[WikiEN-l] Assume bad faith, for banned users.

[Ray Saintonge]

Guy Chapman aka JzG wrote:
> On Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:01:33 +0000, "Thomas Dalton"
> <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> The only way someone could tell is by illegal checkusers - do you have
>> evidence of checkuser abuse?
>>     
> Illegal?  I think not.  Wikipedia is a private project, CheckUser is
> legally allowed as much or as little as we want to use it.
>
> We voluntarily undertake not to run frivolous CheckUser checks, or
> to reveal personal data per our privacy policy, but there is nothing
> illegal about CheckUser.
That's just playing with the word "illegal".  Wikipedia's rules fall 
within the realm of private law, so within that context abusive use 
could be illegal.  Legality does not need to be limited to matters of 
compliance with government laws.

Ec