My concern is that unless there's some form of
legal control by the
Wikimedia Foundation over such international subsidiaries, there could
be some divisiveness and heartbreak in the future. What can we do now
to prevent such things in the future?
It would seem best to me if it is possible for the U.S. foundation to
legally open an "office" in the legal sense in Europe, either for the
entire EU or on a per-country basis.
If you want to open a foundation subsidiary that's not that easy: If there is
a subsidiary of the Foundation in Europe (let's say in Germany), german law
will apply. In that case some articles on the english WP would have be taken
down, since they are likely to be illlegal by german law. Since taking down
articles for that reason is very unlikely to happen, no one here in Europe
can take responsibility for the Foundation directly without a more direct
control over the content. So having a foundation subsidiary here will - set
aside the technical (formal) difficulties - not work, since no one wants to
do that job.
However, we need some sort of organization here in Germany. Otherwise, the
major contributors who stick their head out to much (namlely the admins, even
more namely Kurt) are endangered to be held liable (for copyright violations
or whatever reason) in case someone tries to milk some money out of us
(Remember the SCO/Linux-Case. We are far more endangered to have sleeping,
undiscovered copyright violations than Linux ever was). We need some sort of
organization to draw attraction of that particular sort to the organization
and away from the admins.
Furthermore, we need it - as Kurt already mentioned - for collecting tax
exempt donations and for better "marketing". The german Wikipedia is the
second biggest Wiki in the world now - we are featured by one of the three
big german news magazines next month, we need a more or less official
representation of the german language Wikipedians in general and the german
ones in particular. We need someone who can sign letters and speak officially
for the community, not just a "press contact".
So that "Verein" must and will be founded. It's just the question if we name
it Wikimedia or not. We would like to, because we feel ourselfes connected to
the foundation, even if it should be - for the reason given above - no formal
connection. Yet - as Kurt also already mentioned - one could think about a
global organization putting those local organizations under a common roof
with an international board. But let's take one step after the other. So
let's try us first with "Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung
Freien Wissens e.V. ", and do our best to link that association with the
foundation the best way possible.
Uli