[Foundation-l] Release of squid log data

[Erik Moeller]

On 9/14/07, Tim Starling <tstarling at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> For a while now, we've been releasing squid log data, stripped of
> personally identifying information such as IP addresses, to groups at
> two universities: Vrije Universiteit and the University of Minnesota. We
> now have a request pending from a third group, at Universidad Rey Juan
> Carlos in Spain. They are asking if they can have the full data stream
> including IP addresses, and they are prepared to sign a confidentiality
> agreement to get it.

"Wikimedia will not sell or share private information, such as email
addresses, with third parties, unless you agree to release this
information, or it is required by law to release the information."
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy

Under the current policy I would not support it, even if "private
information" is somewhat ambiguous: we must err on the side of
caution.

I might support a research exemption clause in future versions of the
policy _if_ a compelling case can be made that such an exemption is
needed, and that no alternative research method would produce results
of approximately the same quality. So far no such case has been made.

Whatever we do, it is crucial that we make it clear to our users
through our privacy policy what is going on. In that spirit, I would
also appreciate it if the privacy policy could be updated to describe
the existing agreements with universities, and the work that is being
done on the toolserver.
-- 
Toward Peace, Love & Progress:
Erik

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