stephen

On Mon, Nov 19, 2012 at 10:13 AM, ENWP Pine <deyntestiss at hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Stephen,

Can you clarify what kinds of questions or feedback you are seeking in regards to posts that you make to the Advocacy Advisers list? While I find the information useful and interesting, I'm not sure what discussion or feedback would be useful to WMF.

Thanks,

Pine

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Stephen LaPorte
Legal CounselWikimedia Foundation

For legal reasons, I may only serve as an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation. This means I may not give legal advice to or serve as a lawyer for community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.

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