Wikinews:2024 Copyright license upgrade/contact-legal
Initial email
[edit]I sent the following email to legal@wikimedia.org and CC'ed scoop@wn-reporters.org on November 15, 2024:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Dear Wikimedia Legal Team, I am writing to seek your guidance regarding a proposed upgrade of the copyright license used by Wikinews projects from CC-BY-2.5 to CC-BY-4.0. This proposal stems from the need to maintain compatibility with other Wikimedia projects that have already transitioned to a 4.0 version of Creative Commons. The upgrade would help ensure that content can continue to be shared seamlessly across platforms, while also benefiting from the improved terms and broader applicability of the updated license. I am helping to coordinate this effort, primarily for English Wikinews, in collaboration with user MGA73 (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MGA73) who is coordinating with other language editions. The various language projects have been consulted, and there is general support for this transition. We have proposed December 16, 2024, as the date for the actual upgrade. We would like to confirm if the Wikimedia Legal Team has any concerns or advice regarding this change. Specifically: 1. Are there any legal or procedural requirements we should address before implementing this upgrade? 2. Is there a need for additional approval or review beyond community consensus across the involved Wikinews projects? 3. Are there any potential risks or considerations that you believe should be communicated to the projects? The project page can be found here: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:2024_Copyright_license_upgrade Relevant discussions have been centralized here: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_talk:2024_Copyright_license_upgrade Please copy or CC: scoop@wn-reporters.org, which all reviewers at English Wikinews have access to. Your input would be invaluable in ensuring this transition is carried out smoothly and in alignment with Wikimedia policies and goals. Please let us know if you need further information or documentation. Thank you for your assistance. Best regards, Michael C. Wright https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Michael.C.Wright Wright.Michael.C@protonmail.com PGP key fingerprint: 3B21775B4A6CF026C03A7B2FC4A2FD1F392083BF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQEzBAEBCAAdFiEEOyF3W0ps8CbAOnsvxKL9Hzkgg78FAmc3ZyQACgkQxKL9Hzkg g7/MlggAt0AnkR220m0Ba41gnsFC5EaFJiAE4VdMgpq3N9WqQ1X6wpU16mFdaaOY bK6FHKsVLtV+H4jWYqeRW3W0YjrwNpsD2gmjkox2xW5nnCK8+jaPOa0aG7jGVXD4 wj0/7yL7cNZkM3Gmn8f3pYJyI4XzhssKnycRnQRjvK2l447aAON51g1Mo3KFuG8+ jni2rrkjW7NKBlvVzrS2C11fd60cqcQNlTcil+cuSdyhrpuVdFj6ye+KlShcBp9Q I82HEBseZXbQdvi44XI649mEIDOXivMbrHbaR8ogc6ZXI2A/ozqi6cxgeI4U0XV3 NVRJgX0K+u320izTQZD0j1dSimzlSQ== =JUOV -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
I will post any response here as well. —Michael.C.Wright (Talk/Published) 15:28, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
Request received
[edit]The email request was received by Legal's helpdesk and ticket number 91900 was assigned to it. —Michael.C.Wright (Talk/Published) 16:11, 15 November 2024 (UTC)
Follow-up email
[edit]I sent the following email by replying to the response above from Legal's helpdesk (ticket number 91900) and CC'ed scoop@wn-reporters.org on November 23:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Dear Wikimedia Legal Team, I hope this email finds you well. I am following up on my previous inquiry, sent on November 15, regarding the proposed upgrade of the copyright license for Wikinews projects from CC-BY-2.5 to CC-BY-4.0. As mentioned in my earlier message, this upgrade is intended to align Wikinews with other Wikimedia projects that have transitioned to CC-BY-4.0, ensuring compatibility and facilitating content sharing across platforms. We have set December 16, 2024, as the target date for implementing the change. If you require additional information or documentation to assess this proposal, please do not hesitate to let me know. Your guidance is essential in ensuring this transition is handled appropriately and in accordance with Wikimedia Foundation policies. I appreciate your time and attention to this matter and look forward to your response. The project page can be found here: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews:2024_Copyright_license_upgrade Relevant discussions have been centralized here: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_talk:2024_Copyright_license_upgrade Please copy or CC: scoop@wn-reporters.org, which all reviewers at English Wikinews have access to. Thank you again for your support. Best regards, Michael C. Wright https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Michael.C.Wright Wright.Michael.C@protonmail.com PGP key fingerprint: 3B21775B4A6CF026C03A7B2FC4A2FD1F392083BF -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQEzBAEBCAAdFiEEOyF3W0ps8CbAOnsvxKL9Hzkgg78FAmdB7OkACgkQxKL9Hzkg g78GXwf+PhAw7bwwghTRSnPjn9sQG824TLYJREUZeZ71cRjqTyMD+WDVlglK80vV lQwi5ZObvqq1O8xSUt2vYJXlNql6GZ+gpBGekAU3zfjeJ+WDahXPP+lZR1+sYeUZ fOUB7Ur21Z2FRwcCAEwksHqeylb2WCj2aTfDq25BvhKs7Wsa4crLq/cTBydyBg9a UaeP1fDK9qcAtzIJluseGMdXkrlxkGjZ2lq+wTSsnaE+35Utef+bKqoqeze2uQbK YPcj9EMjVpPFSSw8nr/HNeDyIwu2l58plzKt5VXUBrNSHmf7gE/STJuOEifuHO++ hlhp+OhqoBt0Z0XBw3sZB863sTjufA== =ES+V -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
—Michael.C.Wright (Talk/Published) 15:02, 23 November 2024 (UTC)
Response from legal, January 7, 2025
[edit]I received the following response from Shaun Spalding (Wikimedia Trust & Safety / Legal) via request number 91900. Spalding copied Scoop on the email:
Hi Michael, Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate your patience waiting for a reply, and your interest in getting this right. As I said on-Wiki, WMF doesn't have any particular horse in the race of which license is used generally. But it's worth noting that the mechanism that seamlessly moved Wikipedia from CC 3.0 licenses to 4.0 licenses doesn't actually exist for a move from 2.5 to a later license. Therefore, unedited content would remain 2.5, and only new content would be under the new license. Some thoughts on how to navigate this. 1. It would be a good idea to publicly note the crossover date (perhaps in the footer). That way, you can make it clear that content edited before the date is 2.5 and content after the date is under the new agreed-upon license. 2. A future adjustment to the terms of use might be able to fix this. While this plan addresses immediate concerns, there’s potential to smooth out the transition further in future updates to the terms of use. For example, if the community wanted to, it could force a relicense of some (but not all) Wikinews content. However, this would likely be a long-term consideration and not something to implement right away. 3. It may be worth floating the idea of a collective effort to re-license existing 2.5 content to 4.0. One could do this without a TOU update. Any editor can rededicate their own work specifically to a new license. Of course, this would be a lot of work and require a coordinated initiative across the community. This would be up to the community to architect, but just putting it out there as another angle to think about. Please let me know if you have further questions or require additional input. This is a significant step for the Wikinews projects, and I’m happy to provide support wherever needed.
—Michael.C.Wright (Talk/Published) 16:24, 8 January 2025 (UTC)