On 7/14/07, Daniel Cannon <cannon.danielc(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Minute Electron wrote:
> Curious as to why the Google Web Accelerator
is being blocked, since
> you cannot actually edit any pages using it. Also,
> I see no harm in simply soft blocking open proxies since many users value
> their privacy. Where can I complain about this?
That's a very good question :). I'm not even really sure where any
centralized discussion of this is going on; it's primarily just been
debated on IRC. I would very much so like to get the Wikipedia community
involved in discussing this--perhaps begin a discussion at WP:OP or
WP:VPP? The whole thing really irritates me; I just haven't had the
desire to try to fight it.
Open HTTP and CGI proxies are no different from TOR, which was
recently discussed here at some length. They all seriously complicate
sockpuppetry investigations, raise security issues (which grow
significantly more serious for HTTP and CGI proxies, as you can't use
the secure server with them), and generally fail to meet the critical
test of causing more good than harm.
It's probably worth noting that, even if you're editing from your own
IP address, this still only leaves around 50 users (16 en.wiki
checkusers plus the Wikimedia stewards) with access to this
information. They have undergone identity checks by the Foundation,
their access to this data is logged heavily, and there are
restrictions placed on what information they can release from their
investigations. If even this is too much exposure for an editor, then
it's probably best that they avoid editing altogether.