IDNwiki:Privacy policy
From IDNwiki
Summary
When you read the material on the IDNwiki, the information that is typically is collected for Web server logs will be recorded about your visit.
If you contribute material to the IDNwiki, you are publishing every word you post publicly. If you write something, assume that it will be retained forever. This includes articles, user pages and talk pages. Some limited exceptions are described below.
Publishing on the IDNwiki and public data
Simply visiting the IDNwiki does not expose your identity publicly (but see private logging below).
When you edit any page in the IDNwiki, you are publishing a document. This is a public act, and you are identified publicly with that edit as its author (although you may elect for this to be under a pseudonym).
Reliability of published data
Anyone can modify the content of anything that appears on the IDNwiki, and the information found here can therefore be unreliable. Information you post may be edited or removed by ICANN or other users. The volunteer moderators of the IDNWiki will monitor all pages and attempt to remove inaccurate or off-topic material, but all information on the IDNWiki is offered without any warranty. Please do not rely on any information on this site without consulting independent professional advice. Pages are subject to being vandalized. Neither ICANN nor the moderators are responsible for any inaccurate or libelous content on these pages.
Identification of an author
In order to publish a page in the IDNwiki, you must normally be logged in.
If you are logged in, you will be identified by your user name. This may be your real name if you so choose, or you may publish under a pseudonym; whatever user name you selected when you created your account. If your account was created on your behalf by an administrator, the information submitted together with that request will be retained by ICANN but not made public.
In all cases, your IP address (the numerical address of the computer from which you are contacting the IDNwiki) will be stored on the IDNwiki servers and can be seen by ICANN's server administrators and by users who have been granted "CheckUser policy" access. Your IP address, and its connection to any usernames that share it may be released under certain circumstances (see below).
Cookies
The IDNwiki will set a temporary session cookie whenever you visit the site. If you do not intend ever to log in, you may deny this cookie, but you cannot log in without it. It will be deleted when you close your browser session.
More cookies may be set when you log in, to avoid typing your user name (or optionally password) on your next visit. These last up to 30 days. You may clear these cookies after use if you are using a public machine and don't wish to expose your username to future users of the machine. (If so, clear the browser cache as well.)
Passwords
User passwords are the only guarantee of the integrity of a user's edit history. All users are encouraged to select strong passwords and to never share them. No one shall knowingly expose the password of another user to public release either directly or indirectly.
Private logging
Every time you access any material via the Web, a great deal of information is sent to the Web server. Most servers routinely maintain access logs with a portion of this information, which can be used to get an overall picture of what pages are popular, what other sites link to this one, and what Web browsers people are using. It is not the intention of the IDNwiki project to use this information to keep track of legitimate users.
These logs may be used to produce publicly available pages with site statistics but the raw log data will not be made public.
Here is a sample of what is currently logged when a single IDNwiki page is viewed:
199.7.85.10 - - [27/Sep/2007:04:21:54 -0700] "GET /IDNwiki:Privacy_policy HTTP/1.0" 200 25711
Log data may be examined by the site administrators in the course of solving technical problems. IP addresses of users, derived either from logs or from records in the database are frequently used to correlate usernames and network addresses of edits in investigating abuse of the IDNwiki, including the suspected use of malicious "sockpuppets" (duplicate accounts), vandalism, harassment of other users, or other disruptive action.
Policy on release of data derived from page logs
Personally identifiable data collected in the server logs or through records in the database via the CheckUser feature, may be released by the system administrators in the following situations:
- In response to a valid subpoena or other compulsory request from law enforcement.
- With permission of the affected user.
- To ICANN legal counsel when necessary for investigation of abuse complaints.
- Where the information pertains to page views generated by a spider or bot and its dissemination is necessary to illustrate or resolve technical issues.
- Where it is reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of ICANN, its constituencies, or the public.
ICANN does not permit public distribution of such information under any circumstances, except as described above.
Sharing information with third parties
ICANN will not share private information, such as email addresses, with third parties, unless you agree to release this information, or its release is required by law.
Security of information
ICANN makes no guarantee against unauthorized access to any information you provide. This information may be available to anyone with access to the servers.
You may provide your e-mail address in your Preferences and enable other logged-in users to send e-mail to you through the IDNwiki. Your address will not be revealed to them unless you respond, or possibly if the e-mail bounces.
If you do not provide an e-mail address, you will not be able to reset your password if you forget it. However, you may contact one of the IDNwiki administrators to enter a new e-mail address in your preferences.
You can remove your e-mail address from your preferences at any time to prevent it being used.
User data
Data about users, such as the times at which they edited and the number of edits they have made are publicly available via "user contributions" lists, and in aggregated forms published by other users.
Deletion of content
Removing text from the IDNwiki does not permanently delete it. In normal articles, anyone can look at a previous version and see what was there. If an article is "deleted", any user with "administrator" access to the IDNwiki can see what was deleted. Information can be permanently deleted from the database by people with access to the servers, but there is no guarantee this will happen except in response to legal action.
