Mani Pande, PhD
Head of Global Development Research
Wikimedia Foundation
Twitter: manipande
Skype: manipande

If 'anonymize' means that the raw data from the survey is ditched after being 'anonymized' then there is no practical way for WMF to be required to hand over information in response to a subpoena. But if the raw data is retrievable, then I don't understand how this data escapes from being subject to potential disclosure to outside law enforcement agencies in the US, as explained in the WMF general privacy policy. Are surveys specifically excepted in the US laws covering access to data held by US organizations? In practice it is highly unlikely that any law enforcement agency will be interested in someone's editing habits on Wikipedia. But your statement of confidentiality makes a sweeping promise of confidentiality, which does not mention the exception with regard to law enforcement agencies in the general policy. Have you had a legal opinion on the potential consequences in the unlikely event of the survey data being subject to a subpoena, given that you are promising not to disclose any information? Do you regard the risk as so small that you prefer to stick with the promise of non-disclosure in the face of a subpoena? Regards, Eleri James --- On Tue, 15/3/11, Mani Pande <mpande@wikimedia.org> wrote: From: Mani Pande <mpande@wikimedia.org> Subject: Re: [Translators-l] Wikipedia Editors Survey 2011 To: "Wikimedia Translators" <translators-l@lists.wikimedia.org> Date: Tuesday, 15 March, 2011, 15:18 We are going to anonymize the responses so individual responses are not associated with individual respondents.  The foundation is committed to the privacy of the respondents, and believes that protecting the privacy of its users and survey respondents is of utmost importance. Mani Mani Pande, PhD Head of Global Development Research Wikimedia Foundation Twitter: manipande Skype: manipande On 3/15/11 7:30 AM, Klaas Van Be wrote: Dear fellow translators, I'm not convinced about the privacy concerning this survey and I'm not the only one At http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_survey_feedback are yet some other remarks. Please read them before you publish this to the entire community. Klaas aka Patio4it   Anonymous? First: CheckUsers are always able to track you so for them it's never anonymous unless you fill them out in an Internet café... In the personal questions should always be the option "Don't know/Don't want to tell" Examples: "Do you have children?" - Men, including me, in certain circumstances don't know... "Monthly income" - Freelancers and criminals don't want to reveal this for obvious reasons. "Gender" - Even this may cause problems incase of 'transsexual' and 'transgender' (BTW those words are synonyms) Patio 11:28, 13 March 2011 (UTC) _______________________________________________ Translators-l mailing list Translators-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/translators-l -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ Translators-l mailing list Translators-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/translators-l

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