[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia and the politics of encryption

[Victor Grigas]

I think that we should make a policy of https by default and grandfather-in
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause)  exceptions to Iran and
PRC, reason being that

1. We should not exclude whole groups of existing Wikipedians simply
because of the government they happen to live within the jurisdiction of.

2. Any time anyone else says "wait well *they* have no https! What gives?
Why can't we have that?" We could cite the grandfathered-in nature of the
rule, and how we want to grant access to as many people as possible.

We could also say that grandfathered-in places would lose their status
permanently should the community of Wikipedians in such places decide to
change the http/https status.

On Aug 31, 2013, at 1:07 AM, Emmanuel Engelhart <kelson at kiwix.org> wrote:

> Le 31/08/2013 07:17, Erik Moeller a écrit :
>> We can, of course, ask users in the affected countries. Given that
>> this may lead to degradation or loss of access, users are likely to be
>> opposed, and indeed, when plans to expand HTTPS usage were announced,
>> a group of Chinese Wikipedians published an open letter asking for
>> exemptions to be implemented:
>>
>>
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:%E5%BC%BA%E5%88%B6%E5%8A%A0%E5%AF%86%E7%99%BB%E5%BD%95/openletter
>>
>> This was a big part of what drove the decision to implement exemptions.
>
> This attitude seems to be, on a first look, the most logical and
> respectful one.
>
> But, I want to be remember, that the risk perception is often not
> proportional *at all* to the risk itself. In daily life, many risks are
> suppressed because the imagination of a constant threat would paralyse
> all activities. So, this feedback from the Chinese community should be
> handled carefully.
>
> I tend myself to think that deploying HTTPS everywhere and force its
> usage is the best long term approach.
>
> However, this is without any doubt, a difficult dilemma.
>
> Emmanuel
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