WP Engine and Automattic Submit Injunction Proposals
During the preliminary injunction hearing on November 26, 2024, Judge Martínez-Olguín indicated a potential inclination to grant an injunction but found WP Engine’s initial proposal “exceedingly vague.”
Consequently, she ordered both parties to collaborate and submit revised, more precise proposals by December 2, 2024, to facilitate the court’s decision-making process.
Details of the proposals submitted by WPE and A8C. There is no word yet on when the judge will make her ruling.
WP Engine’s Proposal
Restored Access: Immediate reinstatement of access to WordPress.org resources as they were prior to September 20, 2024.
Plugin Control: Recovery of full control over plugins they maintain, such as Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), and prevention of unauthorized interference.
Customer Protection: Removal of publicly shared customer data and an end to actions that disrupt client relationships.
Urgency and Enforcement: Barriers imposed by Automattic must be removed within 24 hours, with ongoing protections against future interference.
Opposition to Injunction: Automattic maintains that WP Engine’s requested injunction is unnecessary and overly broad.
Minimal Scope: If granted, the injunction should be narrow, allowing WP Engine continued access only to publicly available WordPress.org resources (perhaps via API?).
Some are scratching their heads about Automattic’s proposal which is really not a proposal at all and does not give the judge the injunction language she asked for.
Mary Hubbard, New WordPress Executive Director, Promises “Fresh Start”
Mary Hubbard has stepped into her role as WordPress Executive Director with a strong focus on transparency.
She directly acknowledged the community’s feelings of alienation and offered a genuine apology during her first call.
Her experience handling difficult situations in her previous role at TikTok could prove valuable in addressing community tensions.
Hubbard identified major challenges, including declining event attendance and WordPress commercialization, but did not address the most divisive issues of the day related to WP Engine.
Hubbard’s appointment comes at a crucial time as the community grapples with governance issues, an area where she has specialized.
I’m sure there are legal reasons she didn’t address the current events directly, but many in the community are waiting to see if her “fresh start” involves actions rather than just words.
ChatGPT’s Search Isn’t All We Hoped it Would Be (Yet)
ChatGPT’s recently-added search function has added some interesting flexibility to the AI tool, but still experiences significant problems with attributions.
A Columbia University study found an alarming 76.5% error rate in source attribution testing (whether or not publishers chose to allow or block OpenAI’s crawler).
ChatGPT often links to copied or syndicated content instead of original news sources, and provides inconsistent results when asked identical questions multiple times.
News organizations have minimal control over how their content appears in ChatGPT Search results, which increases concerns about AI’s impact on journalism and publisher visibility.
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