[Advocacy Advisors] Participating in a specific, transparency-focused action

Thu Jul 18 15:11:54 UTC 2013

On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 8:02 AM, Bence Damokos <bdamokos at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Luis,
>
> Just a question related to language/context of the blog post, what do you
> mean by "criminal programs" in the sentence "This letter partially
> addresses that issue by asking that the government share more information
> about the scope and size of these programs, as it does with similar
> criminal programs."?
>
> (As a non-native, non-US reader, it comes through as if you are referring
> to PRISM as a criminal [~illegal] programme.)
>

Good question- I think that would probably be unclear for native speakers
as well, now that you point it out. I will try to edit it at some point.

The actual letter says:

"Basic information about how the government uses its various law
enforcement–related investigative
authorities has been published for years without any apparent disruption to
criminal investigations."

In other words, the US government annually publishes the number of
subpoenas, wiretaps, etc. that it uses to catch criminals, without damaging
those efforts. So we're urging them to make the same publication here.

Hope that helps-
Luis

> Best regards,
> Bence
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 4:51 PM, Luis Villa <lvilla at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>> Hi, all-
>> As some of you may have seen, we posted this this morning:
>>
>> http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/07/18/wikimedia-foundation-letter-transparency-nsa-prism/
>>
>> Letting people know that we'd signed on to this letter:
>>
>> https://www.cdt.org/files/pdfs/weneedtoknow-transparency-letter.pdf
>>
>> Given last week's discussion here, I wanted to shed a little more light
>> here on why we signed this:
>>
>> * Mission/Values: There has been some skepticism (like from MZ) about
>> whether PRISM is sufficiently related to our mission and values for us to
>> take action. Without getting into that general question, it is clear that
>> the Foundation's ability to be transparent with the community is absolutely
>> critical, so we thought this action was very clearly within the scope of
>> our mission/values.
>>
>> * International: This letter is very deliberately focused on an issue
>> (transparency) that benefits all Wikimedians, not just Americans, and
>> generally uses language that matches that.
>>
>> As I said last week, and mention again in the blog post, we'll continue
>> to look out for opportunities that make sense ourselves, and of course the
>> community should always feel able and empowered to start things as well.
>>
>> I will be offline a good chunk of today (moving apartments - bad timing!)
>> but will try to monitor this thread and respond as quickly as I can to any
>> questions.
>>
>> Thanks-
>> Luis
>>
>> --
>> Luis Villa
>> Deputy General Counsel
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>> 415.839.6885 ext. 6810
>>
>> NOTICE: *This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you
>> have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the
>> mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical
>> reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
>> members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.*
>>
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>>
>
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-- 
Luis Villa
Deputy General Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
415.839.6885 ext. 6810

NOTICE: *This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you
have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the
mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/ethical
reasons I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.*
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