Like Google and Amazon endanger the Wikipedia

The Wikipedia is one of the few great success stories of the collaborative, free Internet. Platforms such as Google and Amazon donations in the millions, benefit, but also solid from the free data provided. This relationship is a threat to the independence of the Online lexicon? the Adrian's Praise

The pioneer of the World Wide Web once had to build a Vision, a digital library of Alexandria, a civilization archive, which democratized the Knowledge of the world and the old authorities in the desert. "In our world, everything that the human mind creates, free of charge, infinite and distributed, reproduced", postulated by the American Internet pioneer John Perry Barlow in 1996 in his "Declaration of independence of Cyberspace".

If some of that community building spirit is left, then it is the Online encyclopedia Wikipedia: A book that anyone can edit. 5.8 billion article counts alone, the English language edition of Wikipedia, with the addition of 40 million articles in 301 languages, from Alemannic to Zulu. Wikipedia.org is on place five of the most visited sites - Amazon and Twitter. The Journalist Paul Mason calls in his book "post-capitalism" on Wikipedia as a Prime example of a post-capitalist order, in of free Knowledge freely available and commercial dictionaries superfluous. Wikipedia is one of the "most valuable learning resources" that were ever invented, writes Mason. "And yet you are all Trying to censor you, to Hiking, to use you for disinformation or sabotage, because tens of millions of eyes are stronger than any state, every Stalker, every interest group and every Saboteur."

In fact, has proven to be Wikipedia, in spite of some fierce skirmish of its editors ("Edit Wars"), as a surprisingly robust against Fake News, and political manipulation attempts. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has created Wikitribune even have a News platform, which has set itself the goal, to repair the "broken" news business"". However, without sources of funding is also an idealistic project, which is supported by over 200 000 unpaid editors can not survive.

idea of the public Domain

The Wikimedia Foundation, the winner of the Wikipedia, is a non-profit organization and is funded primarily from donations. Among the donors, Adobe, Apple, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Netflix, and Salesforce - so almost the entire Tech industry, among others. Google as one of the largest sponsors has donated a few days ago, 3.1 million dollars to Wikipedia and thus, the amount of its grants in the last decade to $ 7.5 million raised. In addition, Wikipedia editors get free access to Machine Learning tools. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, with his Brin Wojcicki Foundation, one of the largest donor, is referred to by Wikipedia as "one of the greatest triumphs of the Internet".

The donations are not entirely altruistic: The group uses Wikipedia articles to train its machine learning Algorithms. So Google's sister company Jigsaw, in the development of a moderation tool against hate comments ("Perspective back handle"), among other things, to 115 000 of contributions to the discussion of Wikipedia. The Head of Google subsidiary Youtube, Susan Wojcicki, announced last year, to counter conspiracy Videos-topics like the moon landing or in Chemtrails, with text excerpts from Wikipedia.

the integrity of the information depends on the integrity of the advertising environment. No serious advertiser would like to advertise in addition to Stalkers or conspiracy theorists. That is to say: Google is benefiting from Wikipedia. If you search in Google for the Musée d'orsay in Paris, appears in the right part of the results page and a Knowledge Panel, a Info-box with the background information, the text extracts in part from Wikipedia are extracted, and sometimes even identical.

the language Also Amazon's assistant, Alexa pulls information from Wikipedia, the Online retailer donated in the past year, a Million dollars to the Wikimedia Endowment, a Fund that supports the Online ENCYCLOPAEDIA. The question is, whether the data is compensated for processing the given sales in the Billions of Tech-corporations rather puny donations - and how the commercial use of the Commons-the idea of Wikipedia is compatible. The idea of the public Domain is based on the non-exclusivity, non-commercial use of the content. Exploitation of the volunteers, authors, and assistants, if for-profit corporations to operate to the treasure of knowledge, such as in a quarry? What is the value of intellectual work is, if texts become training data for a mindless artificial intelligences?

To a POI request, did not want to comment on the Wikimedia Germany. In a background conversation on the Frankfurt book fair, a speaker stated that the commercial use of data is contrary to the Ideal, to share the Knowledge in the world for free. On the Wikipedia, regardless of whether large Corporation or small citizens could employ everyone. The Know - how in the Rest of the image material would be freely available. And ultimately, it would be better if the network speaker announces not a Fake News, but the correct info. This may be a noble motive. However, this idealism of the device under tension, if the producer of the Information is dependent on donations, earns recyclers billion, with advertising.

2.3 billion dollars in sales in a year

The Journalist Michael Johnston has calculated that Wikipedia could generate $ 2.3 billion in sales in the year, when the platform would be operated on a commercial basis. $ 160 million settled per month by digital Display. An ad-supported Wikipedia would be a betrayal of our own Ideals, and the Community to convey, would put the project on a sound financial basis. In the current constellation, has to be Wikipedia for the criticism to be Google-funded. Certainly, Wikipedia is far from being an Instrument of the search engine giant, nobody reflects on his role in the web more transparent. However, due to the donations, Wikipedia makes itself vulnerable to attack - especially for troublemaker, the saw encyclopedia in the Online-always been a manipulation of the medium in the service of the Powerful.

The Commons idea, in information capitalism in a quandary: on the one Hand, Wikipedia needs to provide the lexical Knowledge available for free. On the other hand, it may prevent Tech companies text landscapes by plowing, and the raw material as a data feed for the machine learning to monetize. When translated to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation Google, which co-financed the Wikipedia will be displayed in the Knowledge Panel, from the English Wikipedia, extracted sentence: "From the English - The Silicon Valley Community Foundation is one of mountain views-supported, donor-advised, community Foundation that serves the Silicon Valley and the surrounding community." With "mountain views" are not the views of a mountain protective Association, Mountain View, the headquarters of the Foundation, as well as the Google. The translation service has translated here, obviously, literally and not recognize that it is a placemark. It seems that Google would need the help of Wikipedia urgent than the other way around.