[Foundation-l] video presentation on explicit images on WMF projects

[Nathan]

> It's possible for system administrators to delete files entirely from
> the servers for legal reasons, but because it is quite
> labour-intensive, I for one have only ever performed such a deletion
> when it is real child pornography (hint: a 16-year-old masturbating is
> not "real" child pornography, and is in fact legal, though explicit,
> in New South Wales, Australia).
>
> We don't really want to be handling any more than a request or two
> each week/month under this system, and it's done mostly in the
> interest of taste – the images that I've had to delete have made me
> extremely uncomfortable, and deleting them is mostly about protecting
> innocent snooping administrators from seeing them.
>
> If there are legal issues involved, they should be discussed directly
> with our General Counsel, and not speculated about by volunteers who
> may lack the requisite legal expertise to make a decision on the
> Foundation's behalf. The community should be discussing editorial and
> administrative reasons for dealing with these images, not legal ones.


With respect, legal issues are debated on many projects practically
every day. This particular issue is no different. In some
jurisdictions, just accessing such files can expose one to legal risk.
While Mike is a good lawyer, he doesn't represent individual editors -
and the Foundation's interests and liabilities (as a host, not a
content provider) may not fully intersect with the needs of individual
editors.

And in any case, permanently deleting such images (so that they can't
be recovered without extraordinary effort) has its own editorial and
administrative benefits.

Nathan