On 5/15/07, Jeffrey V. Merkey jmerkey@wolfmountaingroup.com wrote:
Wikipedia needs to exclude these fake tribe from the project. Any of these tribes can bring legal action against the Foundation, as can the Federal Government if fake groups are allowed to claim they are indian tribes, then use Wikipedia as a basis to claim credibility and break the law.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. If that doesn't apply the foundation has other bigger worries.
This can have two possible outcomes. The genuine tribes (who have Federal support and Federal funding) can withdraw financial support from the project
I wasn't aware we got any significant amounts of financial support. In any case wikipedia cannot afford to be influenced by donors in that way.
and/or Wikipedia can be exposed to negative publicity and loss of public trust by the legitimate tribes,
Can live with that.
as well as being exposed to Federal Prosecution if these groups use the project to violate US laws.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
I am of Cherokee, German, and English ancestry, but I do not claim I am a citizen of Germany or the UK., even though I am of these bloodlines as well as Cherokee.
UK doesn't have citizens.
The same applies to Native Tribes recognized by the US Government. These tribes are sovereign governments,
Can they declare war? In any case the kingdom I live in does not recognise them as such.
I will be unable to garner support from the tribes to publicly support Wikipedia from other tribes if such a policy does not exist, since any fake group can claim they are an indian tribe when they are not.
No that would be original research. Of course if they get their claim published in a reliable source we will report that
Please read the text of the policy, and the Foundation needs to make a decision about this matter.
Attempting to appeal to the foundation to try and overcome local consensus is not a good ploy.
Tribes which are not Federally recognized in the US are NOT indian tribes, and numerous legal liabilities are created if we allow these groups to post false information into the project.
The view of the US goverment is mearly one POV. There are others.