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(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
From: Mani Pande <mpande(a)wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Translators-l] Wikipedia Editors Survey 2011
To: "Wikimedia Translators" <translators-l(a)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)
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