[WikiEN-l] Why the uproar over wikitruth

[Molu]

Hi,
   
  I don't understand something, what is the reason of this uproar about wikitruth's publication of articles deleted by us. There's even talk of prohibiting admins from re-posting content, isn't that completely against the spirit of this project, free dissemination of information? Why should we care if wikitruth is posting copyvio and libel articles on their website? They are gonna get sued, bad for them.
   
  I can't see how re-posting of our content will make us legally more liable than we already were. We do not remove illegal content from our servers, we simply hide it from all but a select few. That obviously does entail some legal liability. When that content is re-posted for the general public, the extra liability is incurred by wikitruth. We, as always, are still allowing only those select few to access the content.
   
  If they are okay about attracting lawsuits, good for us. We have deleted those articles only for legal or editorial concerns. No harm done to us if someone else decides to showcase that content. In fact it's good for us since non-admin users can view deleted content without any possibility of harm to the Foundation. Or is there more to this issue than meets the eye? I'll like to know.
   
  On a related note, there is another uproar over secrecy, concerning whether office actions need to be hidden. There is a general perception that the reason office actions are being taken nee dto be hidden from even admins. I do not see why this is so. We are not the CIA, the reasons for actions coming from the top is to protect the Foundation from lawsuits. What's so secret about that. What if every wikipedian knows that corporation A threatened to sue the Foundation and as a result libellous content has been removed from their article by office action until sources are provided? What's the harm if every office action is advertised on the front page?
   
  I think there's a paranoia about secrecy around. We are an encyclopedia, it is our goal to provide information. The Wikimedia foundation is a not-for-profit organisation running some innovative websites without any illegal activities (hopefully). What's so secret about that?
   
  Molu

		
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