[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Draft Terms of UseforReview

[David Gerard]

On 10 September 2011 01:15, Phil Nash <phnash at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> But changing, and toughening up the TOS is sending the right message to the
> wrong people. Any technically savvy journalist is going to realise the
> weakness in doing that, and any committed troll/vandal/disrupter is going to
> be able to subvert any technical measures, if only by moving his/her laptop
> into a new WiFi Area and crating a new account.


In a possibly-surprising result, really egregious stalkers don't
conceal themselves; they tend to act unconcealed (down to address and
phone number), in an attempt to say that you can't do anything about
them. And this is largely true - it's surprisingly difficult to do
anything about mere intimidation *before* it gets physical. Adding a
term to the TOS may seem a decoration liable to abuse, but the purpose
is to give something phrased to actually be legally useful. Not being
a lawyer, I'm not going to second-guess the phrasing Geoff' used here.

tl;dr this is actually thought out and for a reason, though great
caution about it is understandable.


- d.