[Foundation-l] Privacy policy, statistics and rankings

Tue Aug 3 20:44:25 UTC 2010

On 3 August 2010 16:38, <wiki-list at phizz.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>  Risker wrote:
> > On 3 August 2010 15:48, Domas Mituzas <midom.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>> The issue is when someone aggregates the data and associates with an
> >>> individual, and then makes publishes it. Or uses that data to make
> >>> public statements about a user.
> >>
> >> we don't associate data with individual, we associate data with
> pseudonym.
> >>
> >> otoh, whatever people talk here about aggregation seems to be uneducated
> >> blabber by people who don't know Special:Contributions exists (that also
> >> groups/aggregates data by user).
> >>
> >>
> >
> > Precisely my thought. I cannot speak for other projects, but the account
> > creation page on English Wikipedia includes some privacy warnings and
> links
> > directly to the WMF privacy policy, as does every single page on the
> > project.  By creating an account, one implicitly accepts the terms of the
> > privacy policy, including the potential for aggregation of edits.
> >
>
>
> People can edit for years without creating an account, and they may well
> have a static IP address. Besides simply writing down that data is
> aggregated does not make it right. If its violation of personal data
> right for Germans why should it be any less of a violation for
> Spaniards, French, Americans, British, or the Chinese? Don't the German
> pages also have links to privacy statements?
>
>
>

Perhaps the point here is that it is not illegal in the place where the
servers are housed, or where the WMF exists.

I do find it kind of curious to see such a hostile response to the
long-time, well-known privacy policy for a group of projects devoted to
education, research and openness of information, particularly one
where  each editor is personally and directly responsible for each edit s/he
makes.  Publishing one's words on WMF projects is a *public* act, something
that is made clear with every time someone opens an "edit" tab.  (If it
isn't on the projects you work on, then it ought to be.)

Risker