Privacy law

[Flemingovia]

One of the issues that comes up again and again is that of privacy, especially in a culture where IRC is routinely logged and forum comments are

I was wondering if in TNP we need to spell out more clearly what is private and what is not?

For example, we have the culture that IRC logs from #tnp are private, and may only be reproduced with the permission of ALL those present.

That seems odd to me. #tnp is a public channel, and insisting on privacy is a bit like going into the middle of Trafalgar Square and shouting news, then demanding nobody repeats it.

I would say that posting logs from an open channel is not unreasonable.

Private chat is a different matter, especially when you have agreed to privacy at the commencement of the chat.

What do others think about the limits of privacy?

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

I've moved this thread to the RA's Preliminary Discusssions subforum where it is more appropriate.

The IRC question is problematic.

The main #tnp channel may be public, but meetings and side conversations are not (access tends to be limited to those invited to participate), and those seem to be intended to be private. The forum rules currently require consent to reproduce transcripts of IRC that were intended to be private.
The use of personal messages is already covered by forum policies, and I think it is already an appropriate balance between privacy and publicity.

 

[Great Bights Mum]

I like to think of the IRC as our virtual Vegas. What happens on the IRC stays on the IRC. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to post comments I might make about stinky delegates, persons suffering from "short man's syndrome," or inappropriate characterizations of anyone's mother.

 

[Romanoffia (Guest)]

Who actually owns #TNP? I mean, who is it registered to?

Usually, there are actual laws/TOS involving the use of chat transcripts set by the IRC server provider.

 

[Eluvatar]

Who actually owns #TNP? I mean, who is it registered to?

Usually, there are actual laws/TOS involving the use of chat transcripts set by the IRC server provider.

Flemingovia is the owner of #tnp.

 

[Grosseschnauzer]

Appendix 3: Personal Messages

In order to respect the privacy of our members, the moderation team has agreed on the following guideline:

"You may not post personal messages in a public area of the forum without the author's permission.

Members of the government, Administrators, and Moderators may post PMs (without prior permission) in secure areas of the forum in order to perform the duties of their office, for matters of regional security, or for moderation evidence."

If a PM is posted and the original author objects to a moderator, the PM will be removed from the post, unless it clearly falls within the exceptions listed. If you believe you are being harassed by the PM system, please forward the PM in question to a moderator and the issue will be dealt with. Thank you.

We could develop either a law or a forum policy about IRC. As I recall, #tnp did have a policy about prohibiting reproducing chat transcripts without permission of the participants, but that was a couple of years ago.....and I'm not sure where it might be posted these days. So a new statement might be an easier solution at this point.