Terms of use/Paid contributions amendment Terms of use Translate this page Other languages: ??????? 48% ?

ce tina 20% ?Deutsch 96% ?Zazaki 9% ????????? 2% ?English 100% ?espaol 61% ?????? 54% ?franais 100% ?galego 20% ????/Hak-k?????? 48% ?magyar 15% ?Bahasa Indonesia 96% ?italiano 50% ???? 85% ???? 54% ? zebuergesch 2% ?Lingua Franca Nova 0% ?Malagasy 26% ?norsk bokml 52% ?Nederlands 4% ?polski 50% ?portugus 41% ?portugus do Brasil 83% ???????? 96% ?svenska 48% unski 2% ?????? 20% ?Tagalog 7% ????????/tatara 4% ????????? / Uyghurche 52% ???? ????? 4% ??????????? 43% ?Ti?ng Vi?t 13% ??? 67% ???(??)? 2% Information You will find an introduction to the question and the proposal from the Wikimedi a Foundation Legal Department below. This proposed amendment will be available for discussion for at least thirty days (until March 21, 2014), and then it may be presented to the Wikimedia Foun dation Board for approval and adoption. When you are ready to comment please do so on the talk page in the language most comfortable to you. Contents 1 TOU Amendment: Paid contribution disclosure 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Proposed amendment 2 FAQ on disclosure of paid contributions 2.1 Why is this disclosure provision necessary? 2.2 What is the "applicable law" for paid contributions on Wikipedia? Ar e undisclosed paid contributions potentially illegal? 2.3 Are there other possible negative effects of paid contributions? 2.4 What do you mean by compensation ? 2.5 What does the phrase employer, client, and affiliation mean? 2.6 Are paid editing disclosures required only when editing Wikipedia ar ticles? 2.7 Does this provision mean that paid contributions are always allowed as long as I make the disclosure? 2.8 Does this mean that Wikimedia projects must change their policies? 2.9 How should I disclose paid contributions in my user page? 2.10 How should I disclose paid contributions in my edit summary? 2.11 How should I disclose paid contributions on a talk page? 2.12 Do I have to disclose the details of the compensation I am receivin g? 2.13 References TOU Amendment: Paid contribution disclosure Introduction The Wikimedia Foundation Legal Department plans to ask the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees to consider a proposed amendment in our Terms of Use to addres s further undisclosed paid editing. Contributing to the Wikimedia Projects to se rve the interests of a paying client while concealing the paid affiliation has l ed to situations that the community considers problematic. Many believe that use rs with a potential conflict of interest should engage in transparent collaborat ion, requiring honest disclosure of paid contributions. Making contributions to the Wikimedia Projects without disclosing payment or employment may also lead to legal ramifications. Our Terms of Use already prohibit engaging in deceptive ac tivities, including misrepresentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud.

To ensure compliance with these provisions, this amendment provides specific min imum disclosure requirements for paid contributions on the Wikimedia projects. As required by Section 16 of the Terms of Use, we are receiving community commen ts for 30 days on this proposed amendment before forwarding the final version to the Board of Trustees for its review. Translations into German, Indonesian, Fre nch, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese are available; the community is encouraged t o translate and discuss the proposed amendment into other languages as well. Proposed amendment A subsection added to the end of Section 4 of the Terms of Use, namely from Certain Activities . Paid contributions without disclosure These Terms of Use prohibit engaging in deceptive activities, including misrepre sentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud. To ensure compliance with th ese obligations, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with r espect to any contribution to any Wikimedia projects for which you receive, or e xpect to receive, compensation. You must make that disclosure in at least one of the following ways: a statement on your user page, a statement on the talk page accompanying any paid contributions, or a statement in the edit summary accompanying any paid contributions. Applicable law, or community and Foundation policies, such as those addressing c onflicts of interest, may further limit paid contributions or require more detai led disclosure. For more information, please read our background note on disclos ure of paid contributions. FAQ on disclosure of paid contributions Why is this disclosure provision necessary? Contributing to the Wikimedia Projects to serve the interests of a paying client while concealing the paid affiliation has led to situations that the Wikimedia community considers problematic. Many believe that users with a potential confli ct of interest should engage in transparent collaboration, requiring honest disc losure of paid contributions. Making contributions to the Wikimedia projects wit hout disclosing payment or employment may also lead to legal ramifications. Our Terms of Use already prohibit engaging in deceptive activities, including misrep resentation of affiliation, impersonation, and fraud. To ensure compliance with these obligations, this provision provides specific minimum disclosure requireme nts for paid contributions on the Wikimedia projects. What is the "applicable law" for paid contributions on Wikipedia? Are undisclose d paid contributions potentially illegal? Depending on the circumstances, undisclosed paid editing could subject you, your business or your clients to legal liability. Specific laws could apply to you, your business, or your clients, such as unfair competition and simple fraud stat utes. In addition to the requirements of the Terms of Use, you must comply with those laws in your disclosure and execution of paid contributions. We cannot advise you about specific legal requirements, and you should employ yo ur own lawyer if you have questions. That said, as general background, deceptive business practices, including concealment of a professional affiliation in spec ific cases, are prohibited in multiple jurisdictions. In the United States, for example, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has the nationwide authority to regu late unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce.[1] As the FTC illustrate Refraining

d in the below example, those failing to disclose a regulated company s affiliatio n online may be subject to liability: An online message board designated for discussions of new music download technol ogy is frequented by MP3 player enthusiasts. They exchange information about new products, utilities, and the functionality of numerous playback devices. Unbekn ownst to the message board community, an employee of a leading playback device m anufacturer has been posting messages on the discussion board promoting the manu facturer s product. Knowledge of this poster s employment likely would affect the we ight or credibility of her endorsement. Therefore, the poster should clearly and conspicuously disclose her relationship to the manufacturer to members and read ers of the message board. [2] The FTC s guide Dot Com Disclosures specifies that disclosures must be communicated effectively so that consumers are likely to notice and understand them in conne ction with the representations that the disclosures modify. For state law implica tions, see, e.g., N.Y. Attorney General s 2013 investigation regarding companies e ngaging in astroturfing. [3] Laws applicable outside the US may also prohibit non-disclosure of paid contribu tions. The EU Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (and the corresponding natio nal versions) ban the practice of [u]sing editorial content in the media to promo te a product where a trader has paid for the promotion without making that clear in the content or by images or sounds clearly identifiable by the consumer and [f ]alsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for pu rposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely represen ting oneself as a consumer. [4] National legislation of EU member states may furt her restrict undisclosed paid contributions, such as through local competition l aws, and, for similar reasons, local national courts may find violations in fail ing to disclose one s affiliation on Wikipedia in the proper way. Are there other possible negative effects of paid contributions? There is an extreme likelihood that contributions which are paid for, but intent ionally not disclosed as such, do not serve the public interest in a fair and be neficial manner. When considering the value of the contribution of content to th e public on balance with the value of dissemination of the content, there is at least an implied conflict of interest that the balance will tend to serve the mo re private interests of the paid contributor. If it is accepted that this is the case more often than not, it is hard to imagine the expected outcome as a net p ositive for Wikipedia. As repeated real life examples illustrate, undisclosed paid editing can have the unintended effect of causing negative public relations issues for companies, cl ients, and individuals. The press follows such stories closely. Failing to inclu de a disclosure with a paid contribution may lead to a loss of trust with the br oader public as well as the Wikimedia community. To maintain goodwill and to avo id misunderstandings, transparency and friendly cooperation is the best policy f or those being compensated for Wikimedia contributions. To avoid embarrassment, be sure to follow local policies regarding paid contribu tions, such as en:WP:COI for the English Wikipedia. What do you mean by compensation ? As used in this provision, compensation means an exchange of money, goods, or serv ices. Put another way, paid contributions are any edits for which any money, goo ds, or services are given or provided to the editor in return. Examples of compe nsation might include salaries, cash, vouchers, scholarships, awards, equipment, prizes, expenses, bursaries, training, accommodation, food and drink, transport , privileged access to information or exhibits, access to IT systems or educatio nal services. Compensation for contributions can be either implicit or explicit;

if you are employed by a firm to increase public awareness of a product, for ex ample, you are being paid for any Wikipedia editing you might carry out in the c ourse of this work, even if your contract does not explicitly mention contributi ng to any Wikimedia projects. What does the phrase employer, client, and affiliation mean? This means the person or organization that is paying you compensation money, goo ds, or services with respect to any contribution to a Wikimedia project. This co uld be a business, a charity, an educational institution, a government departmen t or another individual, for example. The disclosure requirement is simple, and requires you to provide this information in one of the three ways described abov e. If you are editing an article on Wikipedia on behalf of your employer, for ex ample, you must disclose your employer's details. If you have been hired by a pu blic relations firm to edit Wikipedia, you must disclose both the firm and the f irm s client. If you are a compensated Wikimedian in residence, for example, you m ust note the details of the GLAM organisation that is paying you. Are paid editing disclosures required only when editing Wikipedia articles? No, you must disclose your employment, client, and affiliation when making any t ype of paid contribution to any Wikimedia project. This includes edits on talk p ages and edits on projects other than Wikipedia. That said, a simple disclosure on your user page, satisfies this minimum requirement. For example, if you are e mployed by the National museum to upload images from their collection to the Wik imedia Commons, you satisfy the Terms of Use if you simply say that you edit on behalf of the National museum on your user page. Does this provision mean that paid contributions are always allowed as long as I make the disclosure? No, the disclosures mandated by the Terms of Use reflect a minimum requirement t hat helps each Wikimedia project to enforce their own policies and guidelines as appropriate. Users must also comply with these additional policies and guidelin es as well as any applicable laws. For example, English Wikipedia s policy on neut ral point of view requires that editing be done fairly, proportionally and (as f ar as possible) without bias; these requirements must be followed even if the co ntributor discloses making paid edits. Does this mean that Wikimedia projects must change their policies? No, unless their policies are inconsistent with these minimum requirements. Wiki media projects are free to change their policies to reference this requirement o r require stricter requirements for paid contributions. We encourage users to be respectful of user privacy and not harass others, even in cases of suspected pa id contributions. For example, under the English Wikipedia policy on harassment, users must not publicly share personal information about other users. How should I disclose paid contributions in my user page? You may explain that you work for a particular client or employer on your user p age. If you work for company Acme, and, as part of your job responsibilities, yo u edit Wikipedia articles about company Acme, you satisfy the minimum requiremen t of the Terms of Use if you simply say that you edit on behalf of company Acme on your user page. You however need to follow community or Foundation policies, in addition to applicable law. How should I disclose paid contributions in my edit summary? You may represent your employer, affiliation, and client in the edit summary box before you save your edit or contribution. For example, before saving your edits to a Wikipedia article about your client, Jordan Smith, you may write this note in the edit summary box: Jordan Smith has hired me to update their Wikipedia arti cle or I work for Jordan Smith. How should I disclose paid contributions on a talk page?

You may represent your employer, affiliation, and client in the relevant talk pa ge either before, or immediately after, you save your edit or contribution. For ex ample, if you are a teacher at the Middle High School and are being paid to make edits to a Wikipedia page as part of your work, you may write this note on the talk page: "The Middle High School has hired me to make the edits to this articl e on [insert date]", or "With reference to my edits on this page, I work for the Middle High School". Do I have to disclose the details of the compensation I am receiving? You do not have to disclose the amount or type of compensation you are receiving for editing; the minimum required is that you disclose your employer, client, a nd affiliation. References Jump up ? Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2) (2006) Jump up ? 16 C.F.R. 255.5, Example 8, p.12. Jump up ? Parino v. Bidrack, Inc., 838 F. Supp. 2d 900, 905 (N.D. Cal. 2011) (plaintiff s allegations, including defendant s creation and use of fake reviews on website, were sufficient to bring a claim under California s Unfair Competition L aw and False Advertising Law) Jump up ? Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament (Annex I, points 1 1 and 22). Category: Legal department community consultation Navigation menu English Create account Log in Content page Discussion Read View source View history Main page Wikimedia News Translations Recent changes Random page Help Babel Community Wikimedia Forum Mailing lists Requests Babylon Reports Research Planet Wikimedia Beyond the Web Print/export

Tools This page was last modified on 26 February 2014, at 02:09 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy. Privacy policy About Meta Disclaimers Developers Mobile view Wikimedia Foundation Powered by MediaWiki