[Foundation-l] Sexual harassment in Wikipedia

[Anthere]

roc wrote:
> By "sexual harassment", THD was trying to explain the online
> harassment/stalking/solicitation accident in which a female user at
> Chinese Wikipedia was threaten to be raped. It does not mean the kind
> of sexual harassment in a working environment. In addition to THD's
> description, the victim's real life name was used in the threat; this
> name has never been disclosed by the victim on Wikipedia.
> 
> We respect the freedom of speech and other civil rights, but we are
> not obligated to provide a place for any speech or act, especially
> when such an act seriously violates other people's civil rights or
> safety. I totally agree with Gregory that we protect the
> visitor/user's privacy because of our high ethical values and the
> furthering of interests of both the WMF and the public. We are not
> going to protect everyone's privacy at all times, especially when it
> is *necessary* to protect our values or interests or safety. Indeed,
> in Wikipedia's privacy policy
> (http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy, link found at
> bottom of every page on Wikipedia), there are several circumstances
> that allow the release of IP information:
> 1. In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from
> law enforcement.
> ...
> 6. Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or
> safety of the Wikimedia Foundation, its users or the public.
> 
> I believe that tolerating such a personal violence threat (using the
> word "rape" and the victim's undisclosed real-life name) would be a
> neglect to the safety of our users and the health of our community,
> which is essential to Wikimedia's success and missions.
> 
> Regarding policies and procedures, I think that WMF should either
> dictate privacy policies of all its projects or give authorizations to
> the community/people it trusts, as long as it conforms with the best
> interests of WMF, the project, and the public.

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy


  I believe that the
> privacy policy of Chinese Wikipedia is governed by the WMF. In this
> privacy policy, it is stated that "personally identifiable data...may
> be released by...users with CheckUser access", does it mean that
> checkusers/stewards are authorized to release IP information of a
> registered user without seeking approval for each case from the Board
> or Executive?

They should not... except that it is little practical. Imagine that a 
checkuser checks the ip data of a vandal, then blocks the whole ip range 
in order to block the person. Or makes correlation with a vandal acting 
under ip... then, it is pretty easy to "guess" what the ip or ip range 
for the person is. In such case, release will occur somehow. Many checks 
done to protect the project itself (pure vandalism, sockpuppetry) will 
often reveal the ip.

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.

Ant

> Best regards,
> 
> roc
> --
> 
> 2006/11/13, shi zhao <shizhao at gmail.com>:
> 
>>see http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
>>
>>"6 Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or
>>safety of the Wikimedia Foundation, its users or the public."
>>
>>plese help!
>>
>>2006/11/11, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org>:
>>
>>>On 11/10/06, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Essentially I agree. It all comes down to mature judgement, and who is
>>>>capable of exercising it.  We have a lot of people who can too easily
>>>>jump to conclusions.
>>>
>>>Yes. One question is whether we want every language and project
>>>community to develop its own policy on these matters, or whether this
>>>is an area where it makes sense to have a single policy that is
>>>localized. This goes for checkuser and oversight as well. Perhaps an
>>>in-between solution makes sense, where the WMF requires that local
>>>policies identify and propose a group that consists of the most
>>>trusted users before granting these privileges on a language/project
>>>level.
>>>
>>>Perhaps it should also be a requirement that users who have the
>>>technical permission to use these tools disclose their identity to the
>>>WMF, so we have someone to deal with in case of abuse.
>>>--
>>>Peace & Love,
>>>Erik
>>>
>>>Member, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>>>
>>>DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise stated, all views or opinions expressed
>>>in this message are solely my own and do not represent an official
>>>position of the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of Trustees.
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>foundation-l mailing list
>>>foundation-l at wikimedia.org
>>>http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>>
>>
>>
>>--
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>>
>>[[zh:User:Shizhao]]
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