Forum:SH:Privacy policy updating

This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments or questions on this topic should be made in a new Senate Hall page rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record. C4-DE Bot (talk) 19:35, 12 April 2024 (UTC)
Forums > Senate Hall archive > SH:Privacy policy updating

I was recently scrolling through the privacy policy and was struck by it needing some updates. It also seemed kinda weirdly structured, so took a crack at it. Most of this is restructuring, and I'm pretty certain nothing was removed in any form other than shifting it to somewhere new. A diff link can be found here. But also, do let me know if there's anything else to be fiddled with; it's a good time as any to spruce it up.

Also, this Senate Hall is quite long. The primary reason why all the changes are very definably listed below is so that it's clear exactly what went where, due to section restructuring, and ensuring that the community can easily pinpoint things. I also intend to split this into a three-part CT—for cleanup, additions, and removals. It can definitely be further split for anything there's a concurring disagreement about.

Changes list by type:

General cleanup

  1. Adding an intro.
  2. Updating link to Fandom's privacy policy (now slightly separate from their terms of use on a dedicated page). Also noting that our local policy runs pursuant to that policy, as Fandom's would take precedent over ours if they conflict in the future. This is done because we're not always aware of when they change said policy, and no notification is generally given; but since they do run the site, their policy will always trump ours legally speaking.
  3. Adding numbered points for a lot of the sections to improve readability.
  4. Moving "Cookies" and "Security of information" to be a point each under "General information" because they're only a sentence or so per and thus can save people scrolling. The wording is exactly the same.
  5. Minor formatting and grammar issues. Some additional bolding added.
  6. Moving information relevant to people only browsing Wookieepedia to the top for casual readers to get a glance at without having to read everything. Information pertaining to "contributors"—defined as anyone who has edited Wookieepedia under an account or IP—is below.
  7. Cleaning up the double-sentence redundancy of "don't share your password."
  8. If not mentioned below as an addition or removal, has not been altered.

Additions

  1. Social media section: Defining to individuals who interact with social media accounts a) who can view their messages b) that their messages will not be shared without their consent c) in such a case in which a Star Wars creator actively wants their messages to be used as a citation, defines that they must be informed that the messages sent will be screenshotted and uploaded if they consent, which will then be viewable to anyone looking at Wookieepedia and d) in select circumstances and with the express consent of the individual, messages can be shared with the administration for the purposes of coordination a collaborative project, giveaway, or other such event.
    Why: Individuals often speak with us via social media for giveaways or other purposes and may have to give their address or other information for such. Other conversations for setting up interviews or other initiatives can include email addresses or other contact information, much of which for Star Wars contributors can be considered private and privledged information. Thus, codifying that we will not release their DMs without their express consent is a must.
  2. Updating to say that Fandom does now allow users to rename their account once, as it had previously stated it was impossible.
  3. Added that users can request a bot run to purge instances of their previous username (to be changed to their current one).
  4. Specified the admin noticeboard and Discord as avenues for requests for RevisionDeletion, but also included a link to Fandom's contact for inquiries of the same type in the case that a user would prefer for Fandom to handle said matter instead of us.
  5. Noting in prose that certain administrators can be granted CheckUser and how that is done (currently via CT, though this can be amended if we ever choose to do so differently). Also included is a link of how to see in ListUsers who currently has the tool.
  6. Specified that administrators are able to view deleted revisions (in addition to deleted pages); I'm not sure when this was changed on Fandom's end or whether an oversight in this policy's initial draft, but we [admins] do technically have the ability to, which people should be aware of.

Removed:

  1. " at the discretion of the administrator who discovers the violation" from the clause forbidding personal information. This could be abused—if action via blocking policy is under the sole discretion of the administrator who discovers it or it is reported to, then that administrator can choose to ignore and not ban someone for that. Much better to just say it falls under the blocking policy so that any administrator can ban off it, even if whoever discovers it (for whatever reason) won't.
    The clause would instead read: "Disclosing personal information of another person without their explicit and public consent is forbidden, whether on the site, in public Wookieepedia Discord channels, or within other site climes. Violation will result in standard application of the blocking policy and deletion of said personal information."

TLDR: rearranging a bunch of stuff but more or less leaving it the same, including a social media section, general factual updates like how to rename your account, and removing a slightly abusive clause about admins.—spookywillowwtalk 03:17, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

Discussion

  • Amazing. Sorry to be picky, but there are a few more things I've found while reviewing the proposals. 1) I further suggest that "RevisionDeletion" be pipelinked to Wookieepedia:Deletion policy#RevisionDelete, assuming the deletion policy overhaul passes, and that the "Deletion of content" section uses {{Main|Wookieepedia:Deletion policy}}. 2) "not affiliated with Fandom, Inc" may also be removed cos we do have some Wookieepedians who are affiliated with Fandom. 3) "If requested via the Administrators' noticeboard or on the Wookieepedia Discord" also seems to limit users' options in contacting BCs in private.

    4) One major point I want to make is that it is unnecessary and potentially misleading to document general website data protection/collection aspects that are entirely at the hands of Fandom and the respective laws of each country. We, the Wookieepedia community, are not a legal party, and all relevant legal responsibilities lie with individual users and Fandom as the website's host, so I think the "Browsing Wookieepedia" and "COPPA provision (users under 13 years old)" sections should be removed entirely. OOM 224 (he/him) 09:35, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
    • Regarding 4), I see your point, but shouldn't we at least mention what you said about where the legal responsibilities lie somewhere within the policy? NanoLuukeCloning Facility 15:32, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
      • To be fair, the top of the page does say we're now pursuant to the Fandom privacy policy (which in the years since, is now its own page and not a subsection of the ToU specifically). So I suppose this is all 'in addition to' in a way. I did do all of the above; but took the line about how we don't claim responsibility for the accuracy of the info and shoved it below, as that part specifically seemed worth keeping.—spookywillowwtalk 15:57, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
  • Another great job, spooky. Regarding username change through bots, may I suggest adding a link to Wookieepedia:Bot requests and also mention this can be done over Discord? Social Media rules 3 might overlap with the future rewrite of the Interview policy (since I intent to cover all types of interaction with authors, not just interviews), but for the moment I'm good with this. NanoLuukeCloning Facility 15:32, 12 March 2024 (UTC)
    • Link added. And, yes—perhaps. Though recently I've wondered if we even need a interview policy on its own at all, it might be much better off as a subsection of a future Wookieepedia:Social Media Team page, since it'll need one as a voted position at some point. Mainly because it's just so bureaucratic the way it is now, and there's a lot of modern era specifics dealing with creators such as publicists and press lists and etc. that would much better have that all documented on how SMT members are expected to operate once Lucasfilm approves interview requests. To then have the old interview policy entirely retired but still around to note that it was how we governed interviews up until X date. That is a somewhat irrelevant topic to the privacy policy, but definitely something I've been mulling about.—spookywillowwtalk 15:57, 12 March 2024 (UTC)