Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Identification
2007: Age limit?
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2007)
Should there be an 18 year old age minimum on arbitrators due to the sensitive information arbitrators have access to, as well as the potential access to the checkuser tool? Currently there is not, however given the gravity of the position I believe that it is sensible to include one. ⇒SWATJester Son of the Defender 05:37, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
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Why does everyone associate checkuser with arbcom? It's oversight that is given out, not checkuser. If the candidate is not old enough, they don't get it. If they are they do. Simple as that. 82.19.15.225 16:11, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
AnonEMouse, you don't seem to understand the reasoning behind my argument. It has absolutely nothing to do with maturity, and everything to do with being of the legal age of majority. A person under 18 years old should not be given access to sensitive information that may involve legal action by the foundation. Checkuser is one of those things. So is ArbCom email list content. See Access to nonpublic data policy, which states that users must be personally identified to the foundation, including proof that such user is at least 18 and explicitly over the age at which they are capable to act without the consent of their parent in the jurisdiction in which they reside. For indemnification purposes, we need our arbitrators to be 18. It's got nothing to do with their maturity level; immature candidates simply aren't going to be elected. ⇒SWATJester Son of the Defender 18:09, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
As a candidate in the election myself, I am reluctant to say too much on this page, but I suppose I can comment here briefly. I see no need or reason to impose a minimum age criterion for arbitrators. The Foundation policy restricting checkuser and oversight (and previously, steward) positions to those aged 18 or over is understandable, but still it represents a derogation from our guiding principle that all editors have equal rights and opportunities, and its application should not be expanded further. I believe the difference between an editor who is legally a minor exercising sole discretion over whether to access non-public checkuser data, and his or her participating in group decision-making as part of a committee of 15, is sufficient to distinguish the two positions. I would also strongly urge that unless it were somehow found to be absolutely legally necessary, which it should not be, the rules should not be substantially changed in the middle of the election. Newyorkbrad 11:55, 14 November 2007 (UTC)
Just a note on current practice: the Committee currently operates with the understanding that all members are eligible for access to restricted data under the Foundation policy, and such data is therefore openly shared. Kirill 04:12, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
If imposing an age restriction is being seriously considered, then I would like to provide a great deal more input. Is this the appropriate place to do so? Newyorkbrad 11:19, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
Actually, I could say quite a lot about this matter, and probably shall, but before I do so, I would like to understand more specifically what is the concern about having an arbitrator who is a minor exposed to this particular information. I understand there is a Foundation resolution and policy, but I have never been quite clear on exactly what the age-restriction aspect of the resolution was supposed to accomplish. I can intuit the purpose, particularly as applied to checkusers, but it's really never been spelled out with any clarity, and therefore I concede that I may be missing something. (And I can actually think or at least one rationale on my own that is stronger than I have seen articulated by anyone else, even though it is not dispositive.) So I will ask it directly: From the point of view of either the Foundation or the Arbitration Committee, what specifically is the concern raised by the prospect of an arbitrator who is a minor having access to the information in question (especially, not even in the context of deciding whether to run a checkuser himself or herself, but in the context of having the information from the mailing list to consider in decision-making). Please note that "conformity with the Foundation resolution" is not an answer to this question, because the issue now presented is whether this community chooses to construe the resolution broadly or narrowly, a decision that must be informed by understanding the purposes the Foundation policy is intended to serve. If it were my decision, I would require a very powerful showing of reasons to believe that that having a minor as one member of the 15-member Arbitration Committee could raise problems for the Foundation or the encyclopedia, before I would be prepared to narrow the spectrum of the community from whom arbitrators can be drawn, or overrule the strong policy of this community in support of recognizing equal rights, obligations, and opportunities for every Wikipedian. Newyorkbrad 15:56, 15 November 2007 (UTC)
My interpretation of the Foundation's "Access to nonpublic data policy", would prohibit sharing any such restricted data with an underage arbiter (Newyorkbrad are you suggesting that this interpretation is incorrect?) An arbiter would be unable to do their job responsibly under such a restriction. Paul August ☎ 21:54, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
Question on disclosure of identity, and permissionsedit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2007) Related to that above discussion on age, you need to apparently be "legal age" to have Checkuser or get an exemption, but I'm curious if the arbiters have to disclose their identities (to Wikipedia's community, to Jimmy Wales, or to the ArbCom overall)? Or, are they anonymous as well? I assume if they are anonymous it just means that they wouldn't have access to the extra tools like Checkuser or Oversight, but could still serve as arbiters. Thanks! • Lawrence Cohen 19:56, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
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2007: Ruling on age limit
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2007)
It is the considered consensus of the Arbitration Committee that our working practices are incompatible with having a minor as a member of the Committee, and that any changes to facilitate this would be impractical and severely damage the effectiveness of the Arbitrators.
Specifically, a minor could not take part in discussion of or even be shown privileged information, including that sourced from the CheckUser and OverSight tools, without violating the confines of the Foundation's privacy policy and related terms which govern our practices. This is a significant part of the work of the Committee, and would result in, at best, a two-tier Arbitration Committee with some members unable to participate in, or even be aware of, most of the activity.
We understand that this will be a disappointment to several widely-respected members of the English Wikipedia community who would otherwise run, and accept that we have spent too long confirming 'officially' that this is the case.
Yours,
James F. (talk) 23:00, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
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CommentseditIt will be a disappointment. I believe the next appropriate step is to notify those users of this decision and withdraw their nominations with appreciation for their effort after obtaining their feedback. I'm changing the wording of the election instructions to include this decision, so all users are aware. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 23:20, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
It is good that we have a clarification on this issue, but my personal view is that this change is not necessary or desirable. Newyorkbrad (talk) 23:47, 19 November 2007 (UTC)
I was under the impression that the Arbitration Committee members were appointed by Jimbo (based, at his discretion, on the "election" results.) Shouldn't it be he who decides what the qualifications are? Of course, the committee can make a recommendation to Jimbo, but that does not appear to be what is happening here. 6SJ7 (talk) 02:13, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
This does seem to make sense, given the growing number of arbitration cases that have involved private checkuser results, oversight information, etc. Another question: Will ArbCom members have to identify themselves to Bastique/the Foundation prior to or after the election, to confirm their age? Ral315 » 06:01, 20 November 2007 (UTC) Section breakedit
I still do not see that this policy serves any necessary purpose as applied to membership on an arbitration committee, and other than pointing to the words of the resolution (which so far as I can tell was not adopted with this issue in mind one way or the other), no one has publicly identified one. Newyorkbrad (talk) 16:25, 20 November 2007 (UTC) |
2007: Two-tier Arbitration Committee
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2007)
- Also, there is the question of whether the Wikipedia community would accept "a two-tier Arbitration Committee with some members unable to participate in, or even be aware of, most of the activity." Personally, I would be fine with Messedrocker and Cbrown1023 having limited access to non-public information as I think their decisions would be just as valid. If the Arbitration Committee's practices are dictated by the Arbitration Committee and those up the food chain, I would be happy to accept this. However, as far as I am aware, Wikipedia always has operated off open consensus and the decision to permit minors on the Arbitration Committee seems to be one for which an open consensus would have been more appropriate approach. -- Jreferee t/c 16:41, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
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How does this relate to my question about disclosure of identity? Without that, how would you verify age? Or would those arbiters that can't/don't simply not have access to run their own Checkusers and Oversight, but serve otherwise? Or does this mean that all arbiters have to disclose identities after all? Sorry I am confused. • Lawrence Cohen 17:47, 20 November 2007 (UTC)
I believe Jreferee has established valid points based on his interpretations. I still believe that the ArbCom made the correct determination, however, we won't find a resolution unless either the Foundation, through one of its members or representatives, Cary, or Jimbo address this. Otherwise, we risk having serious confusion and disagreements in the election process, or worse: disenfranchisement. - Mtmelendez (Talk) 01:25, 21 November 2007 (UTC)
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2008: Timeline - Calling the question
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2008/Archive 2)
- Don't forget there will need to be sufficient time between announcement and commencement to allow for identification to the Foundation. --bainer (talk) 01:29, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
- Last year, winners were announced on the 26th, and I know of no problems with getting the proper identifications in place before the 1st. It might be simpler to remove that date, since it is not binding on Jimbo at all - and we would trust that he would approve the winners with sufficient time remaining in the year to identify themselves. The other option, if there is some delay, would be to seat the arbitrators only when they are confirmed to have properly identified themselves. Since new arbs don't hop in on old cases, the only issue would be if we got a new case in that first week of the year. UltraExactZZ Claims ~ Evidence 12:21, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
2008: Identification
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2008/Archive 2)
There is a good chance that any person wishing to sit for Arbcom may need to identify to WMF. Of course the majority of Arbitrators do, but at present it is not a requirement that a user will do so. I think this is unavoidable, and worth raising prior to nominations. I've raised it on arbcom-l also. ...[snip, see below]... FT2 (Talk | email) 16:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
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Access to non-public data is governed by the Foundation's Access to nonpublic data policy. It contains the following provisions:
It is already agreed (WT:ACE2007#Ruling on age limit) that users standing must meet the age requirement for non-public data. Rationale for the belief that identification is unavoidable is in that thread, and also as follows:
Proposal: Identification as a prerequisiteedit[Forked into separate section for navigation.] Quite so. Additionally: the only argument against pre-identification is that it's a waste of time to have every candidate identify. Cary has already stated that he's fine with folks identifying before; from that point of view, that rationalisation is somewhat moot. I move to make pre-identification a prerequisite for running this year right here and now. Anthøny (talk) 19:27, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
Does it actually matter if the identification is received before or after? As long as it's received some time between nominating, and say, a week after the new Arbitrators are announced, it shouldn't be an issue, should it? As someone said, it's a waste of time dealing with IDs for people who run but aren't successful. -- How do you turn this on (talk) 21:52, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
I think that identification beforehand is a good thing (disclaimer: I made no secret of my intent to run, and I obviously have no problem with this), because:
In all fairness, there are drawbacks as well:
I think that the workload to identify the candidates is a red herring; not only has Carey already confirmed that it is not a problem in itself. So the end result is that the primary factor is that some people will have their identities known to the Foundation who otherwise would not; but if they were sincerely being on the ArbCom, then they were necessarily prepared to have that information known. Given the fact that the Foundation takes privacy very seriously (as has been amply and regularly demonstrated in the past) then I can't think of a reason why we'd not streamline the election process by starting the identification at nomination time. — Coren (talk) 23:51, 18 October 2008 (UTC)
No. Abcom is in theory at least chosen by the community. If the community choses someone who isn't prepared to identify that is it's choice.Geni 13:16, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
I think the appropriateness of requiring advance identification depends in part on how many candidates there are. If there are 10 candidates for 6 or 7 positions, it would be perfectly reasonable to ask everyone to identify. If there are 50 candidates, it would probably be excessive to ask the Office to verify more than 40 extra people, even though Cary has indicated that he is willing to do so. If we don't go with advance identification, then it will be simple enough for someone to post a question to all the candidates: "Are you willing to identify yourself to the Foundation Office immediately upon being elected?" Anyone who doesn't answer that question with a yes isn't going to be elected anyway. Newyorkbrad (talk) 17:33, 19 October 2008 (UTC)
FWIW, Jimbo has restated that he will not appoint someone who has not identified to him or the Foundation, but that he sees "no reason to bother" identifying beforehand. Given that there are privacy implications to requiring the identification of all candidates, and that the change in procedure is not clearly undisputed, I'm changing my position to "Meh, it would have been a good idea but I'm not deadset about it." :-) — Coren (talk) 03:07, 20 October 2008 (UTC) It is my belief that an individual project can make more stringent requirements for things like access to data (and many other things) than the foundation, but it cannot make less stringent requirements, the WMF requirements are a floor. So a project could (if such consensus were demonstrable) require that candidates have the first name Brad, or be ineligible to hold office. There are many projects already that impose more stringent requirements than mandated on things such as how CU checks are carried out, or who can be a CU. This strikes me as no different. I think a commitment that one WILL identify to the foundation if elected is an absolutely reasonable one to ask of candidates. I think candidates should be allowed to identify in advance if they so wish, and if Cary's willing to process them, great. (Note that to run for steward you are supposed to self identify in advance, not after. Note also that I am not necessarily saying that a committee that had only Brads on it would be a good thing... Or am I?) ++Lar: t/c 04:46, 20 October 2008 (UTC) |
2008: Nomination instructions
edit(copied from Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2008/Candidate statements)
- Candidates who are appointed to the Committee will be required—without exception—to identify to the Wikimedia Foundation before taking their seats. Therefore a willingness to identify should you be appointed is a criterion for candidates in this year's election. Background: WT:ACE2007#Ruling on age limit. [10]
2008: What people in the WMF will get to see the new arb's names?
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2008/Archive 3)
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I wasn't sure where to put this but was just wondering which individuals in particular get to see the real names of the new arbs? As obviously prospective arbs might have their own opinions of the individuals concerned and that might effect whether they stand or not. I know that in general doubts about their personal info possibly getting out into the real world or something, are unfortunately causing some people not to stand. Sticky Parkin 00:43, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
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- They need to send a valid drivers license, a passport, or other acceptable identification (including real name, address and date of birth) to Cary Bass. He then adds the people to the Identification Noticeboard. They don't need to make any of this data public, and only Cary (to my knowledge) has access to the database of identification paperwork itself. Just to emphasise: they don't need to make public any information at all, however they do need to send the identification to Cary Bass, and Cary only. Daniel (talk) 02:36, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
2009: Upcoming ArbCom "advisory" election
edit(copied from User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_50#Upcoming_ArbCom_.22advisory.22_election)
... [snip]
- Yes. I intend to keep the size of the ArbCom the same, unless there are compelling arguments offered now and with majority support of the sitting ArbCom. And second, I intend to form a new review committee composed of former arbs and checkusers, tasked specifically with doing "background checks" on the winning candidates for sockpuppets, past bad behavior, etc. Their reports will be the only thing that I would consider legitimate as a reason to not appoint, that is to say, I want my "appoint" role to be purely ceremonial this time around. And third, I will insist that all ArbCom members identify to the Foundation before taking office. I have discussed some of the details of this with ArbCom but haven't yet gotten around to reaching a final conclusion about the details - and I welcome input.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 15:09, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
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...[snip]
"tasked specifically with doing "background checks" on the winning candidates for sockpuppets" This is TOTALLY against CU policy, ie, CU is not for fishing. — Rlevse • Talk • 19:53, 10 September 2009 (UTC)
Jimbo: would the review committee be tasked with anything else? Such as allegations of inappropriate conduct by sitting arbitrators? The lack of any independent review body may have contributed to several problems, such as arbcom list leaks and a few rather bad spurts of drama. Durova315 01:43, 11 September 2009 (UTC)
←Thanks, Roger (e.c.). Jimbo said this, at the link provided by Matt:
No interim election was held, despite further falls in numbers by three, through misadventure and resignation: that's 18 down to 14. May I put to you that greater certainty, stability and community involvement need to be built into the system? The second ArbCom policy draft, promulgated some months ago—and due for updating to the third draft "by September 15"—includes these significant provisions that have a bearing on the discussion above:
These matters need to be sorted out urgently—certainly before the start of the electoral process in December. In addition, the Duties and responsibilities at the opening of the second draft clarify that ArbCom's role is not one of governance, but that of the peak magistracy of the project. Arbitrator Vandenberg confirmed this here. The point is that voters should know whether they are probing and electing candidates whose skill-set matches that required by a judicial body alone, or whether the skills appropriate to wider governance (which can't help but be political) should be at issue when they form their judgments. Tony (talk) 08:54, 11 September 2009 (UTC) |
2009: Nomination instructions
edit(copied from Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2009/Candidate statements)
- Criteria for running
- Editors must be either 18 years of age or older, or of legal age in their place of residence, whichever is higher, and will be required to identify to the Wikimedia Foundation before taking their seats.
2010: Statement regarding identification to WMF
edit(copied from Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard)
As the community staff member responsible for verification, I have been asked to post the WMF procedure for verifying identification that is provided to us for the purpose of access to restricted tools and elections.
Identification that is faxed to WMF with my attention on it is brought immediately to me. Identification that is emailed to the secure-info email address is accessible to only two people: myself and my designee, Megan Hernandez (who is a community officer, currently assigned to our fundraising department). I selected her as my designee because of my deep trust in her judgment (in fundraising she has access to all manner of confidential material, and I've seen the great care with which she handles it). All employees who handle this information, myself included, were subject to background checks.
Once we verify that the identification is for someone who is of legal age we update the Identification Noticeboard, and any physical copies are shredded; any virtual copies are removed from the mailbox and destroyed. WMF does not retain copies of emails in that box, nor is that box accessible to anyone else.
To the best of my knowledge, this represents both the current and past procedures for handling this data. I am unaware of any other procedure, and can't imagine a situation in which the Foundation would mandate that this information be kept or disclosed. In fact, if I were ordered to disclose any such information, I would not do so. Though I know the real names of many editors, I make it a personal policy to not address them using that name unless given permission to do so, or until introduced to them using that name. Both Megan and I have the highest regard for personal privacy.
Respectfully submitted,
Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 07:02, 22 November 2010 (UTC)
2010: Nomination instructions
edit(copied from Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2010/Candidates)
- Eligibility criteria
- To stand as a candidate, an editor must have:
- made at least 1,000 edits (including deleted edits) to the English Wikipedia article namespace as of 00:01 UTC on 14 November 2010.
- be at least 18 years of age and of legal age in their place of residence.[note]
- be willing and able to identify to the Wikimedia Foundation before taking their seat.[note]
2010: Identification information page
edit(copied from Wikipedia talk:Arbitration Committee/Noticeboard/Archive 13)
I saw the large mess above and couldn't find any project-space page explaining the identification process, so I wrote one at Wikipedia:Identification. --MZMcBride (talk) 04:01, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
2010: Someone asked me to be really clear on this
edit(copied from User talk:Jimbo Wales)
The rules of this election are clear. Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2010/Candidates. One of the rules, not written by me, says candidates must "be willing and able to identify to the Wikimedia Foundation before taking their seat." I am not empowered to make appointments in explicit contravention of policy. Therefore, I will appoint candidates to ArbCom who are eligible for appointment only upon their identification to the Foundation. Any future discussion about this should be focused on whether that policy should change, not on what I should do, because I've already said what I am going to do - I will follow policy.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 12:47, 1 December 2010 (UTC)