On 04/02/07, StefanB steffe62@yahoo.com wrote:
On Swedish Wiktionarys common.js, http://sv.wiktionary.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Common.js , is a script that takes the visitors IP-addresses and transforms it into a non-revertable number, and then sends it to an external private server that belongs to one if the administrators on Wiktionary. The script is used for statistics on visited articles.
To me it seems like this kind of script is a violation of the privacy policy, since it is possible to get the IP-numbers of all visitors, even though it is not done in this case. I should also mention that a discussion was held before this script was activated and that no one objected to it.
Are these kind of scripts allowed?
Probably a grey area, since if it really is an irreversible hash (at least, as far as we know the hash function to be so, and we all know how crap some hashes have proven to be), then it's not supposedly possible to arbitrarily obtain IP addresses.
On the other hand, I would agree with Brion about keeping it "within the family", or under Wikimedia-affiliated control. Your community should probably jump on it quickly, since it sets a wobbly precedent.
Rob Church