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WMUK Public Policy Working Group

Giving Free Knowledge a Voice

 

The Wikimedia UK Public Policy Working Group had its inaugural meeting on 15 February 2016. 7 Wikimedians (staff, board members and volunteers) mapped out the main policy issues in the UK and the EU, prioritised them from a WMUK perspective and categorised as either proactive or reactive.

Brainstorming Potential Issues

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  • Data Protection
  • Open Government License
  • Open Access Definition
  • Public Domain Definition
  • Privacy
  • Database Rights
  • Freedom of Panorama
  • Surveillance
  • E-lending
  • Fair Contracts
  • Orphan works
  • Text and Data Mining
  • Age Verification
  • Geoblocking
  • Network Neutrality

Mapping

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Importance (vertical) X Feasibility (horizontal)

After discussing each issues and arranging them on the gird, the ones in the top-right corner were deemed important and a least partly feasible:

  • Text and Data Mining
  • Orphan Works
  • Definitions of Open Access and Public Domain
  • Age Verification
  • Open Government License
  • Freedom of Panorama
  • Database Rights

Categorisation of Preselected Issues

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Proactive

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  • Orphan Works: No major barriers in terms of opposition, but relatively little incentive for government to make much change. Minor amendments to IPO OW licensing procedures have been made with activism before, so there may be some flexibility and openness to sensible suggestions.
  • Text & Data Mining: We need this to be open in order to support projects such as Wikidata "The right to read is the right to mine."
  • OA & PD Definitions: Important to ensure that Open Access means what it says.

Reactive

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  • Age Verification: Important as the risk is overreach could affect Wikimedia projects, timely and something we can/should make our voice heard on.
  • Database Rights: Reactive to any EU changes, we would like an improvement on current status quo.
  • Freedom of Panorama: Depending on EU situation. Goal is to guard the UK status quo.
  • Open Government License: This is currently less of a policy issue for WMUK. Will be handled as cooperations/partnerships.

Next Steps

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