Wikipedia:Landsbybrønden/Two weeks to save freedom of panorama in Europe
Two weeks to save freedom of panorama in Europe redigér
The current report text would turn the map red or yellow for all EU countries. OK, including works of art OK for buildings only OK for non-commercial use only Not OK Unknown
- Feel free to translate this message into Dansk.
Hi all,
What is going on?
- In the European Parliament a proposal (amendment) has been submitted to limit the Freedom of Panorama in Europe. The proposal is part of a larger plan to harmonize the copyright law in the various countries of the European Union.
- If this proposal is adopted and implemented, it will mean that users on Wikipedia are no longer allowed to upload photographs of modern buildings or public works of art and use them in Wikipedia.
- Even if freedom of panorama is allowed only for non-commercial purposes, this is an issue for Wikipedia. The current license under what we write Wikipedia, CC-BY-SA, is not compatible with non-commercial licenses, as they would restrict the re-use of the content.
Freedom of panorama?
- Photos of modern buildings and public art currently may be uploaded on Commons / Wikipedia and used in articles, only if those pictures were taken in a country that currently has freedom of panorama (FoP), at this moment 16 of the 28 EU countries.
- EU countries with freedom of panorama: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark*, Finland*, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom. (* = only for buildings)
- EU countries without freedom of panorama: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, and Slovenia.
- In countries without freedom of panorama, the creator of a creative work (permanently placed in the public space, like buildings, public art, etc.) needs to authorize the release of the photo, also if you have taken the photo yourself.
Which proposal involved?
- It concerns amendment AM421 proposed by Cavada.
When is the vote on this amendment?
- Thursday 9 July.
Can we do something against it?
- Yes! By making known what impact this amendment has to Wikipedia and what damage it can cause to Wikipedia. In recent years it has come to our attention that many politicians do not even know that it is forbidden to publish on their website a photo of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, without the prior permission of the architect. So in the first place creating awareness is important.
- Therefore a CentralNotice banner is prepared and a landing page. If you like, you can create a landing page, just like sv:Wikipedia:Panoramafrihet or de:Wikipedia:Initiative für die Panoramafreiheit.
What can I do?
- Send an e-mail to one or more Members of the European Parliament from your country/area (list of members on Wikipedia and list of the members on the site of the European Parliament (on the page of each member is the e-mail address linked)).
- Send a tweet to one or more Members of the European Parliament from your country/area (or re-tweet) in your language. Ask them for example if they really want Wikipedia to be backed-out or stripped of thousands of images. Or send a tweet to political groups in the parliament or a general tweet about the subject. Examples: 1, 2, 3.
Where is the coordination?
- Here, press releases, media reports, and more matters can be reported / added / suggested.
- Feedback for the suggested banner text and landing page can be provided here: Commons:Freedom of Panorama 2015/Proposed messages.
Where can I read more information?
- Read the article in the Signpost at: Three weeks to save freedom of panorama in Europe
Feel free to translate this message into Dansk, thank you. Romaine (diskussion) 22. jun 2015, 09:51 (CEST)
- PS: Suggestion: create an article about the subject of Freedom of Panorama in Portuguese. Romaine (diskussion) 22. jun 2015, 09:51 (CEST)
Status update redigér
Hello all!
- Past Thursday we had a meeting with WMF to evaluate the political situation in Brussels and to determine if setting up a banner today would be effective. In these two weeks there are two critical points in the political process to get to a text that is safe for Wikipedia: before 1 July an MEP need to take action to get the text changed with sufficient support from other MEPs, and on 9 July the plenary voting in the European Parliament. We determined Thursday that as a result of all our actions Wikimedia wide, we have generated enough attention to get the first step done. Congratulations! But this was the small step, the large one is the plenary voting.
- The question we asked ourselves is if we should already show a banner today. A banner on top of every Wikipedia page is a very powerful and sensitive instrument we should be carefully in using it, in timing and wording, certainly if it concerns a subject in the field of advocacy. Also it should be used as last resort. As said, we have arranged enough attention for point one. We also consider two weeks before the voting as too long, because when the banner is seen this week, it likely will be forgotten two weeks later. Therefore we consider it better to start with the banner on 2 July, after assessing how the situation has developed.
- We advice you not to set up a banner in this week already, but this is an advice. If your local community decides otherwise, this will be respected. We recommend a strong European action at the same time together.
- The international landing page about this issue is ready at: Freedom of Panorama in Europe in 2015. It would be welcome to translate this page to Danish on a page on the Danish Wikipedia to show that (also) this Wikipedia wants the proposal be changed. (Please add your page in the item Q20200822 on Wikidata.)
- The page with an overview of the Members of the European Parliament (MEP) in Denmark is (also) at Freedom of Panorama in Europe in 2015/Contact your MEP/DK. There you can easily find an MEP, his/her e-mail and Twitter-account.
- If we set up a banner on 2 July, we like to set up a CentralNotice banner also for Denmark (with approval of WMF), depending on how the politics evolve. For this banner translations are needed. If you want to translate the texts of the banner from English into Danish, add your name, language and how we can reach you at m:Talk:Freedom of Panorama in Europe in 2015/Banner and we will let you know when you can translate.
What is the plan?
- We will asses the situation on 2 July, then we will set up a banner that day for multiple countries. This gives us also more time to get all the translations in the various European languages.
- We have asked the Wikimedia Foundation to come with an official statement. They have indicated that they will work on this and will come with an official statement and/or blog post on 2 July.
- But in the mean while just waiting? - No!
- Send a personal e-mail to an MEP in your country/area. If you send an e-mail to an MEP, please write it in your own language in your own words. Sending a the same identical message to multiple MEPs, they will notice that and then it does not work any more. See: Freedom of Panorama in Europe in 2015/Contact your MEP/DK. You can link to: http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/saveFoP
- Send a tweet to an MEP, make it as personal as possible. Hashtag for the action is #saveFoP
- Write together a press release or an open letter from the community (like on de-wiki)
Let's do this! Romaine (diskussion) 27. jun 2015, 10:48 (CEST)
- I've translated the landing page: Wikipedia:Panoramafrihed.--Anders Feder (diskussion) 27. jun 2015, 20:04 (CEST)
Status update 3 July 2015 redigér
It is going fast the past 24 hours and before. Therefore this update below, written bij my colleague Dimi_z who is for the Wikimedia movement following the political developments in the EU in the past weeks and years:
- 1. We have managed to find enough MEPs from various groups to file a positive amendment affirming Freedom of Panorama. The signatures were collected with the help of mainly the Dutch, German and Estonian ALDE members.
- 2. As a result of the big pressure we exercised and the fact that his own group publicly opposed him on this, Mr. Cavada has now called everyone in the European Parliament to vote to delete his wording, but also to oppose the amendment, as a compromise. It looks like there is a solid majority for this compromise.
- 3. Delegations form the second largest group, the S&D, have taken public positions against the Cavada text. They have however also let us know, that they wouldn't appreciate being cornered into voting for new (ALDE) amendment. The reasons they cite are mainly of procedural nature.
- 4. It would take a lot of pressure to get the positive amendment through. Such an aggressive campaign pushing for the absolute maximum this early on in the legislative process could, I am afraid, hurt our standing. Especially banners are only effective if they are used conservatively and there is an imminent threat. This threat is not given any longer, which we should all congratulate ourselves for. This is something we achieved! I want to personally thank each and every single one of the hundreds of people who worked on this.
- 5. We can still push for the positive amendment by ALDE! We can do this by writing and calling our MEPs personally and ask them to vote for it. We can also do this by joining the petition, which will ask all its signatories to to do the same.
- 6. What we can and should do now is invest in the contacts we established with MEPs and their assistants. Thank the ones who answered and promised to help! Invite them to a Wikipedia meet-up! Offer you expertise! Ask them to help you with FoP on the national level if you have none!
- 7. Maintaining contacts is also important, as the copyright reform dossier will come to the European Parliament sometime next year. If we make friends now, it will make our lives much easier next time around.
- 8. The vote on 9 July will go down as follows: First the positive amendment by ALDE will be voted on, then after that the "split" (meaning deletion) of the FoP paragraph. If the positive amendment passes, we would need the deletion to be rejected. If the positive amendment is rejected, we need the deletion to get a majority.
So Dimi and the rest of the team advices to switch off the Sitenotice banner.
As the community has decided to organise a banner and the landing page, the community has to decide on this matter as well.
If you need more information or if you have questions, you can ask them through our helpline.
Thank you so much for all the work done! We have made our voice heard, with success! :-) Romaine (diskussion) 3. jul 2015, 02:32 (CEST)
- PS: I will try to keep you informed on this page about future developments. Romaine (diskussion) 3. jul 2015, 02:32 (CEST)
Voting: outcomes redigér
Today the European Parliament voted about the copyright report, including the subject Freedom of Panorama.
- The negative text by Cavada (Freedom of Panorama only non-commercial in whole EU) was dropped by 502 to 40.
- The positive text by Schaake (full Freedom of Panorama in whole EU) didn't pass by 228 to 303.
- The report as a whole was accepted with 445 to 65 with 32 abstentions.
Thanks everyone, we almost manage to achieve a full swing, which is a very tough feat to get done in 3 weeks.
What is next?
Autumn 2015: European Commission planned proposal on a renewed EU Directive.
Thank your MEPs and try to keep in touch with them. Romaine (diskussion) 9. jul 2015, 16:25 (CEST)
Pressemeddelelse fra Europa-Parlamentet redigér
Pressemeddelelse fra Europa-Parlamentet: Copyright: Reform bør fremme den kulturelle mangfoldighed, siger MEP'erne - Kåre Thor Olsen (Kaare) (diskussion) 9. jul 2015, 18:41 (CEST)