On 6/5/07, Sheldon Rampton sheldon@prwatch.org wrote:
I think this incident can be addressed constructively in part by fleshing out the privacy provisions of BLP. Right now Wikipedia has a more elaborate privacy policy for Wikipedia editors than it does for people who happen to be the topic of articles. BLP mostly seems to focus on neutrality, verifiability and no original research. Some additional privacy clauses might include:
(1) No publishing of personal contact information such as address or a phone number if there is any objection by the person profiled.
Why would an encyclopaedia be doing this anyway? I routinely remove such information from articles, regardless of whether they are about living people. Encyclopaedias are not directories or the Yellow Pages.
Johnleemk