Good to hear about privacy being maintained. Are there efforts to move to OSM eventually?
J On Tue, Mar 14, 2017 at 6:18 PM, Joshua Minor <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > My name is Josh Minor, and I am the Product Manager for the Wikipedia iOS > app. I wanted to speak to a couple specific issues and misunderstandings > raised by this email thread. > > First, please take a look at > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service which > provides some background on this decision. Jonatan linked to it, and it > covers several of the concerns raised on the thread and gives our > reasoning. I'd also suggest subscribing to this ticket: > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T157763 which Jonatan filed, and where > you can track efforts and issues with replacement maps. > > A few clarifying points: > > 1. The Places tab[1], and its use of Apple’s maps tiles, is not part of the > articles or article display, it is a navigational aid to help you find > articles. This doesn’t mean it’s exempt from considerations raised here, > but just want to clarify that this is not about editor created maps in > projects, but rather an app-specific discovery mechanism. > > 2. The feature doesn’t violate our privacy policy[2] and was reviewed by > Wikimedia Foundation's Legal department before entering beta. The App’s > access to the users’ geolocation to recommend nearby articles, with the > users’ explicit consent, is already part of both apps. The new feature > merely adds a different way to visually view nearby articles - the user > must, as before, still provide explicit consent for the App to access their > geolocation. Users can always turn on or off the provision of their > geolocation via their iPhone location settings. > > The feature also makes requests to Apple’s map tile servers for display on > the App. These tiles may or may not be near the actual location of the > user. It doesn’t involve sending Apple the articles you read or anything > about your Wikipedia usage. Apple has public statements and documentation > to explain[3] how their maps service preserves privacy by using a > randomized and frequently changing device ID to request the maps, by not > tracking users over time, and by not building map usage profiles of users. > Overall, Apple’s data collection practices are governed by their privacy > policy [4], which users must agree to order to use their iPhones. > > We plan to further expand the explanation in the FAQ/privacy section of the > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service page > in > the next day or so. > > 3. As stated by others on this thread, the issue at hand is the feasibility > and usability of a libre maps tile server, and impacts on users and how it > reflects (or doesn’t) the values of Wikimedians. The rest of the work on > this feature (such as the time spent on search, visually clustering items > on the map, a list view of nearby landmarks, and the Wikipedia article > pins) will be applicable, independent of the map provider. In fact, I’d > estimate the engineer doing the work spent more time on hacking to try to > make a combination of MapBox and Wikimedia tiles work, than he did/will on > integrating/removing Apple maps. > > 4. This feature was announced on the Wikimedia Blog[5], described in an > initial MediaWiki.org page[6], all work was documented and tracked on > Phabricator (including an initial tech investigation, the request to remove > Apple Maps during development, and the overall feature[7]) and then the > decision to push into beta with Apple Maps further documented on > MediaWiki.org[8]. > > In conclusion, I would like to thank you for the feedback and the > opportunity to engage in a civil discussion about these important issues. > Again, if you are interested in the next steps, I’d invite you to subscribe > and comment on the phab ticket https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T157763 > or > the MediaWiki.org page. > > [1] Design specification: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T130889 > [2] > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/ > Maps_service#Privacy > [3] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203033, > https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207056, > http://www.apple.com/privacy/approach-to-privacy/ > [4] http://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy/ > [5] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/06/17/wikipedia-mobile/ > [6] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Nearby > [7] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/ios-app-feature-places/ > [8] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS/Maps_service > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
