Hi Pajz,

The idea that a previously trustworthy functionary or OTRS volunteer might
later go rogue has occurred to me, so let's work with that example for a
moment.

Let's hypothesize that we have a good way (>90% confidence) of verifying
all submitted identity documents and that those documents are retained by
WMF in a way that's highly secure and not likely to be accessible by any
number of governments (>90% confidence). Let's also hypothesize that a
steward has a mental breakdown, gets bribed, develops a personal grudge, or
otherwise becomes compromised. This rogue steward then uses their tools to
discover privacy sensitive information about a handful of other users
before their actions are noticed and stopped. What can WMF do with the
identity document that it has? WMF can take legal action against the rogue
steward, and can blacklist the rogue steward so that they can never again
be a functionary. Both of those sound like good ideas, although the first
might only work if the steward resides in a location which has an effective
law enforcement agency that is willing to cooperate with WMF.

However, it's not clear to me that we can reach 90% confidence about the
authenticity of identification documents, nor is it clear to me that we can
keep identification documents secure from privacy intrusions while they are
in transit and while they are in WMF's custody. I think the latter would be
a big worry for some potential candidates for functionary roles, and it is
imperative that WMF not be perceived as an agency of any government, or an
organization whose neutrality or integrity are compromised.

If you or someone else can suggest reasonable ways to reach 90% confidence
that identity documents are genuine and that identification information
will not be compromised while in transit or while at WMF, then I think it
makes sense to require identification. But so far I am not convinced that
we can reach either of those thresholds and it sounds like WMF has reached
the same conclusion.

Pine



On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 7:45 AM, Austin Hair <adh...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sun, Jun 29, 2014 at 4:18 PM, Trillium Corsage
> <trillium2...@yandex.com> wrote:
> > (I dunno, Chinese military intelligence, with whom arbitrator Timotheus
> Canens is said by some to be associated?)
>
> Seriously?
>
> I think you've gone on long enough for now. You can come off
> moderation when you contribute something to the discussion rather than
> attacking others and, dare I say it, just plain ranting.
>
> Austin
>
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