OK. I'm less worried about aggregate data than retaining information about an
identifiable device or user. For example the information that the English Wikipedia
article "Crimea" has 251 watchers is ok to record and publish, but we probably
shouldn't log that user:BarackObama logged in at 10:04:34 EST with UA xyz after
linking to the Wikipedia page from the the Huffington Post, watchlisted the article at
10:05:40, and typed "Angela Merkel" into the Wikipedia search box, and ended his
session at 10:06:12. This concern may get into subjects that are covered by the new
Wikimedia Privacy Policy and I would be interested in hearing from an expert about what
non-edit data is logged and tied to a specific user including non-logged-in users who are
browsing Wikimedia sites.
If no changes are being made to mobile that would affect checkusers then should we move
this discussion to Analytics-l only?
Thanks,
Pine
From: jalexander(a)wikimedia.org
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:58:03 -0700
Subject: Re: [WikimediaMobile] Mobile and CheckUser (Was [mobile-l] Wikipedia App User
Agents)
To: deyntestiss(a)hotmail.com
CC: analytics(a)lists.wikimedia.org; mobile-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
I'll let someone more knowledgeable about current practices then me answer that
question to a better extent so that I don't butcher it but I know that some of that
info gets in with differing levels of sampling and filtering and retention. The UA data,
for example, is how we know information like what browsers visit the site (
http://stats.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/squids/SquidReportClients.htm ).
JamesJames AlexanderLegal and Community Advocacy
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur
On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 11:45 PM, ENWP Pine <deyntestiss(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
Thanks James.
No UA data is recorded from any platform for non-edit actions like pageviews and
watchlisting, even if an editor is logged in, right?
Pine
From: jalexander(a)wikimedia.org
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 23:36:01 -0700
Subject: Re: [WikimediaMobile] Mobile and CheckUser (Was [mobile-l] Wikipedia App User
Agents)
To: deyntestiss(a)hotmail.com
CC: analytics(a)lists.wikimedia.org; mobile-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
The mobile apps are definitely in the wild, my understanding (from some checks in the past
and from the discussion in the other thread) was that it was just the 'normal'
useragent for the phone with the addition of a WikipediaMobile identifier at the front (so
that you could tell it was from the app). They aren't very common but I have seen some
which I knew were app driven.
The reason this came up was that one of the discussions that came up in that other thread
was to rewrite the user agent to be less unique which would make it harder for CUs to tell
users apart (especially once they found out, which they often do and these discussions are
on public lists). The compromise that Yuvi proposed was to send a 'special' user
agent for checkuser so that it didn't lose the fingerprinting ability as much.
JamesJames AlexanderLegal and Community Advocacy
Wikimedia Foundation
(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur
On Thu, Mar 27, 2014 at 11:27 PM, ENWP Pine <deyntestiss(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
I got the impression from this discussion that the mobile apps aren't
currently in use so the CUs have had no experience working with them. It sounds like I was
mistaken.
Toby, what UA data do CUs currently see from edits made through the mobile apps?
CUs, is the information that you're currently getting from edits from the new mobile
apps a good balance the concerns raised previously in this discussion?
Pine
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 15:36:16 -0700
From: Toby Negrin <tnegrin(a)wikimedia.org>
To: "A mailing list for the Analytics Team at WMF and everybody who
has an interest in Wikipedia and analytics."
<analytics(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc: mobile-l <mobile-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>rg>, Oliver Keyes
<ironholds(a)gmail.com>om>, Yuvi Panda
<yuvipanda(a)gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Analytics] [WikimediaMobile] Mobile and CheckUser (Was
[mobile-l] Wikipedia App User Agents)
Message-ID:
<CAAjh0EyqpFDke3P6Q5FxecOnE5yc7uSs_VS9HcB5khoxZ6-Yng(a)mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Hey folks -- we aren't considering changing any of the data that goes into
checkuser. That tool will be unchanged.
This discussion only concerns backend logging EventLogging and page view
analytics.
thanks,
-Toby
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