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 /<[email protected]>/* wrote:
From: Mani Pande <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Translators-l] Wikipedia Editors Survey 2011
To: "Wikimedia Translators" <[email protected]>
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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