[Foundation-l] Privacy concerns - Wikimedia-l

11 Jul 2011


      Back in the 1980's BBS sysops validated new users on some of the more 
abused dial-up BBS systems via snail mail. The person had to provide a 
real address in order to receive their login password - just as many 
systems use email addresses today. The big difference between these two 
mechanisms is that using snail mail has a chain of custody and implies 
the possibility of some kind of legal action  for misuse whereas email 
has no real chain of custody or rarely any legal standing.
So is it going to be a hoop to jump through or something more?
Making a copy and mailing it isn't much better than forging a document 
and mailing it. Who knows whether the copy even belongs to the person in 
question?
I'd say that if you've blocked someone who is a sockpuppet or other 
abuser the burden of validating such a person should be on them, not the 
wiki staff. At least a notary (or other public official) would have to 
look at an identity document - verify its validity as well as see that 
it indeed matches the person in question - then sign a document to that 
effect. This completely removes the wiki staff from the need to access 
the validity of a copy.
No it isn't free, but that's the price a blocked user might have to pay 
for abusing what was freely given in the first place. :-/
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Do they have notaries in the Netherlands? ?Why not simply ask them to mail a notarized statement that "I am Foo at such an address and request an ublock so I may edit as Bar"? I still am not sure if this is something I would completely endorse, but at least it would be meaningful and not so easily forged.
Notaries usually charge for that kind of thing. It's not usually much,
but it's substantially more than the cost of a stamp, which is all the
current policy costs.