Last week, media outlets reported a ruling by a German court on the problem of businesses using Wikipedia for marketing purposes. The issue goes beyond the direct management of marketing-related edits by Wikipedians; it involves cross-monitoring and interacting among market competitors themselves on Wikipedia. A company that sells dietary supplements made from frankincense had taken a competitor to court. The recently published judgment by the Higher Regional Court of Munich, in dealing with the German Wikipedia article on frankincense products was handed down in May and is based on European Union competition law.
Ruling
In the judgment, the court first found that editing Wikipedia is "commercial practice" under the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG). The court held that when a company edits a Wikipedia article, the resulting text falsely creates the impression that the edit has no business-related purpose. By implication, the judges found that the average reader of Wikipedia articles expects to find objective and neutral information. The judgment pointed to Wikipedia's mission to provide neutral accounts of third-party research and reliable sources, with an accurate depiction of disputes where necessary.
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This means any Wikipedia article edit made by an editor with a related business background is potentially, per se, pursuing unfair competition under EU competition law.
The company in question had argued it had made its conflict of interest as a market competitor explicit through a comment on the article's talk page. However, the court struck down this argument, saying the average consumer who uses Wikipedia does not read the discussion pages. Significantly, the court did not distinguish between problematic and acceptable contributions. The judgment was explicitly based on the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, valid throughout the European Union.
Implications for Wikipedia and the wider German debate
What does this mean for the Wikipedia projects? In general, editing in a private role as practiced by volunteers daily is not a "commercial practice". However, companies that are active in the EU, and their representatives editing Wikipedia within the ambit of their own business activity, can be subject to claims from competitors or government authorities. Critically, the judgment apparently leaves no room for justifying edits by an editor with a related business background as "legitimate" or "acceptable" on the grounds that they are "general public information". This means any Wikipedia article edit made by an editor with a related business background is potentially, per se, pursuing unfair competition under EU competition law. However, views are divided on different implementation and interpretation modes by EU member states and whether the ruling includes information companies are obliged to publish by law.
German legal blogs such as lawblog, schwenke, and ferner-alsdorf point out potentially devastating implications for company activities on social media generally, and that free speech does not safeguard the form of product placement the court has targeted. Some bloggers have emphasized that it is irrelevant whether an involved editor – either company employee or contracted agent – intended or pretended to contribute in a private role, and that all that matters is that the edit can be judged as (potentially) advantageous to the company. In particular, antiquariatsrecht.de maintains that the OLG's decision as well as a more recent decision by the Landgericht München of 7 August 2012 (Az. 23 O 3404/12) mean that enterprises are not allowed to praise their own products online under a covert identity, thereby creating the impression that a neutral third party supports these products. Thus, companies are vulnerable to competitors, if they edit openly, and prevented from editing under a cover identity by court decisions, too.
English Wikipedia
English Wikipedia discussions of the decision, mainly centered on Jimbo's talk page, have looked especially at the implications for the UK, which is part of the EU. Unlike Germany, where no actual loss resulting from a company's actions has to be demonstrated to make it vulnerable to competitors in civil proceedings, British businesses would be likely to face a public agency, the Office of Fair Trading. However, the ruling seems to be broadly supportive of the "bright line" position outlined by Jimbo Wales – at least in the EU.
Chapter reaction
As some implications of the decision run contrary to the bona fide views of many, Wikimedia Germany has commissioned a legal opinion on the wider implications of this judgment for Wikipedia. Findings are expected to be made available to the community in due course.
Wikivoyage's journey ends in safe haven, somewhat
On November 10, Wikimedia launched the beta phase of the free travel guide Wikivoyage, the first new genre of Wikimedia project in half a decade.
Since April, interested community members of Wikitravel, its German fork Wikivoyage, and Wikimedia volunteers have been discussing the creation of the new project, which has been reshaped several times over the past months. The German NGO hosting Wikivoyage, and the site's volunteer editing community, decided to move under Wikimedia's umbrella and were joined by a number of former Wikitravel volunteers. To date, two legal disputes over the issue are still pending.
The travel guide branch of Wikimedia starts with seven language versions, of which English and German are the most mature with more than 26,000 and 12,000 entries, respectively. However, transferring files from the German NGO to the WMF has turned out to be technically complicated. Currently, photos identified for transfer have to be either manually moved to Commons from the German site's photo project – called shared – or prepared manually for bot transfer. People performing the technical clean-up are busy fixing other issues such as account problems, too. Wikivoyage volunteers have pointed to the nebulous communications of Wikimedia as a problem.
Meanwhile, the community continues to vote on the logo of the new sister project on Meta. Interested users can take part in the procedure determining the basic design until 15 November 2012 23:59 GMT. Once the results of the poll are known, a second vote is set to determine colors and details of the logo.
Brief notes
DMCA on Commons: On 9 November, the WMF published DMCA Oldenburg, a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice it received from Claes Oldenburg. After a legal review, the foundation decided to obey it. The position led to debates on Commons and sparked heated resistance on the German Wikipedia. However, to date there is no consensus on potential wider implications for Commons position towards freedom of panorama but community members are considering a campaign for changes to US law.
Chapters Association: On 12 November, Wikimedia chapters participating in the WCA started to vote potential places of registration for the intended entity. It is the second proposed resolution on the issue, after a proposal, arguing that the registration place for legal seat and the incorporation place for office should be the same, was voted down on 5 November. The poll, set to close on 25 November, tables three European options: Belgium, Geneva, and the Netherlands. The group also issued a statement endorsing the WMF's efforts to strengthen its focus on core projects.
English Wikipedia
On re-granting admin tools: Various changes relating to re-granting the administrator tools after being uncontroversially removed (due to inactivity or by request, for examples) are being discussed.
Arbitration Committee Candidates: Nominations for the upcoming Arbitration Committee elections are being accepted until 23:59 UTC on 20 November 2012.
Arbitration report: One clarification request regarding a request for arbitration enforcement is open.
Electoral Commission: A three-editor panel is being voted on. According to the linked page, these commissioners will "deal with unforeseen problems in the [election] and ... adjudicate any disputes".
Pending Changes: The third and final request for comment on pending changes is now open. The RfC will be closed "several days" before 1 December, the day pending changes will be allowed for use across the site.
Thirteen featured articles were promoted this week:
Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych (nom) by Truthkeeper88, Ceoil, and Kafka Liz. The Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych, attributed to Jan van Eyck and thought to have been completed some time in the 1430s, consists of two small panels; the left one depicts the Crucifixion while the right depicts the Last Judgment. It is renowned for its complex and highly detailed iconography and the technical skill evident in its completion. The diptych was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1933.
White-eyed River Martin (nom) by Jimfbleak. The White-eyed River Martin (Pseudochelidon sirintarae) is a passerine bird first discovered in 1968 and known only from a single site in Thailand. A medium-sized bird, juvenile River Martins are browner in composition than the adults of the species. Little is known of their behaviour or breeding habitat. It is thought to be extinct, hastened by trapping, loss of habitat and the construction of dams.
Typhoon Rusa (nom) by Hurricanehink and Jason Rees. Rusa was a 2002 typhoon and the most powerful such storm to strike South Korea in 43 years. It developed well to the southeast of Japan before moving northwest, passing over the Amami Islands in Japan before striking Goheung, eventually dissipating over Russia. It caused at least US$4.2 billion in damage and 238 fatalities.
"Imagine" (song) (nom) by GabeMc. "Imagine" is a 1971 song written and performed by English musician John Lennon, which he coproduced with his wife Yoko Ono and Phil Spector for the album of the same name. Challenging the listener to imagine a world at peace, the song proved to be Lennon's best selling single, reaching the top ten in both the US and UK. It has since received numerous critical accolades and has seen numerous cover versions.
Frank Pick (nom) by DavidCane. Pick (1878–1941) was a British transport administrator. He began his career with the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in 1906, becoming managing director in 1928; he was also active in numerous transport- and design-related fields. Pick had a strong interest in design and its use in public life, and his impact on the growth of London between the First and Second World Wars led to him being likened to Baron Haussmann and Robert Moses.
Periodic table (nom) by StringTheory11. A periodic table is a tabular display of the chemical elements, organized on the basis of their atomic numbers, electron configurations, and recurring chemical properties. The rows of the table are called periods, while columns are known as groups. It is generally credited to Dmitri Mendeleev, who wrote of it in 1869. All elements from atomic numbers 1 to 118 have been discovered or synthesized.
Dream of the Rarebit Fiend (nom) by Curly Turkey. Dream of the Rarebit Fiend was a newspaper comic strip by American cartoonist Winsor McCay which ran from 1904 to 1911, with several revivals. Lacking continuity or recurring characters, the comic often depicted someone having a nightmare or other bizarre dream after eating Welsh rarebit. It was published by the Evening Telegram and led to the artist being hired by William Randolph Hearst. The comic was adapted for film several times in the early 20th century.
The Way I See It (nom) by Dan56. The Way I See It is a 2008 album, the third by American recording artist Raphael Saadiq. After a four year hiatus, Saadiq began working on a classic soul sound which was to recreate the Motown aesthetic, using techniques and elements from the 1960s. The album charted in several countries and, by 2011, had sold 282,000 copies in the US. It earned Saadiq the highest international profile of his career.
Sudirman (nom) by Crisco 1492. Sudirman (1916–1950) was a high-ranking soldier who led the Indonesian military during the country's national revolution. Originally a teacher, he became a leader with the military group PETA during the Japanese occupation and was selected as Commander-in-Chief of the Indonesian Military not long after independence was declared. While the national capital was held by the Dutch, Sudirman directed a guerrilla campaign from his temporary headquarters. He was declared a National Hero in 1964.
National Football League Players Association (nom) by The Writer 2.0. The National Football League Players Association is the labor organization representing the professional American football players in the National Football League. Established in 1956, it is currently headquartered in Washington, D.C., and led by Domonique Foxworth and DeMaurice Smith. The organization conducts labor negotiations, and represents and protects the rights of the players.
Triangulum Australe (nom) by Casliber. Triangulum Australe is a small constellation in the far southern celestial hemisphere that is named for the almost equilateral pattern of its three brightest stars: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Trianguli Australis. First depicted in 1589, the constellation was given its current name in 1603. Although the constellation lies in the Milky Way and contains many stars, deep-sky objects are not prominent.
Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri (nom) by Hamiltonstone. Napaltjarri (c. 1955–2008) was an Indigenous artist from Australia's Western Desert region who was mostly active at Haasts Bluff. Her paintings reflect her complex spiritual knowledge and relationships between her and her landscape as well as the complex structures of the vegetation and environment. Her paintings have been exhibited or held at several institutions throughout Australia.
Themes in Maya Angelou's autobiographies (nom) by Figureskatingfan. The themes in African-American writer Maya Angelou's six autobiographies include racism, identity, family, and travel; all were present in her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). The biographies have taken place all over the world and can be placed in a tradition of political protest. Angelou has often used the metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage, which represents her confinement.
Featured lists
Six featured lists were promoted this week:
List of red-flagged Formula One races (nom) by NapHit. In Formula One, a class of open-wheeled auto racing, a red flag is shown when there has been an accident or the track conditions are poor enough to warrant the race being stopped. This has happened on 63 occasions since 1950.
Arthur C. Clarke Award (nom) by PresN. The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the preceding year; the award was established in 1987. Books may be submitted for consideration by the publishers or by members of the judging panel.
Big Boi discography (nom) by Sufur222. The American rapper Big Boi has released 1 studio album, 1 mixtape, 27 singles, and 19 music videos as a solo artist, as well as several works as a member of the duo Outkast. He went solo in 2008, and is scheduled to release another album in December 2012.
National Tourist Routes in Norway (nom) by Arsenikk. The 18 National Tourist Routes are highways designated by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration for their picturesque scenery and tourist-friendly infrastructure, which cover 1,850 kilometers (1,150 mi). The project started in 1994.
Grade I listed buildings in Maidstone (nom) by DavidCane. There are 43 Grade I listed buildings in the English local government district of Maidstone. Most are Norman- or medieval-era churches or church related buildings; the most recent date to the 18th century.
Featured pictures
Five featured pictures were promoted this week:
Dom Luís Bridge (nom; related article), created by Poco a poco and nominated by Tomer T. The Dom Luís Bridge is a metal arch bridge that spans the Douro River between the cities of Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. It was completed in 1886.
Seaview SVII view of Heron Bommie (nom; related article), created by Catlin Seaview Survey and nominated by Hersfold. The Seaview SVII is a remote-controlled underwater camera designed by the Catlin Seaview Survey team which is intended to photograph coral reefs.
Code review statistics bounce back in October after difficult September
In late September, the Technology reportpublished its findings about (particularly median) code review times. To the 23,900 changesets analysed the first time (the data for which has been updated), the Signpost added data from the 9,000 or so changesets contributed between September 17 and November 9 to a total of 93,000 reviews across 45,000 patchsets. Bots and self-reviews were also discarded, but reviews made by a different user in the form of a superseding patch were retained. Finally, users were categorised by hand according to whether they would be best regarded as staff or volunteers. The new analyses were consistent with the predictions of the previous analysis.
Our investigation found that September represented a particularly poor month for code review (across both extensions and "core" MediaWiki code) but that this loss was more than picked up in October, which was the best month on record for code review. Specifically, 50% of patchsets submitted during October were reviewed just two and a half hours after submission, and 75% within 18 hours. The 95% percentile remains stubbornly high at nearly two weeks, suggesting that finding reviewers for certain types of patch remains hard.
The staff–volunteer divide highlighted in the last report remains. The median patchset was reviewed twice as quickly if you were a staff member working on an extension in October rather than a volunteer, and although it is too early to tell conclusively, there seems to be a similar gap for contributors to "core" and/or WMF-deployed extensions. 44% of all-time first reviews come from five reviewers (all staff), though this figure is down from 55% at the time of the last report, suggesting a significant diversification in the last 7 weeks. On a positive note, the percentage of all-time first reviews coming from volunteers has also increased – from 14% to 25% – as the Foundation gives a large number of volunteers more reviewing power.
As with any statistics, these figures should be taken with a degree of caution. The full dataset is available upon request.
Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for several weeks.
MediaWiki 1.20 released: MediaWiki 1.20, the first release to external sites since May, was finalised this week (wikitech-l mailing list). Thanks to the decoupling of (now biweekly) WMF deployments and (six-monthly) external releases, Wikimedians will already be familiar with its contents, which include new diff colours, action=info pages and the new Special:MostInterwikis special page. Most WMF wikis, meanwhile, are currently on MediaWiki 1.21wmf3 and will receive wmf4 (which includes a change to the user toolbox dropping use of the word "my") shortly.
TimedMediaHandler goes live on all wikis: After a development spanning almost two years (see previous Signpost coverage), the TimedMediaHandler extension went live on Wikimedia Commons this week, having already gone live on other smaller wikis earlier in the week, meaning that it is now available on all Wikimedia wikis. The extension overhauls MediaWiki's video-handling capabilities, as was highlighted in a post on the Wikimedia blog and in several news articles.
Wikivoyage hosted on WMF servers: Starting from this week, wikivoyage.org and its subdomains (en, fr, and so on) are hosted on Wikimedia servers as part of the Foundation's central wiki cluster. Readers may in fact already be logged in to Wikivoyage as it is also now in the SUL auto-login list. A user account migration plan is available; as detailed in previous Signpost coverage, much technical work is ongoing, including the import of images and support work for the aforementioned user migration.
Wikidata booming, but interface translations needed: As Wikidata.org, the central data repository currently functioning purely as an interwiki repository, has continued its rapid expansion, now documenting the interwiki links of some 50,000 articles (though its is not yet installed on any "client" wiki). WMF Language team member Amir Aharoni took the opportunity to appeal for interface translations for the project as its audience internationalises (Wikimedia blog).
As promised, we're expanding our horizons by featuring projects that cover underrepresented areas of the globe. This week, we headed to WikiProject Brazil which keeps track of articles about the world's largest Portuguese-speaking country. The project has shown spurts of activity and continues to serve as a hub for discussions, despite its collaborations, peer reviews, and outreach activities being largely inactive. We interviewed two native Brazilians, Victão (Victor) Lopes and Felipe Menegaz.
What motivated you to join WikiProject Brazil? Do you currently or have you previously lived in Brazil? Have you contributed to any of the project's Featured or Good Articles?
Victão Lopes: As a Brazilian, I spend much of my time in Wiki editing Brazil-related articles. Joining the project became an obvious decision, so that I could communicate better with other people interested in the country. I don't remember if I have contributed to any FA or GA. Maybe I've done it without being aware I was dealing with FAs or GAs.
Felipe Menegaz: Well, as a Brazilian, I am glad to contribute for the improvement of universal knowledge and free access of information regarding topics related to the country where I still live. Since my account was created in 2006, the vast majority of my contributions on the English Wikipedia—even though they are distributed through different subjects—are strictly related to Brazil. Therefore, I became a member of WikiProject Brazil in order to meet other editors and find out existing scopes for Brazil-related articles. Unfortunately, the WikiProject was not well structured and the editors barely used to talk to each other. Nevertheless, I was part of a small group of editors who achieved Good Article status, twice, for the article Brazil back in 2007, and more recently, I was largely involved in the promotion of Rio de Janeiro bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics for the same status.
Are some aspects of Brazil better represented on Wikipedia than others? Are there any significant gaps in coverage with which the project could use some help?
Victão Lopes: Well, obviously the largest cities, the most well-known personalities and the most famous buildings and landmarks end up receiving more coverage than minor ones. I try to contribute with the things I'm close to - my hometown, my favorite Brazilian band, etc. If everyone does the same, the coverage will increase significantly - which is something that already happens in some articles, but not all of them.
Felipe Menegaz: Yes, but I think it occurs to the coverage of most of the countries, especially the non-English speaking. In the case of Brazil, internationally recognized aspects are naturally better represented, such as famous places, important people and large events. At the same time, fields like history and culture, which are not familiar to foreigners, tend to be less explored. Recently, Lecen (talk·contribs) is doing a fantastic job with pages related to the Imperial history of Brazil, giving Featured Article status and bringing to prominence articles like Empire of Brazil. WikiProject Brazil could encourage more users to follow the same steps, guiding and supporting the editors in many fields of endeavor.
How does the Brazilian community on the English Wikipedia compare to the community on the Portuguese Wikipedia? Do you frequently borrow or translate information from one to the other? Have there been any collaborations between the two?
Victão Lopes: In the english Wikipedia, people tend to be more polite and loyal to the rules. In the Portuguese Wikipedia, people tend to be less respectful when discussing. Also, the number of articles that are too inadequate at the Portuguese Wiki is high, though it seems to be decreasing. Yes, I always translate information from one to another, as long as there are sources available in the version I'm translating from.
Has the project struggled to remain active? What kind of challenges does the project face when attracting and retaining editors? Are there any plans to revive some of the project's dormant initiatives, like the collaboration, peer review, or outreach departments?
Victão Lopes: Yes, the project is currently semi-active. Only few people discuss at its talk page. I think there are too few people interested, and even less people with enough time to dedicate to the project. I don't know if there are any plans now.
Do you contribute to articles about other countries in South and Central America? What can be done to improve Wikipedia's coverage of these parts of the world?
Victão Lopes: Mostly music, but very rarely. Hardly ever, I do something related to Chile. the best way to improve the coverage is to attract people living in those countries, or people interested in Latin America. This project is a fine example of a nice initiative (in Portuguese).
What are WikiProject Brazil's most urgent needs? How can a new contributor help today?
Victão Lopes: To fully reactivate itself and to attract more contributors. Newcomers may help doing what I said above: contributing to minor subjects they are close to and adding minor details to grater subjects.
Next week, we'll poke our head out of our shell. Until then, flap or crawl your way through our previous reports in the archive.
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