On 12/5/06, Earle Martin wikipedia@downlode.org wrote:
On 05/12/06, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
As far as I am aware, neither Wikipedia nor the Wikimedia Foundation are the United States.
True, Wikipedia can have rules in addition to the law. However, what are discrimination laws like in the US? Could banning Nazis get the Foundation into legal difficulties?
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, or even an American. That said, it appears to me that Wikipedia is a privately-operated members' club, and is entitled to specify what is allowed not to be said or done on its premises, much as the Britney Spears Fan Club is entitled to kick out people who insist that Christina Aguilera is cooler. Neither is a violation of US law.
-- Earle Martin http://downlode.org/ http://purl.org/net/earlemartin/
Might depend on tax law. If I remember correctly (it's been 15 years since I dealt with this), 501(c) and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt and private foundations can run afoul of the IRS if there is a clear indication of active discrimination. In this case, I don't see any evidence of an active policy of discrimination -- the issue at hand focuses around the banning of a troll.