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Minors and sexual explicit stuff

 

 

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thepmaccount at gmail

Nov 15, 2009, 5:04 PM

Post #1 of 40 (2324 views)
Permalink
Minors and sexual explicit stuff

Hi all,

On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved in
routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').

http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846

I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see better
governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we need to
talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're overdue.

I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue - is
there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or could I
just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
board's ear to raise this with them.

best,

Peter,
PM.
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Brian.Mingus at Colorado

Nov 15, 2009, 5:07 PM

Post #2 of 40 (2290 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 6:04 PM, private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail>wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved in
> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
>
>
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
>
> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see better
> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we need to
> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're overdue.
>
> I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue - is
> there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or could I
> just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
> board's ear to raise this with them.
>
> best,
>
> Peter,
> PM.
>

Wikipedia is not porn.

29 posts left.
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thepmaccount at gmail

Nov 15, 2009, 5:11 PM

Post #3 of 40 (2287 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

I should add that if folk are interested in the english wikipedia, and have
any ideas / comments etc. in this area, I kicked this off here;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Child_Protection

cheers,

Peter,
PM.

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:07 PM, Brian J Mingus
<Brian.Mingus [at] colorado>wrote:

> On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 6:04 PM, private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail
> >wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> > self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved in
> > routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> > describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
> >
> >
> >
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
> >
> > I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see better
> > governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we need
> to
> > talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're overdue.
> >
> > I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue - is
> > there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or could I
> > just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
> > board's ear to raise this with them.
> >
> > best,
> >
> > Peter,
> > PM.
> >
>
> Wikipedia is not porn.
>
> 29 posts left.
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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geniice at gmail

Nov 15, 2009, 5:32 PM

Post #4 of 40 (2289 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

2009/11/16 private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail>:
> I should add that if folk are interested in the english wikipedia, and have
> any ideas / comments etc. in this area, I kicked this off here;
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Child_Protection
>
> cheers,
>
> Peter,
> PM.
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:07 PM, Brian J Mingus
> <Brian.Mingus [at] colorado>wrote:
>
>> On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 6:04 PM, private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail
>> >wrote:
>>
>> > Hi all,
>> >
>> > On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
>> > self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved in
>> > routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
>> > describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
>> >
>> > I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see better
>> > governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we need
>> to
>> > talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're overdue.
>> >
>> > I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue - is
>> > there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or could I
>> > just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
>> > board's ear to raise this with them.
>> >
>> > best,
>> >
>> > Peter,
>> > PM.
>> >
>>
>> Wikipedia is not porn.
>>
>> 29 posts left.
>> _______________________________________________
>> foundation-l mailing list
>> foundation-l [at] lists
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>



--
geni

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geniice at gmail

Nov 15, 2009, 5:34 PM

Post #5 of 40 (2295 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

2009/11/16 private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail>:
> I should add that if folk are interested in the english wikipedia, and have
> any ideas / comments etc. in this area, I kicked this off here;
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Child_Protection
>
> cheers,
>
> Peter,
> PM.

Already been addressed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Youth_protection

In practice defacto policy is that we remove personal information
posted by younger users.


--
geni

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thepmaccount at gmail

Nov 16, 2009, 7:43 PM

Post #6 of 40 (2260 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Thanks for the link to the 'youth protection' page, geni - I've linked to it
from Wikipedia:Child protection rather than redirect or abandon that page
just yet - I hope we might make some progress :-)

With that in mind, it occurred to me that this list would be a good spot to
ask folks if they are aware of any child protection measures in place in any
of the WMF communities. I get the feeling that some feel child protection
measures might either be fundamentally a bad thing, or in some way be a net
negative, perhaps in terms of participation etc. - if this is your view,
pipe up! It would be good to debate a little, and try and find some common
ground and move forward :-)

So here's my question - is anyone out there aware of any community
discussion / policies / practices in regard to regulating children's
participation in a project - be it a wikipedia of any language, or any
project in the wiki-verse. I'd also really like to extend this to ask those
readers of this list who partipate in other collaborative projects, or have
experience of other large web sites, to see what measures are out there, and
how they might work.

Finally, I'd like to repeat my request that the smarter brains than I on the
advisory board might like to offer some thoughts in this area - or maybe any
foundation staff, and / or board members could indicate whether or not it's
been discussed, and whether or not I might have any luck in getting this
issue onto the radar - I think it's very important.

best,

Peter,
PM.

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:34 PM, geni <geniice [at] gmail> wrote:

> 2009/11/16 private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail>:
> > I should add that if folk are interested in the english wikipedia, and
> have
> > any ideas / comments etc. in this area, I kicked this off here;
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Child_Protection
> >
> > cheers,
> >
> > Peter,
> > PM.
>
> Already been addressed:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Youth_protection
>
> In practice defacto policy is that we remove personal information
> posted by younger users.
>
>
> --
> geni
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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agarrett at wikimedia

Nov 17, 2009, 2:37 AM

Post #7 of 40 (2266 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
> in
> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
>
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
>
> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
> better
> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
> need to
> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
> overdue.
>
> I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue
> - is
> there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or
> could I
> just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
> board's ear to raise this with them.

You just won't give up this topic, will you?

I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
irrational and entirely lacking in substance.

I'm also unsure how you propose to define "sexually explicit". The
definitions under law are elaborate, attempting to make distinctions
that would be irrelevant to any negative impact on children, if one
existed. Are images of the statue of David, the Mannekin Pis or the
Ecstacy of Theresa deserving of such restrictions? What about the
detailed frescoes of sexual acts displayed in brothels and living
rooms in ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum? How are those distinct from
the image you've used as an example, and how is that distinction
relevant to whatever supposed harm you are claiming to children?

If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
such images, then those children should be supervised in their
internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
believe is appropriate.

It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.

--
Andrew Garrett
agarrett [at] wikimedia
http://werdn.us/


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michaeldavid86 at comcast

Nov 17, 2009, 4:38 AM

Post #8 of 40 (2262 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

> On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
>> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
>> in
>> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
>> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
>>
>> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry2048
>> 46
>>
>> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
>> better
>> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
>> need to
>> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
>> overdue.
>>
>> I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue
>> - is
>> there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or
>> could I
>> just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
>> board's ear to raise this with them.

on 11/17/09 5:37 AM, Andrew Garrett at agarrett [at] wikimedia wrote:
>
> You just won't give up this topic, will you?
>
> I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
>
> I'm also unsure how you propose to define "sexually explicit". The
> definitions under law are elaborate, attempting to make distinctions
> that would be irrelevant to any negative impact on children, if one
> existed. Are images of the statue of David, the Mannekin Pis or the
> Ecstacy of Theresa deserving of such restrictions? What about the
> detailed frescoes of sexual acts displayed in brothels and living
> rooms in ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum? How are those distinct from
> the image you've used as an example, and how is that distinction
> relevant to whatever supposed harm you are claiming to children?
>
> If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> believe is appropriate.
>
> It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.
>
> --
> Andrew Garrett

>
Yes. Very well said, Andrew.

Marc Riddell, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy


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effeietsanders at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 5:21 AM

Post #9 of 40 (2263 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Even though I do agree to some extent with you, Andrew, I would like
to make a remark.

You correctly state that the cultural sensibilities differ over the
world on this topic. However, this does not excuse for calling the
sensibilities "irrational" and "lacking in substance" (inconsistent is
fair enough). Clearly, you belong to the group of people who do not
have a problem at all with these images, and PM belongs to the group
of people that has huge problems with them. The mere fact that you two
disagree should not lead to the conclusion we should not think about a
way of taking away the problem for the people in side of the spectrum
where PM is located.

I think you could lay a comparison between people having significant
problems with these images and therefore are not able (or less able)
to access Wikipedia with people who have technical issues because they
do not want to download a piece of propitiatory software. We care a
lot about the latter group, why abolish even the idea of caring about
the first? Because we do not belong to it?

Some people do indeed think that ancient pornography should be hidden
as well by the way, although I do get your point. Sometimes there is
clearly an educational purpuse involved, and the images add value.

Now let it be clear I do not vouch at all for getting rid of the
images, or any free content. However, if that would suit a significant
group of people, we could consider to make them a little less
prominently accessible. Please speak up if the following procedure
would make no sense at all to you:

0) think about whether we want (if it exists) to help reduce this
group of people with siginificant problems in the first place.
1) research / find research on how large the group of people is that
have significant problems with this issue (I define significant here
as "having the impact that because of this, they will visit Wikipedia
less frequently or not at all")
2) consider which approaches would be possible
3) research which of these approached would be help to decrease the
group of people having significant problems with this issue
4) consider whether this has any negative impact for the people not
having these significant problems
5) balance these advantages/disadvantages

lets not jump to 5) immediately.

To get to the original question of PM, I am not sure actually whether
the advisory board would have people on it who would be helpful on
this specific topic. Angela, could you advise on this?

Perhaps this topic could, however, better be approached through the
often named Strategy Process. Philippe, do you have a suggestion how
this can be incorporated?

Thanks,

Lodewijk

2009/11/17 Andrew Garrett <agarrett [at] wikimedia>:
>
> On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
>> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
>> in
>> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
>> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
>>
>> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
>>
>> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
>> better
>> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
>> need to
>> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
>> overdue.
>>
>> I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue
>> - is
>> there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or
>> could I
>> just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
>> board's ear to raise this with them.
>
> You just won't give up this topic, will you?
>
> I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
>
> I'm also unsure how you propose to define "sexually explicit". The
> definitions under law are elaborate, attempting to make distinctions
> that would be irrelevant to any negative impact on children, if one
> existed. Are images of the statue of David, the Mannekin Pis or the
> Ecstacy of Theresa deserving of such restrictions? What about the
> detailed frescoes of sexual acts displayed in brothels and living
> rooms in ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum? How are those distinct from
> the image you've used as an example, and how is that distinction
> relevant to whatever supposed harm you are claiming to children?
>
> If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> believe is appropriate.
>
> It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.
>
> --
> Andrew Garrett
> agarrett [at] wikimedia
> http://werdn.us/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>

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gerard.meijssen at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 5:58 AM

Post #10 of 40 (2260 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Hoi,
Thank you effe for your analysis. I do agree that this can be considered
something that some people feel strongly about and, also as something that
would entice certain groups of people to use Wikipedia more freely. Growing
our community or readers and editors is a priority.

The problem is that while private musing is quite outspoken about the
priority for his concern, we can spend effort on one issue at a time and
while I sympathise, I would not give it priority because I favour effort on
the issue that has my concern. As long as our imagery is serchable, usable
only for people who speak English I think that this trumps the strategic
value of prudery.

When for either of the two issues a solution is to be found, there will be a
need for substantial investment of resources. There is no obvious and
sensible solution that will be accepted for the cncern of private musing. It
will even be hard to come up with an acceptable default position, more
likely is different default positions that can be chosen by communities. It
is even questionable that such positions can be found; I expect that the
best that can be had is a bad compromise for everyone.

Multi lingual support is easy; either you wish for it or you don't there is
no half way house, the good thing is, the ability for search in other
languages will not detract from the ability to search in English..

We do not have even a glimmer of what can be technically done to address
private musings concerns and we do not know what would be acceptable by our
communities. So let us work on the technical aspects of multi lingual
support and divine a workable compromise for imagery that show people in the
flesh and as biological entities at the same time. Once we have multi
lingual support sorted out and grown our audience even further, we may have
something that we can do that is practical and will have some support.
Thanks,
GerardM

2009/11/17 effe iets anders <effeietsanders [at] gmail>

> Even though I do agree to some extent with you, Andrew, I would like
> to make a remark.
>
> You correctly state that the cultural sensibilities differ over the
> world on this topic. However, this does not excuse for calling the
> sensibilities "irrational" and "lacking in substance" (inconsistent is
> fair enough). Clearly, you belong to the group of people who do not
> have a problem at all with these images, and PM belongs to the group
> of people that has huge problems with them. The mere fact that you two
> disagree should not lead to the conclusion we should not think about a
> way of taking away the problem for the people in side of the spectrum
> where PM is located.
>
> I think you could lay a comparison between people having significant
> problems with these images and therefore are not able (or less able)
> to access Wikipedia with people who have technical issues because they
> do not want to download a piece of propitiatory software. We care a
> lot about the latter group, why abolish even the idea of caring about
> the first? Because we do not belong to it?
>
> Some people do indeed think that ancient pornography should be hidden
> as well by the way, although I do get your point. Sometimes there is
> clearly an educational purpuse involved, and the images add value.
>
> Now let it be clear I do not vouch at all for getting rid of the
> images, or any free content. However, if that would suit a significant
> group of people, we could consider to make them a little less
> prominently accessible. Please speak up if the following procedure
> would make no sense at all to you:
>
> 0) think about whether we want (if it exists) to help reduce this
> group of people with siginificant problems in the first place.
> 1) research / find research on how large the group of people is that
> have significant problems with this issue (I define significant here
> as "having the impact that because of this, they will visit Wikipedia
> less frequently or not at all")
> 2) consider which approaches would be possible
> 3) research which of these approached would be help to decrease the
> group of people having significant problems with this issue
> 4) consider whether this has any negative impact for the people not
> having these significant problems
> 5) balance these advantages/disadvantages
>
> lets not jump to 5) immediately.
>
> To get to the original question of PM, I am not sure actually whether
> the advisory board would have people on it who would be helpful on
> this specific topic. Angela, could you advise on this?
>
> Perhaps this topic could, however, better be approached through the
> often named Strategy Process. Philippe, do you have a suggestion how
> this can be incorporated?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lodewijk
>
> 2009/11/17 Andrew Garrett <agarrett [at] wikimedia>:
> >
> > On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
> >
> >> Hi all,
> >>
> >> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> >> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
> >> in
> >> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> >> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
> >>
> >>
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
> >>
> >> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
> >> better
> >> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
> >> need to
> >> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
> >> overdue.
> >>
> >> I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue
> >> - is
> >> there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or
> >> could I
> >> just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
> >> board's ear to raise this with them.
> >
> > You just won't give up this topic, will you?
> >
> > I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> > for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> > and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> > irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
> >
> > I'm also unsure how you propose to define "sexually explicit". The
> > definitions under law are elaborate, attempting to make distinctions
> > that would be irrelevant to any negative impact on children, if one
> > existed. Are images of the statue of David, the Mannekin Pis or the
> > Ecstacy of Theresa deserving of such restrictions? What about the
> > detailed frescoes of sexual acts displayed in brothels and living
> > rooms in ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum? How are those distinct from
> > the image you've used as an example, and how is that distinction
> > relevant to whatever supposed harm you are claiming to children?
> >
> > If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> > such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> > internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> > internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> > believe is appropriate.
> >
> > It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> > Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> > usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> > on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> > sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.
> >
> > --
> > Andrew Garrett
> > agarrett [at] wikimedia
> > http://werdn.us/
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l [at] lists
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
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fordmadoxfraud at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 6:20 AM

Post #11 of 40 (2253 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

The New York City public library system--and I would imagine most municipal
library systems in general--is filled with underage interns (or pages, or
whatever they're called now) who play a not insignificant role in curating
collections that contain material every bit as explicit as those examples
given here, including computers, which offer unrestricted access to the
breadth of the internet, which contains material very, very much more
explicit than the examples given here. And libraries are not age-segregated
or censored in the manner you describe here. Wikipedia is an educational
endeavor, not the MPAA, and the constant re-flourishing of this topic under
varying guises, particularly when the consensus of community standards on
things like pearl necklace, Virgin Killer &c &c have been demonstrated time
and again, by the same old hands quite frankly makes this list a chore to
read.

FMF




On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:58 AM, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen [at] gmail>wrote:

> Hoi,
> Thank you effe for your analysis. I do agree that this can be considered
> something that some people feel strongly about and, also as something that
> would entice certain groups of people to use Wikipedia more freely. Growing
> our community or readers and editors is a priority.
>
> The problem is that while private musing is quite outspoken about the
> priority for his concern, we can spend effort on one issue at a time and
> while I sympathise, I would not give it priority because I favour effort on
> the issue that has my concern. As long as our imagery is serchable, usable
> only for people who speak English I think that this trumps the strategic
> value of prudery.
>
> When for either of the two issues a solution is to be found, there will be
> a
> need for substantial investment of resources. There is no obvious and
> sensible solution that will be accepted for the cncern of private musing.
> It
> will even be hard to come up with an acceptable default position, more
> likely is different default positions that can be chosen by communities. It
> is even questionable that such positions can be found; I expect that the
> best that can be had is a bad compromise for everyone.
>
> Multi lingual support is easy; either you wish for it or you don't there is
> no half way house, the good thing is, the ability for search in other
> languages will not detract from the ability to search in English..
>
> We do not have even a glimmer of what can be technically done to address
> private musings concerns and we do not know what would be acceptable by our
> communities. So let us work on the technical aspects of multi lingual
> support and divine a workable compromise for imagery that show people in
> the
> flesh and as biological entities at the same time. Once we have multi
> lingual support sorted out and grown our audience even further, we may have
> something that we can do that is practical and will have some support.
> Thanks,
> GerardM
>
> 2009/11/17 effe iets anders <effeietsanders [at] gmail>
>
> > Even though I do agree to some extent with you, Andrew, I would like
> > to make a remark.
> >
> > You correctly state that the cultural sensibilities differ over the
> > world on this topic. However, this does not excuse for calling the
> > sensibilities "irrational" and "lacking in substance" (inconsistent is
> > fair enough). Clearly, you belong to the group of people who do not
> > have a problem at all with these images, and PM belongs to the group
> > of people that has huge problems with them. The mere fact that you two
> > disagree should not lead to the conclusion we should not think about a
> > way of taking away the problem for the people in side of the spectrum
> > where PM is located.
> >
> > I think you could lay a comparison between people having significant
> > problems with these images and therefore are not able (or less able)
> > to access Wikipedia with people who have technical issues because they
> > do not want to download a piece of propitiatory software. We care a
> > lot about the latter group, why abolish even the idea of caring about
> > the first? Because we do not belong to it?
> >
> > Some people do indeed think that ancient pornography should be hidden
> > as well by the way, although I do get your point. Sometimes there is
> > clearly an educational purpuse involved, and the images add value.
> >
> > Now let it be clear I do not vouch at all for getting rid of the
> > images, or any free content. However, if that would suit a significant
> > group of people, we could consider to make them a little less
> > prominently accessible. Please speak up if the following procedure
> > would make no sense at all to you:
> >
> > 0) think about whether we want (if it exists) to help reduce this
> > group of people with siginificant problems in the first place.
> > 1) research / find research on how large the group of people is that
> > have significant problems with this issue (I define significant here
> > as "having the impact that because of this, they will visit Wikipedia
> > less frequently or not at all")
> > 2) consider which approaches would be possible
> > 3) research which of these approached would be help to decrease the
> > group of people having significant problems with this issue
> > 4) consider whether this has any negative impact for the people not
> > having these significant problems
> > 5) balance these advantages/disadvantages
> >
> > lets not jump to 5) immediately.
> >
> > To get to the original question of PM, I am not sure actually whether
> > the advisory board would have people on it who would be helpful on
> > this specific topic. Angela, could you advise on this?
> >
> > Perhaps this topic could, however, better be approached through the
> > often named Strategy Process. Philippe, do you have a suggestion how
> > this can be incorporated?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Lodewijk
> >
> > 2009/11/17 Andrew Garrett <agarrett [at] wikimedia>:
> > >
> > > On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi all,
> > >>
> > >> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> > >> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
> > >> in
> > >> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> > >> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
> > >>
> > >> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
> > >> better
> > >> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
> > >> need to
> > >> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
> > >> overdue.
> > >>
> > >> I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue
> > >> - is
> > >> there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or
> > >> could I
> > >> just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
> > >> board's ear to raise this with them.
> > >
> > > You just won't give up this topic, will you?
> > >
> > > I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> > > for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> > > and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> > > irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
> > >
> > > I'm also unsure how you propose to define "sexually explicit". The
> > > definitions under law are elaborate, attempting to make distinctions
> > > that would be irrelevant to any negative impact on children, if one
> > > existed. Are images of the statue of David, the Mannekin Pis or the
> > > Ecstacy of Theresa deserving of such restrictions? What about the
> > > detailed frescoes of sexual acts displayed in brothels and living
> > > rooms in ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum? How are those distinct from
> > > the image you've used as an example, and how is that distinction
> > > relevant to whatever supposed harm you are claiming to children?
> > >
> > > If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> > > such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> > > internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> > > internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> > > believe is appropriate.
> > >
> > > It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> > > Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> > > usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> > > on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> > > sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this
> one.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Andrew Garrett
> > > agarrett [at] wikimedia
> > > http://werdn.us/
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > foundation-l mailing list
> > > foundation-l [at] lists
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l [at] lists
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
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>
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thekohser at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 6:40 AM

Post #12 of 40 (2255 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Here is a good example of what can happen when we set free those children
who "have gained the trust of their parents to use the internet within
whatever
limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor) believe is appropriate":

http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-high-school-sex-scandal-online-facebook?currentPage=all

So, if that's too long for you to read and consider the implications,
there's always
this Wikimedia image that has received nearly 2,000 page views this month:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cock_and_Ball_Torture.jpg

Or, there's this one that has captured the attention of over 2,000 visitors
this month:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Estim_penis.jpg

I have trouble understanding how these images help "that girl in Africa"
emerge
from the abject poverty that surrounds her, but I'll trust you guys (we're
all adults here,
right?) that you're helping to fulfill that mission with publication of
images like these,
with little to no concern whether there are minors consuming them.

Gregory Kohs
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fordmadoxfraud at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 7:04 AM

Post #13 of 40 (2249 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

INTERNET SEX PANIC. That GQ article doesn't even have anything to do with
Wikipedia, so I'm not sure what your point here is, other than that
teenagers are both interested in and curious about sex, and will use the
tools at their disposal to explore this curiosity, whether they be social
media or reference material.

And the suggestion that removing certain content would make the project more
likely to be used by certain demographics of people is not a persuasive
one. It is correspondingly true that there are many people who would more
comfortably use, or let their children use, regular brick and mortar
libraries if they could be sure that certain material had been removed from
the building. But typically libraries do not cater to people who ask that
offensive books be removed, and I don't see any reason why Wikipedia is
different. These are people who fundamentally do not understand what
libraries (or Wikipedia) are for.

And here's a link for you too, since you were considerate enough to include
one.

http://www.kentucky.com/latest_news/story/1011029.html

FMF



On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 9:40 AM, Gregory Kohs <thekohser [at] gmail> wrote:

> Here is a good example of what can happen when we set free those children
> who "have gained the trust of their parents to use the internet within
> whatever
> limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor) believe is appropriate":
>
>
> http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/200907/wisconsin-high-school-sex-scandal-online-facebook?currentPage=all
>
> So, if that's too long for you to read and consider the implications,
> there's always
> this Wikimedia image that has received nearly 2,000 page views this month:
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cock_and_Ball_Torture.jpg
>
> Or, there's this one that has captured the attention of over 2,000 visitors
> this month:
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Estim_penis.jpg
>
> I have trouble understanding how these images help "that girl in Africa"
> emerge
> from the abject poverty that surrounds her, but I'll trust you guys (we're
> all adults here,
> right?) that you're helping to fulfill that mission with publication of
> images like these,
> with little to no concern whether there are minors consuming them.
>
> Gregory Kohs
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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wikimail at inbox

Nov 17, 2009, 7:49 AM

Post #14 of 40 (2247 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:04 AM, David Moran <fordmadoxfraud [at] gmail> wrote:
> It is correspondingly true that there are many people who would more
> comfortably use, or let their children use, regular brick and mortar
> libraries if they could be sure that certain material had been removed from
> the building.  But typically libraries do not cater to people who ask that
> offensive books be removed, and I don't see any reason why Wikipedia is
> different.

I'm not sure what your library is like, but the situation at my
library is much more controlled than the one at Wikipedia. Yes,
there's offensive material in it, and some of the offensive material
is in places where children have access, but it's nothing even
remotely approaching what's found in Wikipedia - in terms of how
graphic the material is, in terms of how easily accessible it is to
minors, in terms of the chances of encountering it accidentally, and
in terms of the use of children to decide whether or not to keep it.

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cunctator at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 8:00 AM

Post #15 of 40 (2248 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Clearly, Wikipedia causes teenage pregnancy. Why is anyone disputing that
point?

SAFE SEX = NO WIKIPEDIA

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Anthony <wikimail [at] inbox> wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:04 AM, David Moran <fordmadoxfraud [at] gmail>
> wrote:
> > It is correspondingly true that there are many people who would more
> > comfortably use, or let their children use, regular brick and mortar
> > libraries if they could be sure that certain material had been removed
> from
> > the building. But typically libraries do not cater to people who ask
> that
> > offensive books be removed, and I don't see any reason why Wikipedia is
> > different.
>
> I'm not sure what your library is like, but the situation at my
> library is much more controlled than the one at Wikipedia. Yes,
> there's offensive material in it, and some of the offensive material
> is in places where children have access, but it's nothing even
> remotely approaching what's found in Wikipedia - in terms of how
> graphic the material is, in terms of how easily accessible it is to
> minors, in terms of the chances of encountering it accidentally, and
> in terms of the use of children to decide whether or not to keep it.
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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teun.spaans at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 9:18 AM

Post #16 of 40 (2248 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

"It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
usage"
Frankly, I dont think that is what I read in PMs post which started this
discussion.

In many countries it is the responsibility of parents for their childs
behaviour, inlcuding their behavious on internet.
However, also in many countries it is the responsibility of volunteer
organizations to that under age volunteers do while they are active as a
volunteer for that organization. In that respect Wikimedia foundation may be
held responsible for what minors during their vi\olunteer acticvities for
wikimedia do and see.

Viewn as such, it might indeed be a responsibility for the foundation, and
not for an individual wiki.

i wish you health and happiness,
teun spaans

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Andrew Garrett <agarrett [at] wikimedia>wrote:

>
> On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> > self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
> > in
> > routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> > describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
> >
> >
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
> >
> > I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
> > better
> > governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
> > need to
> > talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
> > overdue.
> >
> > I'd really like to see the advisory board take a look at this issue
> > - is
> > there a formal way of suggesting or requesting their thoughts, or
> > could I
> > just ask here for a board member or community member with the advisory
> > board's ear to raise this with them.
>
> You just won't give up this topic, will you?
>
> I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
>
> I'm also unsure how you propose to define "sexually explicit". The
> definitions under law are elaborate, attempting to make distinctions
> that would be irrelevant to any negative impact on children, if one
> existed. Are images of the statue of David, the Mannekin Pis or the
> Ecstacy of Theresa deserving of such restrictions? What about the
> detailed frescoes of sexual acts displayed in brothels and living
> rooms in ancient Pompeii and Herculaneum? How are those distinct from
> the image you've used as an example, and how is that distinction
> relevant to whatever supposed harm you are claiming to children?
>
> If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> believe is appropriate.
>
> It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.
>
> --
> Andrew Garrett
> agarrett [at] wikimedia
> http://werdn.us/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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geniice at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 10:28 AM

Post #17 of 40 (2249 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

2009/11/17 Anthony <wikimail [at] inbox>:
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:04 AM, David Moran <fordmadoxfraud [at] gmail> wrote:
>> It is correspondingly true that there are many people who would more
>> comfortably use, or let their children use, regular brick and mortar
>> libraries if they could be sure that certain material had been removed from
>> the building. But typically libraries do not cater to people who ask that
>> offensive books be removed, and I don't see any reason why Wikipedia is
>> different.
>
> I'm not sure what your library is like, but the situation at my
> library is much more controlled than the one at Wikipedia. Yes,
> there's offensive material in it, and some of the offensive material
> is in places where children have access, but it's nothing even
> remotely approaching what's found in Wikipedia - in terms of how
> graphic the material is, in terms of how easily accessible it is to
> minors, in terms of the chances of encountering it accidentally, and
> in terms of the use of children to decide whether or not to keep it.

You never flicked through the photography or modern art section. Sure
my library didn't have any of Robert Mapplethorpe's work but it had
some fairly explicit stuff. That said I think the winner in that sense
was one of the art books my school held.

--
geni

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wikimail at inbox

Nov 17, 2009, 10:57 AM

Post #18 of 40 (2246 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 1:28 PM, geni <geniice [at] gmail> wrote:
> You never flicked through the photography or modern art section.

I highly doubt we have a "modern art section".

In any case, as Jimbo always likes to point out, Wikipedia is only the
encyclopedia. The rest of the library is Wikia.

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hofmanj at aldebaran

Nov 17, 2009, 1:16 PM

Post #19 of 40 (2247 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

If anybody wants censored encyclopedia there is a very easy way how to obtain it:

1) Take a copy of Wikipedia's database.
2) Use it at your own Mediawiki server.
3) Censor whatever you want.
4) Never ever bother others with your hobbies.

This solution of your problem is completely legal and free of charge. Enjoy.

Jiri
Attachments: signature.asc (0.19 KB)


thekohser at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 1:39 PM

Post #20 of 40 (2244 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

One point that the apologists seem to be missing is that the Wikimedia
Foundation assumes and expects that sometimes minors have administrator
rights on the Wikimedia projects. This then gives them the responsibility
of deciding what is suitable content or not for the project. Likewise, the
Foundation seems to assume and expect that there will be some risk of the
child interacting on very serious issues with grown adults whose agenda may
indeed be to exploit the minor. But, the response is...

Go fork yourself a new wiki, if you don't like it.

And the Foundation powers that be wonder why critics sometimes skip to more
"dramatic" forms of protest, without "going through the proper channels".
Jimmy Wales can probably tell you about this very phenomenon when I didn't
"go through proper channels" to advocate against his company hosting a
"Spanking Art" Wikia site, complete with photos and drawings of young girls
in pigtails being showcased in a highly exploitative and abusive setting.
Wikia wanted more time to try to "work things out" with the creators of that
environment, while I preferred that it be taken down in 48 hours, regardless
of conversations with the creators.

Oh well, I guess I'll just go make myself my own wiki. I'm working on an
article about "Consumer economy", if anyone is interested in helping out and
earning $15:

http://www.mywikibiz.com/Talk:Consumer_economy

Greg
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saintonge at telus

Nov 17, 2009, 7:05 PM

Post #21 of 40 (2240 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Andrew Garrett wrote:
> On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
>
>> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
>> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
>> in
>> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
>> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
>>
>> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
>>
>> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
>> better
>> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
>> need to
>> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
>> overdue.
>>
>
> I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
>
> If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> believe is appropriate.
>
> It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.
>
>
I agree that a common sense approach is warranted. In large measure
applying complex controls on child viewing is totally unrealistic. We
would begin with the problem of defining what is too young. In an other
topic, underage drinking, it is relatively far easier to define the
offending act but the age at which drinking is permitted still varies
widely from one jurisdiction to another. So what age is appropriate for
viewing such material? 12? 16? 18? 21? And even if we agree on an age,
except for the few self-identified individuals how are we to know what
someone's age really is? Those who are too young very quickly learn
that lying is a valuable skill founded upon necessity.

Not many years ago in a bible-belt suburb there was a very loud campaign
to block books that depicted same sex parents from a school library.
There was no question of those parents engaging in sexual activity in
the books, only a depiction that they could be loving and committed
parents just as much as opposite sex parents. The aim of the books was
to combat the development of homophobia among children of "normal"
parents. Yes, that is at the other extreme from the raunchy photos that
are most often complained about, but that merely illustrates the problem
of definition.

As is often stated WMF is an ISP, and not a publisher. The more it
seeks to control content, the more it acquires characteristics of a
publisher. Indeed as an ISP it must respond to specific legal demands
to remove certain material, but random complaints are not legal
demands. Perhaps at the same time those complainers should be asking
why murder is so much more socially acceptable on TV than consensual sex.

The responsibility of parents remains paramount ... even if some are
incapable of exercising that responsibility. It would also be
irresponsible if parents with the means to provide internet access
exercised control to the extent of raising internet illiterates
incapable of functioning in a wired world. What teachers and other
public institutions can do has severe limitations. The sad unavoidable
fact is that the seamier side of life exists. A parent does not protect
his child by pretending to him that such things don't happen. More is
accomplished by directing him toward a mature attitude.

Ec

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thepmaccount at gmail

Nov 17, 2009, 8:35 PM

Post #22 of 40 (2223 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

Ray,

you seem to me to be essentially discussing the 'users' perspective on
wikipedia - whilst it's my view that the foundation, and the projects could
(and should) do more to allow things like descriptive image filtering for
users (I think it would drive participation in places like schools, and
librairies) I'm also interested in discussing the perspective of
'participant' in the project.

I think there are important duty of care issues for whomever is responsible
for children's involvement in projects like wikipedia, and I don't believe
the foundation, and projects, should simply pass the buck of responsibility
upstream to the parent. Encyclopedia's are rightly exciting and interesting
to children, and I think it's just reality that large numbers of
participants are minors (wiki's fun, right! :-) - we really should at least
talk about whether or not these participants are protected / treated /
advised appropriately.

for example, it would be my advice to a minor that it's inappropriate for
them to join this (not safe for work discussion) about whether or not to
include 'hardcore photos' in the oral sex article (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Oral_sex#Hardcore_photos )

There are important ethical issues here (maybe legal ones too, I don't know)
- I've tried to reach out to Volunteering Australia (
http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/html/s01_home/home.asp ) who I hope may
be able to offer some advice about good practice in working with volunteer
kids etc. but I think this might be able to go much further much quicker on
a foundation level.

I'd like to see some concrete progress (a report, some ideas, anything
really!) related to ensuring appropriate and adequate measures are in place
to protect child participants in foundation projects. I've copied this
message Angela, who I hope I may persuade to raise this issue with the
advisory board, and also sj who may be able to raise the issue with the
board, or perhaps join this discussion to offer any ideas about handy next
steps. Regardless, I'll hop back on this list following a meeting with
Volunteering Australia, just in case they have any useful or interesting
advice :-)

cheers,

Peter,
PM.



On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 2:05 PM, Ray Saintonge <saintonge [at] telus> wrote:

> Andrew Garrett wrote:
> > On 16/11/2009, at 1:04 AM, private musings wrote:
> >
> >> On Wikipedia Review, 'tarantino' pointed out that on WMF projects,
> >> self-identified minors (in this case User:Juliancolton) are involved
> >> in
> >> routine maintenance stuff around sexually explicit images reasonably
> >> describable as porn (one example is 'Masturbating Amy.jpg').
> >>
> >>
> http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=27358&st=0&p=204846&#entry204846
> >>
> >> I think this is wrong on a number of levels - and I'd like to see
> >> better
> >> governance from the foundation in this area - I really feel that we
> >> need to
> >> talk about some child protection measures in some way - they're
> >> overdue.
> >>
> >
> > I'm not sure where you get the idea that it's somehow inappropriate
> > for minors to be viewing or working on images depicting human nudity
> > and sexuality. Cultural sensibilities on this matter are inconsistent,
> > irrational and entirely lacking in substance.
> >
> > If it is truly inappropriate or harmful for children to be working on
> > such images, then those children should be supervised in their
> > internet access, or have gained the trust of their parents to use the
> > internet within whatever limits those parents (or, indeed, the minor)
> > believe is appropriate.
> >
> > It is absolutely not the job of the Wikimedia Foundation, nor the
> > Wikimedia community, to supervise a child's internet access and/or
> > usage, and certainly not to make arbitrary rules regarding said usage
> > on the basis of a single culture's sensibilities on children and
> > sexuality, especially sensibilities as baseless and harmful as this one.
> >
> >
> I agree that a common sense approach is warranted. In large measure
> applying complex controls on child viewing is totally unrealistic. We
> would begin with the problem of defining what is too young. In an other
> topic, underage drinking, it is relatively far easier to define the
> offending act but the age at which drinking is permitted still varies
> widely from one jurisdiction to another. So what age is appropriate for
> viewing such material? 12? 16? 18? 21? And even if we agree on an age,
> except for the few self-identified individuals how are we to know what
> someone's age really is? Those who are too young very quickly learn
> that lying is a valuable skill founded upon necessity.
>
> Not many years ago in a bible-belt suburb there was a very loud campaign
> to block books that depicted same sex parents from a school library.
> There was no question of those parents engaging in sexual activity in
> the books, only a depiction that they could be loving and committed
> parents just as much as opposite sex parents. The aim of the books was
> to combat the development of homophobia among children of "normal"
> parents. Yes, that is at the other extreme from the raunchy photos that
> are most often complained about, but that merely illustrates the problem
> of definition.
>
> As is often stated WMF is an ISP, and not a publisher. The more it
> seeks to control content, the more it acquires characteristics of a
> publisher. Indeed as an ISP it must respond to specific legal demands
> to remove certain material, but random complaints are not legal
> demands. Perhaps at the same time those complainers should be asking
> why murder is so much more socially acceptable on TV than consensual sex.
>
> The responsibility of parents remains paramount ... even if some are
> incapable of exercising that responsibility. It would also be
> irresponsible if parents with the means to provide internet access
> exercised control to the extent of raising internet illiterates
> incapable of functioning in a wired world. What teachers and other
> public institutions can do has severe limitations. The sad unavoidable
> fact is that the seamier side of life exists. A parent does not protect
> his child by pretending to him that such things don't happen. More is
> accomplished by directing him toward a mature attitude.
>
> Ec
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-l mailing list
> foundation-l [at] lists
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>
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wikimail at inbox

Nov 17, 2009, 9:27 PM

Post #23 of 40 (2224 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:05 PM, Ray Saintonge <saintonge [at] telus> wrote:
> As is often stated WMF is an ISP, and not a publisher.

Stating it often doesn't make it true. The WMF is quite clearly a
publisher. It even has admitted as much when it exercised the GFDL
clause purporting to allow "any World Wide Web server that publishes
copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody
to edit those works" to "republish" Wikipedia (et. al.) under
CC-BY-SA. Anyone who says the WMF is not a publisher is just plain
wrong.

So state it as much as you want. The WMF is a publisher. Under
Section 230 of the CDA it most likely won't be treated as a publisher,
but that doesn't mean it isn't a publisher.

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george.herbert at gmail

Nov 18, 2009, 1:05 AM

Post #24 of 40 (2215 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 9:27 PM, Anthony <wikimail [at] inbox> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 10:05 PM, Ray Saintonge <saintonge [at] telus> wrote:
>> As is often stated WMF is an ISP, and not a publisher.
>
> Stating it often doesn't make it true.  The WMF is quite clearly a
> publisher.  It even has admitted as much when it exercised the GFDL
> clause purporting to allow "any World Wide Web server that publishes
> copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody
> to edit those works" to "republish" Wikipedia (et. al.) under
> CC-BY-SA.  Anyone who says the WMF is not a publisher is just plain
> wrong.
>
> So state it as much as you want.  The WMF is a publisher.  Under
> Section 230 of the CDA it most likely won't be treated as a publisher,
> but that doesn't mean it isn't a publisher.

The section 230 that would seem to matter here?

The WMF has all sorts of roles, depending on who you are, how you look
at it, and what your perspective is (and what day of the month it is,
etc). Referring to legal issues, one has to remain domain specific
when using specific terms in a legal sense.



--
-george william herbert
george.herbert [at] gmail

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geniice at gmail

Nov 18, 2009, 4:55 AM

Post #25 of 40 (2208 views)
Permalink
Re: Minors and sexual explicit stuff [In reply to]

2009/11/18 private musings <thepmaccount [at] gmail>:
> Ray,
>
> you seem to me to be essentially discussing the 'users' perspective on
> wikipedia - whilst it's my view that the foundation, and the projects could
> (and should) do more to allow things like descriptive image filtering for
> users (I think it would drive participation in places like schools, and
> librairies) I'm also interested in discussing the perspective of
> 'participant' in the project.

Given how disruptive "think of the children" can be mere interest is
not a valid reason for getting involved with this area.

> I think there are important duty of care issues for whomever is responsible
> for children's involvement in projects like wikipedia,

That would be their parents.

>and I don't believe
> the foundation, and projects, should simply pass the buck of responsibility
> upstream to the parent.

What you believe isn't relevant. The responsibility is with the parents not us.

>Encyclopedia's are rightly exciting and interesting
> to children, and I think it's just reality that large numbers of
> participants are minors (wiki's fun, right! :-) - we really should at least
> talk about whether or not these participants are protected / treated /
> advised appropriately.

Per current US law yes. If the law changes we can reconsider our activities.

> for example, it would be my advice to a minor that it's inappropriate for
> them to join this (not safe for work discussion) about whether or not to
> include 'hardcore photos' in the oral sex article (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Oral_sex#Hardcore_photos )

Please provide a list of your qualifications to provide such advice.

>
> There are important ethical issues here (maybe legal ones too, I don't know)
> - I've tried to reach out to Volunteering Australia (
> http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/html/s01_home/home.asp ) who I hope may
> be able to offer some advice about good practice in working with volunteer
> kids etc.

Wikipedia does not answer to Australian law. Please provide a
transcript of what you have said.

>but I think this might be able to go much further much quicker on
> a foundation level.


>
> I'd like to see some concrete progress (a report, some ideas, anything
> really!) related to ensuring appropriate and adequate measures are in place
> to protect child participants in foundation projects.

They are.

--
geni

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