I hope that this statement and clarifications will be translated to Arabic by the Foundation and published on the Foundation's social media pages.
On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 8:58 PM Nathan <nawr...@gmail.com> wrote: > It's interesting to see the lack of transparency attributed to the fact > that Wikimedia editing against ToS isn't akin to a crime. That juxtaposes > in a strange way with the news stories claiming that what drove Wikimedia's > action may be two members of the Wikimedia community who have been > sentenced to very long prison sentences for their contributions to > Wikimedia projects. > > For those who hadn't seen the press stories, see here for the article in > Ars Technica: > https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/01/wikipedia-admin-jailed-for-32-years-after-alleged-saudi-spy-infiltration/ > > I agree with the criticism in the Ars article of Wikimedia's response - > the objection to use of the phrase "high ranking" to describe admins, and > the claim that Wikimedia can't possibly know where any of these people > live. I don't see the value of including these in Wikimedia's response. > These are the types of distinctions that have some meaning inside our > little bubble, but very little outside. > > Lastly, I find the link in WMF's statement to the Board's BLP resolution > inapposite. As all editors will recognize, the resolution and its related > policies are entirely focused on project content and protecting the > subjects of that content from the messy process of editing. > > On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 1:27 PM Wikimedia Trust and Safety < > c...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > >> Hello everyone, >> >> Over the last couple of days, there have been several media reports about >> the Foundation’s most recent office action, taken on December 6 >> <https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/NJUOKYM2UTKFH53OKGIXW6OSEEDUI3AL/>. >> More are certain to follow. These media reports are based on a release from >> SMEX and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) that contains many >> material inaccuracies. Some of the errors will be obvious to our community >> - for perhaps the most obvious, the report states that the 16 users are all >> based in Saudi Arabia . This is unlikely to be the case. While we do not >> know where these volunteers actually reside, the bans of any volunteers who >> may have been Saudi were part of a much broader action globally banning 16 >> editors across the MENA region. Indeed, many of them are not active in the >> Arabic language projects. These organizations did not share the statement >> with the Foundation, and “sources of knowledge” as cited in their release >> can get things wrong. In addition, we do not have staff in the country >> named and never have, contrary to a message put out by the same groups on >> social media. >> >> As we noted in December in our statement, we are unable to discuss >> Foundation office actions in detail. The Foundation always lists >> accounts banned as a result of its investigations >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Global_Ban_Policy#List_of_global_bans_placed_by_the_Wikimedia_Foundation>. >> It is our goal to be as transparent as we can be within essential >> protection policies, which is why we do not ban in secret, but instead >> disclose accounts impacted and (when large numbers are involved) have >> disclosed the rationale. >> >> The roots of our December action stretch back over several years. We were >> initially contacted by outside experts who made us aware about concerns >> they had about Farsi Wikipedia. We can’t comment on that report right now, >> but it will be published by that organization soon. This report not only >> contributed to our August 23, 2021 modification of our non-disclosure >> agreement >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confidentiality_agreement_for_nonpublic_information&diff=21925066&oldid=21609723> >> to make it harder for rights-holders to be coerced, but led to further >> evaluation of issues across MENA. The December bans were the culmination of >> those evaluations. >> >> Wikimedia is, as mentioned above, an open knowledge platform, and it >> thrives on open participation. Investigations and global bans are not >> things that any of us take lightly, but the Foundation is committed to >> supporting the knowledge-sharing models that have created so many valuable >> information resources in hundreds of languages across the world. Our first >> line of defense of our Terms of Use >> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use#4._Refraining_from_Certain_Activities> >> are our volunteers themselves. Where issues present a credible threat of >> harm to our users and to the security of Wikimedia platforms, we will do >> the best we can to protect both. >> >> We trust and hope that our communities understand that misinformation >> about this action has the potential to cause harm to the individuals >> involved. We believe in the incredible value produced by our volunteers >> across the globe, but even so we recognize that being found in >> contravention of a website’s Terms of Use — even in a manner that >> organization finds serious enough to warrant a ban — is not the equivalent >> of being convicted of any crime. Accordingly, we ask you to please be >> conscious of the real people involved, in the spirit of our long >> established respect for living people on our sites >> <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Biographies_of_living_people>. >> We realize that it is tempting to speculate, but we do ask you all to >> recall that people’s employment options, their relationships, and even >> their physical safety may be compromised by speculation. >> >> If anyone feels unsafe on Wikimedia projects, please use the local >> community processes or contact us. The Foundation and community will work >> together or in parallel to enhance the safety of all volunteers. To contact >> the Trust & Safety team please email c...@wikimedia.org . >> >> Best regards, >> WMF Office/Trust and Safety >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/6IXJ7UQPFTLOC4YRUJNYUGHTXAN5ACVL/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/NIZAEHIB5EKCIAU5FIXDBO2DLBRGAOXY/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
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