Gregory Maxwell wrote: > On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 10:32 AM, David Gerard wrote: > [snip] >> The first idea that springs to my mind is logging referers for article >> pages, if the referer is an article page on the same Wikipedia or >> [[Special:Search]]. >> >> 1. Is this technically feasible given our logging structure? > > Sure. > >> 2. Is there a privacy gotcha I'm ignoring? > [snip] > > The only leak I can think of is: > > Step 1. I accidentally paste confidential information into the go box > (you've never done this?) > > Step 2. I end up at non-existent article [[random confidential information]] > > Step 3. I browse back to the article about me. > > Probably best resolved resolved by not reporting infrequent referrers. > (Filtering by existing articles is computationally expensive)
You'd need to actually follow a link to the article about you, not just using the browser back button. Maybe if you choose the first link on the sidebar, it can get logged on the Main_Page referer's. It's more likely to happen if you actually follow a result link on the random confidential information results. So, if I paste, 'Pay $100000 to Gregory Maxwell for help hiding Osama bin Laden' and think, "they have an article about Greg! What will they tell?" And follow a link to [[Gregory Maxwell]], sure, that would get logged and we would find out. Not a privacy risk as big as publishing the searchs, but still a concern. PS: Expect the NSA to come at both our homes after ECHELON intercepts this email. _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
