Carbonite wrote:
I think perhaps we're getting a little
melodramatic here. I was under the
impression that we're here to write an encyclopedia, not fight oppression.
If the former happens to lead to the latter, that's a great bonus. My point
was that it's up to the user to protect himself. If a slip of an IP address
will likely lead to harsh punishment, the risk of editing is almost
certainly too high. I'm NOT saying that we should be careless and expose IP
addresses, but to treat this as a matter of life and death is unnecessary
rhetoric.
Carbonite
When I joined Wikipedia, I had the opportunity to protect myself. I used
anonymous proxies. I edited, under these proxies, on certain topics
which could lead to me certainly have professional problems.
One thing I appreciated is that ips were visible, even for logged in
users. So, anytime, I could check which information was registered about me.
When use of anonymous proxies was not possible any more, I stopped
putting certain type of information entirely. I regretted that very
much, but there was no possibility for myself to protect myself anymore.
I think some of the information I could have put on sites such as
wikinews would have been worth. But I do not feel like fighting big firm
lobbies.
oh... and read this
http://soufron.typhon.net/article.php3?id_article=71
Ant