From: an127@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Korac MacArthur)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: WELL anonymity policy
Date: 17 Dec 1992 22:49:46 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Distribution: inet
Reply-To: an127@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Korac MacArthur)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, fig@eff.org (Cliff Figallo) says:

>spp@zabriskie.berkeley.edu (Steve Pope) writes:
>
>>But: it turns out the WELL management makes exceptions
>>to this policy.  Who are these exceptions?  Primarily
>>celebrities.  The management there likes the idea
>>of certain well-known individuals posting anonymously,
>>and so is willing to make exceptions for these
>>people.
>
>>Now, it's possible I don't have the entire story straight,
>>but if the above is true it strikes me as somewhat
>>bogus.  I mean, it would appear that not all users are
>>provided with the same level of service, based on... what?
>>Somebody's arbitrary decision.  Is it reasonable for
>>a professional access service to do this?  I have some
>>doubts.
>
>>I'll qualify this whole post by saying the above is the
>>situation as I understand it, I could be wrong about 
>>some of this.  But I'd like to hear what you-all think
>>about this sort of policy.
>
>Steve, I was director of the WELL for six years and am now director of 
>EFF's Cambridge office.  Although the WELL may change its policy at any
>time, I can describe how things were until I left in July.
>
>First of all, yes, we did ask that people use their real names online for 
>several reasons and you seem to accept that practice in your posting.  Since
>the WELL makes it clear that users are responsible for what they post
>on the WELL, we thought it important that they be identifiable.  Also,
>by having a real name associated with every account, there is less tendency
>for users to be abusive of other users.  It just works that way.
>
>And, yes, we made exceptions in the past for selected cases.  In some
>cases, where "famous people" got accounts on the WELL, we did cooperate
>in protecting them from being hit on by the rest of the users.  There
>were probably 6-8 cases of this while I was in charge.  Since the WELL's
>password file is open for inspection by all, and since management knew
>the true identities of these users, it seemed like a reasonable request.
>Had those users caused any problems with the rest of the population, we
>would have promptly deactivated their accounts and probably revealed their
>true identities.
>
>For us, the "policy" was operational.  Our main concerns were to know who
>was responsible for all postings (for the WELL's protection) and to prevent
>libel and harrassment of our users (for the users' protection).  Since 
>there were so few requests for anonymity (probably 10-15 serious requests
>out of over 20,000 registrations), we took them on a case-by-case basis.
>
	Yes, but was the fact that you could apply for and GET anonymity
ever clearly stated?  I doubt it.   This exceptions policy for
illuminatti is extremely unjust and reminds me of Diane Feinstein when
she was mayor of SF.   This episode concerned citizen pistol permits,
which she, the mayor, had to ok.  She signed one and only one, for Diane
Feinstein, even though there are many people in the city who could
justifiably use one for personal protection.  If you can't offer it to
all, don't offer it to any, thats descrimination.

>The WELL has never been much into rules.  We tried to stay open to 
>experiment, given the relative newness of the medium as a social 
>tool.
>
	It seems to have rules when it wants (or the management in their
infinite wisdom) to have them.   Not exactly ethical, but then again,
its a company, that's too much to expect.  

>                <<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>><<*>>
>Cliff Figallo                                    fig@eff.org
>Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation         (617)864-0665 (voice)
>Cambridge Office                                 (617)864-0866 (fax)
>
				Korac MacArthur
				Net Barbarian and UNH Physics Research
Technician, esq.

-- 
Hey, George.....Nah na na na, NA NA NA NA,  HEEEY   HEYYY HEY,
GOOOOOODDDDBYYYEEEE!!!!!!   (and good riddance)