[WikiEN-l] Editing with open proxies

[Daniel R. Tobias]

On 19 Jun 2007 at 15:13:47 +0300, Ilmari Karonen <nospam at vyznev.net> 
wrote:

> For an analogy, imagine you wanted to get into a building and, for some 
> reason, didn't want to use the door.  So you try to climb in through a 
> window, but it's barred, with a sign saying: "Entering the building 
> through windows is forbidden!"  So you try another window, and it too is 
> barred with a similar sign.  You try a couple more, and they're all 
> barred.  Then finally, you find a window that's ajar and has no sign. 
> Would you conclude:
> 
>   a) that entering through *this* window is perfectly acceptable, or
>   b) that the signs you saw previously in fact apply to *all* the
>      windows, but someone simply forgot to bar this one?

It seems more analogous to where a place is open to the public 24 
hours a day -- say, a big-city subway station where the system runs 
around the clock.  However, certain of the entrances are closed 
during certain hours due to higher possibility of their being used by 
muggers, vandals, or other criminals, and lesser use by legitimate 
subway passengers, at those times.  So, at a certain station, the 
west entrance (which emerges on a poorly-lit street in a somewhat 
seedy neighborhood) has a sign that says "This entrance closed from 6 
PM to 6 AM; use east entrance."  The east entrance, a block away on a 
well-lit, higher-traffic street at the edge of a nicer neighborhood, 
is always open.  They both go into the same station.

Now, one night they forget to lock the west entrance, and that 
happens to be when you attempt to come by trying to get into the 
station (to take a train... not to vandalize or mug!).  You are aware 
from past experience that entrances of this sort are often closed at 
night, but are not necessarily positive about exactly which entrances 
this applies to or what time they close, and have certainly not gone 
and looked up all the applicable city ordinances and transit 
authority policies.  However, being too lazy to walk around to the 
other side of the station, you see if you can "get lucky" by going to 
that entrance and trying the door.  Fortunately, you find it open 
(despite the sign), and you go in, and use the transit system in a 
perfectly law-abiding way (other than using a "closed" entrance); you 
pay your proper fare, don't spit on the platform, don't paint 
graffiti, and so on.  A transit cop happens to notice you coming in 
(he's not specifically following you or targeting that entrance, but 
just happens to be looking that way during a routine patrol), and, 
seeing that you don't appear to be engaging in any criminal activity, 
he ignores you (but goes and locks the door behind you, since it's 
supposed to be locked at that hour).

Now, have you done anything wrong here?  If you were later to be 
running for office in that city, should the cop who saw you suddenly 
decide to make a public fuss about how you're breaking public transit 
ordinances?

-- 
== Dan ==
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