Unfortunately, I have to report a complete lack of response or evidence of interest by the WMF taking even the most basic steps to enforce the commitments that the WMF themselves chose to publish to this email list.
WMF legal returned an automatic reference number "[Request received] - 24634" on 4 March 2021 (29 days ago). They have not bothered to write back to recognize the problem or give a "human" response. I had thought that after the recent progress of dialogue with the LGBT+ Wikimedia community, that the example problem survey would be taken down, it was not. Instead, the survey stayed open despite these complaints through to 23rd March, presumably letting the WMF funding survey fulfill its objectives, even as it presented some risk to volunteers that participated. The references to standard Google terms and conditions were never revised, despite official claims by the WMF that they did not apply. These failures and documented false claims by the WMF are unacceptable, and a massive letdown for other members of WMF staff that are working incredibly hard to provide better protection and support for Wikimedian volunteers who represent minority groups. This case of badly organized surveys has established a basis for future mistrust, not one of working together or a meaningful consultation. Sorry. Fae On Thu, 4 Mar 2021 at 16:15, Fæ <fae...@gmail.com> wrote: > > The most recent official WMF survey "Media Matching Screener > Survey"[1] which has terms and conditions published on 26 Feb 2021 by > LMixter (WMF)[2] was promoted on Wikimedia Commons on 1 March 2021 by > MRaish (WMF),[3] has no mechanism for tracking the geographic region > of contributors, as demonstrated by the fact that it can be edited by > open proxies. There are no questions within it or rubric that advise > contributors not to answer any questions if they are writing from > certain countries. The first page of the survey asks "What is your > gender identification?". Every page of the form has a link to "Report > Abuse" which takes the user to an apparent "Google Forms" standard > non-WMF statement about abuse with a long statement about a nudity > policy, and is presumably based on the Privacy Statement[2] a GooglePersonal > and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote. > internal report, not a WMF managed one. Page 3 has the question "What > is your country of residence?" but is only asked in the context of > paying the respondent unspecified compensation. > > The survey Privacy Statment[2] acts as the terms and conditions for > the survey. It does not match the statement made on 17 February 2021. > Instead, this links to the standard Google Privacy Policy [4] and the > standard Google Terms of Service[5]. These terms contradict the 17 > February 2021 WMF statement. > > Copying in WMF legal to this email, as the earlier statements which > are asserted to have been reviewed with WMF legal, appear to be untrue > or a misunderstanding for whatever reason. WMF legal may wish to > clarify in their own voice as to whether they support the statement by > the WMF on 17 February 2021, and whether it shall be enforced and > when. > > Reminder of WMF previous statement: > "... our Enterprise agreement with Google prevents Google from > accessing the data for their own uses and requires them to inform the > Foundation of any requests for data that they receive prior to > disclosure, allowing us an opportunity to file a legal objection" > "... we are purposefully not asking questions about sexual orientation > or gender in any geographies where same-sex relations or identifying > as transgender are criminalized" > > Could the WMF please meet their stated commitment for the protection > of volunteers taking part in surveys and revoke surveys that fail to > meet them, starting with the "Media Matching Screener Survey"? > > Links > 1. Survey > https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfT_lxMA_88rC8hZ9stzQ-S9b6VwZXcDNFjd4YmWrNHoAx3jQ/viewform > 2. Privacy Statement > https://foundation.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Media_Matching_Screener_Survey_Privacy_Statement&action=history > 3. > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump#Invitation_to_help_us_understand_how_you_work_with_media > 4. https://policies.google.com/privacy > 5. https://policies.google.com/terms > > Thanks, > Fae > > On Sun, 28 Feb 2021 at 11:20, Fæ <fae...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > A deeper look into the official response by the WMF raises some > > questions about what it means in practice and whether a plain English > > reading of the words is sufficient. > > > > Q1: WMF tested open source solutions > > "[Surveys] [...] we have previously tested and attempted to use open > > source solutions such as LimeSurvey" > > > > Can someone please provide the list of the multiple open source > > solutions that the WMF has tested and the reports of why they were > > each abandoned? This would be incredibly helpful for WMF Affiliates > > who are doing exactly the same thing. > > > > Q2: Legal objections > > "[...] our Enterprise agreement with Google prevents Google from > > accessing the data for their own uses and requires them to inform the > > Foundation of any requests for data that they receive prior to > > disclosure, allowing us an opportunity to file a legal objection. > > [...] we have agreements with other services like Qualtrics" > > Re-reading this, it seems an astonishingly generous and legally > > binding commitment from Google, Qualtrics, and presumably other > > suppliers that have not been named. These suppliers will refuse to > > cooperate with legal investigations, such as US Government agencies, > > or their own internal security threats, before consulting with WMF > > Legal, and will wait for WMF Legal to object. > > > > The question is, can someone please provide a link to a WMF-funded or > > approved survey where this agreement was in place, or is it a > > statement of what might happen in the future? > > Based on my understanding of existing surveys like the still running > > UCoC survey, the WMF terms and conditions and the referenced Google > > terms and conditions are in direct contradiction to this assertion by > > the WMF, and WMF Legal. > > > > Q3: Geographical restriction > > "[...] we are purposefully not asking questions about sexual > > orientation or gender in any geographies where same-sex relations or > > identifying as transgender are criminalized." > > > > Can someone please link to a WMF-funded or approved survey where this > > happened, or is this an ambition for the future that has not happened > > yet? > > In the example of the running UCoC survey (Google docs) this is not in > > place. There is a question about gender identity that has the > > potential to out people as transgender, and there is no technical > > mechanism to filter by geographical location, nor are volunteers asked > > to limit themselves if they live in a list of "hostile" countries. > > > > Thanks, > > Fae > > -- > > fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae > > > > On Tue, 23 Feb 2021 at 22:45, Valerio Bozzolan via Wikimedia-l > > <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > > > > > > +1 > > > > > > And if anyone has this document in their hands, please notify us here: > > > > > > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T275574 > > > > > > On Tue, 2021-02-23 at 08:36 +0000, Fæ wrote: > > > > Could someone provide a link to the discussed security review of > > > > LimeSurvey? I've been unable to find it. > > > > ... > > > > Thanks, > > > > Fae > > > -- > > > Valerio Bozz. -- fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
