Wikimedia Foundation/Legal/2023 ToU updates/Office hours
Office hours about updating the Wikimedia Terms of Use
[edit]Wikimedia Foundation Legal Department hosted two office hours with community members about updating the Wikimedia Terms of Use.
The Terms of Use (ToU) are the legal terms that govern the use of websites hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. We will be gathering your feedback on a draft proposal from February through April. The draft will be translated into several languages, with feedback accepted in any language.
Dates and times
[edit]- The first Office Hour was held on March 2, from 17:00 UTC to 18:30 UTC.
- The second Office Hour was held on April 4, from 17:00 UTC to 18:30 UTC.
The meeting were held in English language and led by the members of the Wikimedia Foundation Legal Team, who took and answered questions from the community members. Facilitators from the Movement Strategy and Governance Team provided the necessary assistance and other meeting-related services.
How to take part in Office Hours
[edit]- Calls are held on the Google Meet platform.
- Access links are shared on this page 48 hours before each call.
- Anyone can join the call; no registration is needed.
- Engage as you like: speaking up, writing, or just listening.
- The conversations are recorded.
- The Universal Code of Conduct applied.
Office Hour participants
[edit]Participants from the Wikimedia Foundation include:
- Members of the Legal Team
- Movement Strategy and Governance facilitators
What is being updated?
[edit]This update comes in response to several things:
- Implementing the Universal Code of Conduct;
- The Legal Department has been instructed to ensure that the ToU include UCoC in some form.
- Updating project text to the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license;
- Regarding CC 4.0, the communities had determined as the result of a 2016 consultation that the projects should upgrade the main license for hosted text from the current CC BY-SA 3.0 to CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Proposal for better addressing undisclosed paid editing
- The Foundation intends to strengthen its tools to support existing community policies against marketing companies engaged in systematic, undisclosed paid editing campaigns.
- Bringing our terms in line with current and recently passed laws affecting the Foundation, including the European Digital Services Act
- While the law affecting hosting providers has held steady for some time, with the recent passage of the EU’s Digital Services Act, we are seeing more significant changes in the legal obligations for companies like the Foundation that host large websites. Therefore, we think it’s a good time to revisit the ToU and update them to bring them up to current legal precedents and standards.