Anthere wrote:
However, if the check is done for investigation reasons (request by the police, by a government etc...), rather than to immediately protect the site from a raw attack, yeah, it would be very shocking that a checkuser reveals the information. To that date, I do not think it ever occured.
In this case, if a request was made to find out the ip of the user who issued the threats, I think the request should be made to the board/executive. But *mostly*, the request should be done either by a very trusted user, or more likely by a group of trusted editors. If a totally unknown person mentions threats have been issued in a language we can not understand, and request to know the ip of another editor, I'd say the request should not be fullfilled.
Things can get even more complicated when the requesting police force is of a country well known for its violations of civil rights. A subpoena from Myanmar.would be a cause for concern.
Even your last point gets tricky. If a woman is receiving sexual threats giving the IP details directly to her may not be the most effective way of dealing with the problem unless she is technically savvy. A threat from someone in her own town is more dangerous than one from the other side of the world, and having the information given directly to people in a position to do something about the problem will eliminate the potential for having the authorities as hysteria.
Ec