[Foundation-l] UCMJ and Wikimedia

[Nathan]

Thanks Mike. In your opinion, is there a conflict between our no legal
threats policy and an editor warning another editor of their
responsibility (as they claim) to report conduct that violates the
UCMJ to military authorities? I.e. if someone has an affirmative
responsibility to report a violation, can we resonably bar them from
issuing a warning relating to that responsibility?

On Jan 2, 2008 4:34 PM, Mike Godwin <mnemonic at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Nathan asks:
> >  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Orangemarlin#Contacting_people.27s_employers_in_real_life
> >
> > This is an interesting thread (one of a few on this subject, including
> > in the Jimsch62 (sp) RfAr) - two editors who are in the military/work
> > for the US government claim that it is their legal responsibility to
> > report to the USAF the use of a military PC to edit Wikipedia because
> > that is a violation of the UCMJ. I'm curious about whether that is
> > true, and if it is why we don't block .mil IPs from editing en masse.
> >
> > Mike Godwin, do you have an opinion on this issue?
>
> My professional opinion is that we are under no obligation to either
> (a) enforce the UCMJ as to editors who happen to be in the military,
> or (b) categorically bar those who are subject to the UCMJ, which
> probably includes but is not exclusive to those with .mil addresses,
> because the they have professional obligations to report (purported)
> violations of the UCMJ.
>
> We know to a reasonable certainty that there are editors with ties to
> law enforcement, military, and anti-espionage agencies.  I don't see
> how we can reasonably police their engagement with our services in a
> categorical way. Obviously, we may choose to bar particular users
> based on their behavior, which may include violation of Wikimedia's
> privacy policies. But I could not endorse any measure that
> categorically barred anyone with a .mil address from editing.
>
>
> --Mike
>
>
>
>
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