On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Chris Down neuro.wikipedia@googlemail.com wrote:
It is the policy of Wikimedia that personally identifiable data collected in the server logs, or through records in the database via the CheckUser feature, or through other non-publicly-available methods, may be released by Wikimedia volunteers or staff, in any of the following situations:
- In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from law
enforcement, 2. With permission of the affected user, 3. When necessary for investigation of abuse complaints, 4. Where the information pertains to page views generated by a spider or bot and its dissemination is necessary to illustrate or resolve technical issues, 5. *Where the user has been vandalizing articles or persistently behaving in a disruptive way, data may be released to a service provider, carrier, or other third-party entity to assist in the targeting of IP blocks, or to assist in the formulation of a complaint to relevant Internet Service Providers,* 6. Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the Wikimedia Foundation, its users or the public.
Am I missing something?
No. But it is common sense that we should do the least amount possible to sort the problem out. The publication of private data in a thread like this is completely unnecessary. Repeat: it is quite within the privacy policy to reveal this info to Verizon (and even publicly on-wiki, if an IP block is helpful). This thread is completely gratuitous and unnecessary.
I very strongly believe we should not be vindictive in our dealing with problematic users. We should seek to sort out our problems, not to cause problems for others, no matter how many problems they've caused us.
Sam