[Translators-l] Wikipedia Editors Survey 2011

Mani Pande mpande at wikimedia.org
Wed Mar 16 13:34:32 UTC 2011


Legal is a separate issue. Although as you point out in your email, the 
likelihood of someone issuing a subpoena to understand anyone's 
Wikipedia editing habits is highly unlikely. Our legal team did look at 
the confidentiality statement in the survey. The foundation would have 
raw and anonymous data, but for presentation there would not be any 
identity attached.

Mani Pande, PhD
Head of Global Development Research
Wikimedia Foundation
Twitter: manipande
Skype: manipande


On 3/16/11 1:39 AM, Eleri James wrote:
> If 'anonymize' means that the raw data from the survey is ditched 
> after being 'anonymized' then there is no practical way for WMF to be 
> required to hand over information in response to a subpoena. But if 
> the raw data is retrievable, then I don't understand how this data 
> escapes from being subject to potential disclosure to outside law 
> enforcement agencies in the US, as explained in the WMF general 
> privacy policy. Are surveys specifically excepted in the US laws 
> covering access to data held by US organizations? In practice it is 
> highly unlikely that any law enforcement agency will be interested in 
> someone's editing habits on Wikipedia. But your statement of 
> confidentiality makes a sweeping promise of confidentiality, which 
> does not mention the exception with regard to law enforcement agencies 
> in the general policy. Have you had a legal opinion on the potential 
> consequences in the unlikely event of the survey data being subject to 
> a subpoena, given that you are promising not to disclose any 
> information? Do you regard the risk as so small that you prefer to 
> stick with the promise of non-disclosure in the face of a subpoena?
>
> Regards,
> Eleri James
>
> --- On *Tue, 15/3/11, Mani Pande /<mpande at wikimedia.org>/* wrote:
>
>
>     From: Mani Pande <mpande at wikimedia.org>
>     Subject: Re: [Translators-l] Wikipedia Editors Survey 2011
>     To: "Wikimedia Translators" <translators-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
>     Date: Tuesday, 15 March, 2011, 15:18
>
>     We are going to anonymize the responses so individual responses
>     are not associated with individual respondents.  The foundation is
>     committed to the privacy of the respondents, and believes that
>     protecting the privacy of its users and survey respondents is of
>     utmost importance.
>     Mani
>
>     Mani Pande, PhD
>     Head of Global Development Research
>     Wikimedia Foundation
>     Twitter: manipande
>     Skype: manipande
>                
>
>
>     On 3/15/11 7:30 AM, Klaas Van Be wrote:
>>     Dear fellow translators,
>>
>>     I'm not convinced about the privacy concerning this survey and
>>     I'm not the only one
>>     At http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_survey_feedback
>>
>>     are yet some other remarks. Please read them before you publish
>>     this to the entire community.
>>
>>     Klaas aka Patio4it
>>
>>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>         Anonymous?
>>
>>     First: CheckUsers are always able to track you so for them it's
>>     never anonymous unless you fill them out in an Internet café...
>>
>>         In the personal questions should always be the option "Don't
>>         know/Don't want to tell"
>>         Examples:
>>
>>         * "Do you have children?" - Men, including me, in certain
>>           circumstances don't know...
>>         * "Monthly income" - Freelancers and criminals don't want to
>>           reveal this for obvious reasons.
>>         * "Gender" - Even this may cause problems incase of
>>           'transsexual' and 'transgender' (BTW those words are synonyms)
>>
>>
>>     Patio <http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Patio> 11:28, 13
>>     March 2011 (UTC)
>>
>>
>>
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