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An independent audit required for EU regulation of Wikipedia as a Very Large Online Platform (see prior Signpost coverage) was conducted by an outside entity. The outside entity, Holistic AI, performed the audit for the Wikimedia Foundation, as reported by Holistic's press release. The audit is posted at foundation:File:Wikipedia DSA Audit Report 2023-24 Public.pdf.
The audit found some non-material non-compliance in the area of providing the Terms of Use in every official national language of the EU member states, to affect Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Romania, and further requested that Wikimedia-controlled translations be made for all languages other than English, rather than community translations, to avoid unintentional changes in meaning; and to provide email emergency and other regulation-relevant contacts directly rather than through separately linked web pages. The auditors also noted:
Another recommendation is to establish a separate ToU for the EU, free from references to non-EU legislation or mechanisms, to better align with the access requirements under Article 14.
— Holistic AI 2024 DSA audit, Article 14 response, page 25
This recommendation that Wikimedia Foundation ought to provide nation-specific Terms of Use appears to have been rebuffed with this response from the Foundation, referring to a singular ToU: "The Wikimedia Foundation will review the ToU to make it less US-centric and to ensure contact information is easily accessible." – B
On December 5, Wiki Loves Earth publicly announced the top 20 of the best pictures submitted by users around the world for the 2024 edition of the annual photographic contest, which historically aims to highlight the conservation areas of each participating country and collect new images under free licenses.
According to the official data, a record 56 countries and territories took part in this year's competition, with more than 80,100 submissions from over 3,800 different uploaders. Germany registered by far the highest number of submissions, with 16,921 total uploads; Ukraine ended in second place with 6,438 uploads, while Senegal came in third (just) with 3,774 uploads.
After each country had chosen their local winners, the jury of WLE, formed by professional photographers, experts, and Wikimedians, gathered to select the 20 international winners of the contest, divided as usual in two categories: "Landscapes" (including individual trees that are considered as natural monuments) and "Macro/close-up" (involving pictures of animals, plants and fungi). Two more special sections dedicated, respectively, to human rights-themed images and video nominations were also hosted.
You can discover the international winners of WLE 2024 here and here. Enjoy! – O
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