This week, we introduce a weekly series on the upcoming elections to the Wikimedia Board of Trustees. As part of this series, we will ask all candidates to respond to an optional interview.
For this interview, I'm soliciting any Wikipedians who would be willing to help with translation. If a candidate does not speak English, I will need to have the questions, and their answers, translated into their native tongue. Also, any truly motivated users who would be willing to translate all interviews into another language would be quite helpful for voters from non-English wikis. Let me know if you're interested, either on my talk page or via e-mail.
Thanks for reading the Signpost.
— Ral315
A report on the privacy practices of several major website and Internet companies included Wikipedia among the leaders in privacy awareness. The report received widespread media coverage and also drew objections from the companies it criticized, notably Google.
The report was put together by Privacy International, a London-based nonprofit organization that calls itself "a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations." The findings for each site or company were summarized in a chart (PDF) covering various criteria and providing a justification for the ratings.
Wikipedia received the rating, "Generally privacy-aware but in need of improvement". In its explanation, Privacy International commended Wikipedia data retention practices but said some information was lacking. The best rating possible, "Privacy-friendly and privacy enhancing", was not given to any of the sites or companies reviewed. In receiving the next-highest rating, Wikipedia joined a group that included the BBC, eBay, Last.fm, and LiveJournal.
Google, which was singled out for the worst rating, "Comprehensive consumer surveillance & entrenched hostility to privacy", responded publicly with some of its objections. The company complained that Privacy International did not give it an opportunity to discuss the findings, which it said were filled with "numerous inaccuracies and misunderstandings about our services". Privacy International hit back by calling Google's response a "smear campaign" and said it had contacted the company but received no response.
It is not clear whether Privacy International attempted to contact the Wikimedia Foundation, as it mentioned its inability to verify the retention policy. The report called the privacy policy "clear" and noted its adoption by the Board of Trustees, but pointed to the lack of an explicit contact point in the organization. It seems that Privacy International may have been unaware of the existence of an Ombudsman commission. This group reviews complaints about potential violations of the privacy policy, although it is primarily focused on use of the CheckUser tool.
On the English Wikipedia mailing list, Mathias Schindler of the Communications committee said he had contacted Privacy International requesting more information, adding the comment that he was "unconvinced about their methodology." The discussion then veered to potential conflicts of interest and prompted a reference to Wikimedia's ownership of 187 shares of Google stock received as a donation, however Wikimedia board member Kat Walsh noted that Wikimedia has since sold those shares.
Möller, Walsh retain seats; Brioschi elected
16 July 2007
Board election series: Elections closed, results pending
9 July 2007
Board elections open
2 July 2007
Board election series: An interview with the candidates
25 June 2007
Board election series: Election information
18 June 2007
Board candidacies open, elections planned
11 June 2007
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Möller, Walsh retain seats; Brioschi elected |
Here is the original version of this historical template, from 2007:
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| 2007 Board of Trustees elections A Wikipedia Signpost series | |
|---|---|
| June 11 | Candidacies open |
| June 18 | Election information |
| June 25 | Candidate interviews |
| July 2 | Elections open |
| July 9 | Elections closed |
| July 16 | Election results |
This week, the Signpost covers the opening of candidacies for the Board election.
Candidate entries for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees election opened on Sunday. At least three two-year seats will be filled in the election. At press time, two users had presented themselves as candidates.
Candidates are being accepted through 23:59 UTC on 23 June, and voting will run for ten days, from 28 June through 7 July. Many of the election's rules are still being discussed by the Board Election Steering Committee, a six-person panel (Kizu Naoko, Benjamin Mako Hill, Newyorkbrad, Philippe Beaudette, Jon Harald Søby, and Tim Starling) handling the election.
Incumbent board members, Erik Möller, Oscar van Dillen, and Kat Walsh have not yet stated whether they plan to run in this election. Möller was elected in a September 2006 election to replace Angela Beesley (see archived story); Walsh and van Dillen, who finished second and third, respectively, in that election, were appointed in a board expansion in December (see archived story).
This week, WarX and Michael Snow entered the race. These two users are the only users standing for election as of press time; last year, 17 candidates ran for just one open seat.
Multilingual editors are encouraged to consider translating various election notices, candidate presentations, and other pages into as many languages as possible.
Next week: The Signpost will examine the election rules and regulations, and cover the opening of endorsements.
This week's WikiWorld comic uses text from "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and "Mike the Headless Chicken". The comic is released under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 license for use on Wikipedia and elsewhere.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty cited a Wikipedia article in a comment made last week in a newspaper article; however, McGuinty apparently misread the article. Commenting on a move to reduce power consumption by setting government air conditioning at a higher temperature and allowing employees to ditch suits and ties in favor of casual clothes suitable for a higher temperature, McGuinty joked that the French were to blame for ties, saying that the cravat originated in France. However, the article actually states that the cravat was popularized by the French after noticing the neckband, a part of the uniform for Croatian mercenaries.
After a close and controversial RFA that was halted while bureaucrats attempted to determine the outcome (see archived story), bureaucrats judged that no consensus was present on Wednesday. A bureaucrat chat was initiated for bureaucrats to discuss the request (the second RFA to use such a process, after Danny's in April). In all, the request took over a week to decide.
Note: Due to delay, the full story on the RfA closure will be published next week.
Twenty-three articles were promoted to featured status last week: Political history of medieval Karnataka (nom), Rudolph Cartier (nom), God Hates Us All (nom), Texas A&M University (nom), Cougar (nom), Herne Bay, Kent (nom), Eyes of the Insane (nom), Webley Revolver (nom), Styracosaurus (nom), Report of 1800 (nom), Æthelbald of Mercia (nom), Amanita phalloides (nom), Gwen Stefani (nom), Kevin Pietersen (nom), Evolution (nom), Aquaman (TV program) (nom), Derry City F.C. (nom), Westgate-on-Sea (nom), Coonskin (film) (nom), Vagrant Story (nom), Film Booking Offices of America (nom), New York City (nom), Rings of Jupiter (nom).
Two articles were de-featured last week: Lesch-Nyhan syndrome (nom), Charles I of England (nom).
Seven lists were promoted to featured status last week: List of Queensland Roar FC players (nom), List of cetaceans (nom), List of Carolina Panthers first-round draft picks (nom), List of WWE Cruiserweight Champions (nom), Indian national cricket captains (nom), 2007 Cricket World Cup squads (nom), 2004 NBA Draft (nom).
One topic was promoted to featured status last week: Chrono series (nom).
No portals were promoted to featured status last week.
No sounds were promoted to featured status last week.
The following featured articles were displayed last week on the Main Page as Today's featured article: Excel Saga, Frank Klepacki, Jupiter, Battle of Midway, Atheism, Aaron Sorkin, Flag of Portugal, and Cougar.
The following featured pictures were displayed last week on the Main Page as picture of the day: Oscar (fish), Bassoon, Helix Nebula, Western honey bee, Hrant Dink, Osprey, Torre Agbar, Natural Satellite.
Four pictures were promoted to featured status last week:
9 users were granted admin status via the Requests for Adminship process this week: Black Falcon (nom), Goodnightmush (nom), DoomsDay349 (nom), David Eppstein (nom), Jmlk17 (nom), Beetstra (nom), KrakatoaKatie (nom), Pax:Vobiscum (nom), Fvasconcellos (nom).
10 bots or bot tasks were approved to begin operating this week: HermesBot (task request), AMbot (task request), DeadBot (task request), R Delivery Bot (task request), AutocracyBot (task request), OsamaKBOT (task request), HBC RenameClerkBot (task request), MadmanBot (task request), Seedbot (task request), Polbot (task request).
This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Note that not all changes described here are live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.44.0-wmf.8 (f08e6b3), and changes with a version number higher than that will not yet be active.
The Arbitration Committee did not accept or close any cases this week, except that Koavf was unblocked and placed on revert parole, after an appeal (resolved without a full case) from an indefinite block by Dmcdevit.
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