[WikiEN-l] Looking at the real world

Mon Sep 5 16:00:34 UTC 2005

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Skyring wrote:

> On 9/3/05, James D. Forrester <james at jdforrester.org> wrote:
>
> > geni wrote:
> > 
> > > On 9/2/05, Skyring <skyring at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > In the past day, [[user:jtdirl]] has published my name and address, and
> > > > [[user:mackensen]] has accused me of criminal acts.
> > >
> > > People who play with fire get burned.
> > 
> > And further, accessing a computer system without authorisation is
> > illegal in the US, the UK, and Australia, to name but a few countries;
> > given that you are banned from Wikipedia, any edits that you were to
> > make would constitute such an illegal act. Several sysops, and not just
> > Mackensen, have suggested that you may well be doing this, violating
> > your ban order. Perhaps you might want to think about finding another
> > place to play, Skyring?
>  
> Thanks, James. Given that Wikipedia doesn't require checking of
> real-life identification before allowing access to the system, I can't
> see your theory lasting too long in any court.

Which shows just how much you know about such laws. :-) Seriously,
Wikipedia's very openness means that blocking and banning are highly
visible and obvious instructions to people to not access the system, and
IMO would be very easy to point to in court as opposed to merely
unadvertised computer systems that have an open port on them that people
connect to (which has landed people in gaol in several locations,
especially when said computer systems are military in nature). Not that
we have any intention of having you prosecuted, so this is all by-the-by
and rather irrelevant.

However, wikien-l is not the place to query your ban by the Arbitration
Committee; it is not a community matter, but one for the Board, and
Jimbo in particular. Feel free to email them about it. Certainly, feel
free to cease emailing /us/ about it, unendingly and pointlessly.

Yours,
- --
James D. Forrester
Wikimedia : [[W:en:User:Jdforrester|James F.]]
E-Mail    : james at jdforrester.org
IM (MSN)  : jamesdforrester at hotmail.com
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