Talk:Privacy policy/Archives/2012

IP information stored.. how long?

Hi... Sorry if this should be placed elsewhere... The Privacy Policy states that, "When a page is edited by a logged-in editor, the server confidentially stores related IP information for a limited period of time. This information is automatically deleted after a set period. " Can you tell me how long the "limited period of time" / "set period" is? Thanks! Wikipelli (talk) 15:41, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

The previous privacy policy stated "the raw log data is not made public, and is normally discarded after about two weeks." Presumably, this is no longer the case? I am a bit unsure, but the new policy seems to say the following about IP address retention:

• Editors who are not logged inn: IP addresses are retained indefinitely and published.
• Readers: IP addresses may be retained indefinitely (in server logs) but not published.
• Editors who are logged in: IP addresses are are retained for a limited but unspecified period of time, and not published.

I find it a bit peculiar that readers have less privacy than (registered) editors. Besides, even Google hashes IP addresses after a specified period of time (and one would think Wikipedia searches is no less sensitive than Google searches). 62.212.73.103 21:06, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Disclosing exactly how long the WMF keeps IP data on registered editors for would make it easier for sockpuppeteers to evade the checkusers, so there is a good reason for not being too public here. However I'm pretty sure that the wording needs amendment as I'm reasonably confident that data is kept for much longer when it involves certain longterm banned users. WereSpielChequers (talk) 20:54, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

• To the best of my knowledge, reader data is only kept for a couple of weeks. Data specific to logged-in editors is kept 3 months. Data specific to abusive editors may be retained for a longer period, and is linked to how long that person remains an abusive editor; it is not stored on the server logs, however. Risker (talk) 20:59, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Cookie expiry

"If one saves a user name or password in one's browser, that information will be saved for up to 30 days, and this information will be resent to the server on every visit to the same Project." This sentence is incorrect now that the expiry has been changed to 180 days as part of the MediaWiki 1.19 deployment. PleaseStand (talk) 21:42, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Privacy policy violation in si.wikipedia

Please See this discussion on sinhala language wikipedia. Our active user community is small. Please comment & advice. Singhalawap (talk) 15:56, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

This has been taken care of by Reedy. –Krinkle^talk 19:58, 27 May 2012 (UTC)

help me please

    i have old account .. but now i forgot password ..

and my email . not received any message from " wiki ... " help me please >.. my old account is " w.halawani " —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 176.44.39.193 (talk) 15:48, 22 April 2012‎

IRC message

It should be noted that even on IRC channels that do not allow for logs to be published, that they occasionally are published, and that the WMF has neither the legal right nor the responsibility to chase after the people that have done so. This is also Sven Manguard (talk) 19:08, 26 June 2012 (UTC)

Display different template depending on country?

Hi all -- I believe in the past, I've seen ads for the Wikipedia Ambassador Program on Wikimedia sites, specifically asking for Canadian reps. Based on that, I presume we have permission within the privacy policy to customize content based on location? -- Zanimum (talk) 15:23, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

IP addresses associated with user feedback

See [1]. If no changes are made to the feedback tool, the privacy policy should probably mention that your IP shows up publicly if you use the feedback tool while not logged in. 209.131.76.183 13:09, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

Cookies

See also [wikitech-l] Anonymous user id on Wikipedia?

The sites set a temporary session cookie on a visitor's computer whenever a Project page is visited. Readers who do not intend to log in or edit may deny this cookie; it will be deleted at the end of the browser's session. More cookies may be set when one logs in to maintain logged-in status. If one saves a user name or password in one's browser, that information will be saved for up to 30 days, and this information will be resent to the server on every visit to the same Project. Contributors using a public machine who do not wish to show their username to future users of the machine should clear these cookies after use.

This is confusing. There are two different things could be meant by this paragraph

1. If you save your name and password in your browser it is saved until it is deleted
2. When you log in you have a check box which will save your login for "up to 180 days"

30 days doesn't enter into it, though 180 days is wildly optimistic (I have had to log in thirce today alone).

Rich Farmbrough 01:35 9 November 2012 (GMT).

Thanks, Rich. I've added a note explaining that the information is out of date. --Maggie Dennis (WMF) (talk) 20:22, 26 December 2012 (UTC)