STAS 341/STAS 341/Wiki Technology/STAS 341/Wiki Technology/Privacy and Wikis

Privacy and Wikipedia
There are two broad issues related to privacy and Wikipedia: privacy for Wikipedia’s authors and privacy for Wikipedia’s subjects. This project will investigate each of these areas to determine what specific privacy issues relate to Wikipedia. Typically, issues of privacy are raised by those objecting to a breach of individuals’ privacy by some other individual or group. In addition to identifying those issues, we will investigate whether each concern over privacy is warranted or not. We will go further and ask whether the enforcement of privacy rules in certain cases can cause more harm than good. This project will also consider practical issues. In many cases a desired right to privacy may be impractical or so cumbersome to enforce as to render it impractical. Likewise, it may be impractical to enforce disclosure of personal information.

Wikipedia’s Authors
Most of the articles on Wikipedia can be edited in complete anonymity. Some articles may only be edited by established Wikipedia authors or administrators. However, this restriction does not completely enforce non-anonymous editing. Established Wikipedia authors will have had to consistently use the same account for a period of time in order to establish credibility; however, these authors can easily hide their true identities. This partial anonymity can allow a Wikipedia author to present false credentials while establishing credibility. An incident known as the “Essjay controversy” highlights this problem and will be investigated as case study. In general, this project will look at the various pros and cons of anonymity for Wikipedia’s authors and whether effective enforcement of true identity disclosure is possible or not.

Wikipedia’s Subjects
There are many issues relating to Wikipedia articles containing information about real people. So many that this project will almost certainly not be able to raise them all – even on a rudimentary level. Therefore, we will focus on two key issues related to the inclusion of information about real people in Wikipedia articles: defamation and the establishment of an individual as a “public figure”. Defamation of individuals on Wikipedia is a broad issue. Because of the nature of Wikipedia, the issue can theoretically affect anyone. This problem is of course exacerbated by the aforementioned issue of anonymous authorship. Defamation is one of the most serious issues facing Wikipedia. In fact, the prevention of defamation is one reason why Wikipedia’s directors have decided to change Wikipedia’s open editing policy for certain articles. In extreme cases, the incentive for an individual or group to defame a public figure, such as a politician, is so great that completely false information will be posted on Wikipedia. This broadens the concern over defamation to include concern over factual accuracy. The establishment of an individual as a public figure, by initiating an article on that person or by including information about that person in another article, is perhaps less serious in its impact on society as a whole than defamation; however, this issue may affect nearly anyone. This issue may or may not be related to the previous issue of defamation. We will ask whether this issue is a serious concern and whether it can be effectively addressed.