Hi Bernard
I understand fully what you are saying but let me put a slight perspective on 
this.

Since we do not Audit who comes on (in that I have a name and an email address 
and as you know as an IT guy know ... that is not proof of whom is on).  
If I get a request to put on Barack Obama <[email protected]>, I will gladly put 
them on ...... but then who is that person, is it the president of the US or is 
it someone with a sense of humor?

Thus the discussions then become "public" as the group is not private because 
we cannot tell for certain who all the people are.

An example ... Around the end of 2005 or begining of 2006 ... on another local 
list I run ... Our Security persons got on the list early and I did not know 
about it but found out YEARS later that they had (when someone on the list said 
something very inflammatory about the head of state of our country ... and what 
he said was very bad  and very wrong ... I would not have wanted it said about 
me). 

Now when I was hauled in ... by one of those Three Letter Organizations (as the 
List Admin) and taken to one of those lovely places (to help with 
investigations) .... one of the things I was asked for was for contacts (Real 
names) and addresses (physical) of each and every member on the list.

I could not give it (this was a fact as I did not know and could not match 
email addresses and REAL Names or Physical Locations) .... and would not have 
wanted to anyway as people who had kept quiet and never posted (the majority on 
all lists ... usually over 90% ) would have been caught up in a thing that they 
were only observers of.

Anyway I had a miserable few days (about two weeks) ...... but during those 
days found out that all info on the list had been doing the rounds for years in 
govt.  So it was essentially "public", not private.
Secondly ... I was forced to find a the real name and real physical location of 
the person who had said the nasty things ( and who had masqueraded themselves 
with a false name and matching email address) .... or else I would visit the 
mythical rooms with crocodiles :-)  
By the way ... very interesting thing ... you NEVER get given a chance to call 
your lawyer like they do in the movies. :-)

Anyway .... So I got to know that not all people on lists are honest (the 
security people were not honest and the person who said crap under an alias was 
not honest)....  
Secondly I got to know that the list was public (you just think its private 
because you know 10 -20 of the hundreds of people on the list ... and the ones 
you know are the vocal ones ....... not the silent ones so you think the 10% 
you hear are it .... yet over 90% are quiet ... just listening .... and reading 
..... and sometimes copying and passing it on to others via secondary email 
addresses). .....  So you have the illusion of privacy not the actual reality 
of it.


So if we move to make this list private  then we have to do some things ... For 
example ...... do we ask for scanned copies of passports or voting cards before 
allowing people on?
So we can match an email and a person ..... do we ask for phone numbers then 
call them and confirm?

Bernard ... think of this ... When the crocodiles are licking our toes as we 
are lowered from the ceiling (remember I know your Physical location so this 
time you will be with me in that room) ... what info do we hand over is what 
you should think about .... :-)

Seriously .... I am OK with either a private or a public list.
We should just ensure it is done properly.

Kiggs





On Oct 25, 2010, at 4:36 PM, Bernard Vigga wrote:

> Hi Kiggs,
>  
> Thanks for your reply.
>  
> I think my implied message to members is that, access to the archives be 
> granted to subscribers only, not the general public. I see no comments from 
> members except Robert Ejiku who seems to agree with me.
>  
> Regards,
> 
> From: Kiggundu Mukasa <[email protected]>
> To: A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile <[email protected]>
> Sent: Mon, October 25, 2010 4:24:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Privacy of Discussions on WestNileNet
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Bernard
> All mails were being publicly archived on
> 
> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
> 
> And that is stated at the bottom of all emails
> 
> They are archived according to date and topic
> 
> Kiggs
> 
> On Oct 25, 2010, at 12:38 PM, Bernard Vigga wrote:
> 
>> Dear Kiggs,
>>  
>> Hope you are doing well.
>>  
>> Thanks for hosting the WestNileNet discussions and if I say "Awadifo mini 
>> gunya gunya gunya" I believe by now you understand very well.
>>  
>> I just wanted to understand some issues to do with privacy of discussions on 
>> westnile Net.
>> Is access to the discussions on WestNileNet limited to subscribers only or 
>> anybody can access and read but posting is to subscribers only? I have tried 
>> accessing discussion archives from your servers at 
>> http://orion.kym.net/pipermail/westnilenet/ and it lets it out without 
>> requesting for identification. Or could I request that access to westnile 
>> net discussions be limited to subsribers only. Members what do you say?
>>  
>> Otherwise "we bale nnyo, we bale eddala"
>>  
>> Kind regards,
>>  
>>  
>> Bernard Vigga
>> 
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> 
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