[Foundation-l] Ombuds-wo-men commission - Wikimedia-l

24 Nov 2007

Hello,

It has been over a year since the first commission was appointed. It was 
high time for renewal. I would like to thank you our previous team, 
Nathan, Steve and Enders for their help over the past year (their task 
was not always very easy), and welcome the new team
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Mackensen
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rebecca
* http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hei_ber

The ombudsman commission is tasked with processing complaints about 
violations of the privacy policy on any Wikimedia project, in particular 
concerning the use of CheckUser tools. The ombudsman is tasked with 
investigating cases of such policy breach or CheckUser abuse for the 
board in an official manner. They will mediate between the complainant 
and the respondent (usually a CheckUser, bureaucrat, administrator, or 
arbitration committee member). When legally necessary, the ombudsman 
will assist the general counsel, the executive director or the board in 
handling the case.

Since the issue was raised during the year, let me repeat that the 
commission is not here to fix various disagreements and abuse reports, 
but is dedicated to issues related to privacy policy infringments.

These people were selected to provide a healthy mix of language, project 
and gender diversity. Two have been CU, so are familiar with this role 
and the issues related to CU activities. The third is deeply interested 
in privacy policy issues. All have been highly recommanded. I hope you 
will feel confortable with them joining this commission.

More on the commission here: 
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman_commission

Best

Florence