Legal:Wikimedia Legal Disclaimer/es
El rol del equipo legal de la Fundación Wikimedia
La Fundación Wikimedia (WMF) trabaja para "empoderar e involucrar a personas de todo el mundo en recopilar y desarrollar contenido educativo bajo licencia gratuita o en el dominio público, y difundirlo de manera efectiva y global". Para servir esta misión, el equipo legal ayuda a tomar e implementar decisiones en nombre de la WMF. WMF es parte de la comunidad dedicada a esta misión, pero su función organizativa es distinta de las funciones de otros miembros de la comunidad.
Como parte de nuestro apoyo a la Fundación Wikimedia, el equipo legal a veces ofrece la perspectiva de WMF sobre temas de interés para los miembros de la comunidad. Nosotros (el equipo legal) queremos que todos comprendan lo que estamos haciendo, y no hacemos, cuando ofrecemos esa perspectiva.
El equipo legal representa a la Fundación Wikimedia, que toma decisiones a través del Director Ejecutivo y la Junta. Nosotros no representamos, o cualquier otro miembro de la comunidad, o la comunidad en general. Del mismo modo, cuando el equipo jurídico comenta un tema, ofrecemos una perspectiva—la perspectiva de WMF. Esto permite a WMF promover la misión sin comprometerse legalmente (y por lo tanto con todos los sitios). En consecuencia, trabajamos arduamente para asegurarnos de que la perspectiva es sólida y bien informada, y el aporte de usted y otros miembros de la comunidad es invaluable al darnos la información que necesitamos para asesorar a WMF sobre lo que está en juego en un tema determinado. Sin embargo, la perspectiva que ofrecemos es sólo eso: una perspectiva. Es la posición que WMF toma, no un consejo con respecto a lo que usted o cualquier otro miembro de la comunidad debe hacer o no hacer en una situación particular. Hacemos las cosas de esta manera para asegurarnos de que podamos representar eficazmente a la Fundación Wikimedia y promover su misión.
We use this disclaimer template to ensure our discussions are not misunderstood as legal advice to you or anyone other than WMF. Individuals may, of course, agree or disagree with WMF’s legal perspective, but we hope that this document will be useful as one source of information for the community’s decision-making process.
If you feel you need personal legal advice, we encourage you to contact a lawyer who can represent you. Some non-profit organizations, like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sometimes agree to represent users of websites and advise on particular issues. You may also consult free legal referral services like Online Media Legal Network, the Digital Media Law Project, and various Legal Aid programs listed here to get in touch with a lawyer that can assist you. Additionally, some contributors may qualify for WMF’s Legal Fees Assistance Program if you need help defending against unfounded legal claims based on your activity on Wikimedia projects.
The specific ethical obligations of the Wikimedia Foundation legal team
The disclaimer above mentions our ethical obligations as lawyers. In specific, we are generally obliged to comply with the California Rules of Professional Conduct. This section gives some more background on those rules: why they apply and what the most relevant obligations are.
Our legal team works from our headquarters in San Francisco, California. Our lawyers therefore must abide by California’s rules of professional conduct. These rules are legally binding and are enforced by the state bar and, in some cases, courts. A finding that any of our lawyers failed to comply with the rules could result in reputational damage, disbarment, or potential liability for the lawyer, and would be bad for the Foundation as well.
- California’s Rules of Professional Conduct require that our lawyers follow the principle that our client is the Wikimedia Foundation itself.[1] Our lawyers therefore do not represent other clients, unfortunately including community members. Compliance with these ethics provisions is not intended to build a wall between the Foundation and the community, especially because there would be no Foundation without the community. In this context, the purpose of the rule is to make sure the Foundation is well served by its lawyers and that members understand the legal team’s role and the constraints on its work.
- As one example of this point, when the legal team advises the Foundation, or explains the Foundation’s perspective on an issue, the team addresses the Foundation’s interest. Individual problems are necessarily shaped by the specific facts of particular situations and by the laws of the applicable jurisdiction. As the legal team of a nonprofit organization with an enormous volunteer base, we are not in a position to understand fully the facts and law applicable to every case, so we could not offer individualized advice, even if it were otherwise possible under the rules.
For these reasons, we use the disclaimer template to ensure our discussions with community members are not confused as advice to, or representation of, those members. If a community member wants official legal advice, they should contact their own lawyer.