[OSM-talk] HDYC, login requirement and "privacy"

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

On 05/08/2017 10:53 AM, Richard Fairhurst wrote:
> Breaking the connection between real people and "their map" fundamentally
> alters the OSM community, and, I think, makes it closer to the toxic,
> identity-free, virtual-personality environment that Wikipedia can so often
> be. 

Yes.

Therefore I am skeptical of the knee-jerk recommendation so often given
to people who are concerned about their privacy: "You can choose any
pseudonym you want, even make multiple accounts if need be", or, taken
to the extreme in the thread above: "If you *really* value your privacy,
just create a new account for every single edit you make."

I would prefer if we could achieve a situation where users can dare to
be a little less protective of their privacy inside the project, because
we as a project take steps to keep what happens in OSM, in OSM.

I know this can never happen in an airtight way. But I would like it if,
when someone abuses one mapper's OSM "metadata" for reasons it wasn't
intended for, the community stands behind that mapper and says: This is
an abuse of our data, stop it - instead of engaging in "victim shaming"
by telling the mapper that they were stupid to use their real name (or a
traceable nickname) to begin with and/or that if they can't stand by the
edits they make they shouldn't have joined in the first place.

> You know and I know that several of OSM's most challenging edit wars in
> recent years have involved people who have not admitted, or have heavily
> obfuscated, their real names - sometimes generating a succession of
> disguised identities. I do not think this is coincidence. With identity
> comes accountability. 

You are coming dangerously close to suggesting a "real name policy" here
in OSM. I wouldn't categorically oppose that, but it would mean an even
greater responsibility on our side to protect the privacy of users. Most
arguments raised in various other places (Facebook etc) about real name
policies hold true for OSM as well; some people might open themselves up
for prosecution or feuds if it became public that they're mapping in OSM.

> There is nothing wrong with us saying "100% privacy is valuable, but it's
> not compatible with the way OSM works, and if you can't cope with your edits
> being trackable then OSM is perhaps not the project for you".

For me there is a very big difference between hiding user names
altogether, and hiding user names from "project outsiders who haven't
clicked a button promising that they will play by our rules".

What's been done by Pascal, and what I am advocating, is the former;
what you seem to be arguing against, is the latter.

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00'09" E008°23'33"