I'm afraid our Tatar is correct in some senses and others in this thread are in a failing or failed mode.
Each web server, of which the WMF has a few, collects details on the behaviour of IPs, in logs. Those logs can be and probably have been requested by certain government officials, most likely for the purpose of tracking down who is behind a certain "Bad" posting to a BLP. In addition, courts can make such orders in order to determine an otherwise "John Doe" named in a suit, such as for libel, etc. It's happened it will continue to happen, the WMF does keep such logs. Knowing the IP, it can then be tracked back to that user's ISP and a log again requested to determine the exact person, or at least business or household, who used the IP at that exact time. So playing with words, doesn't let us get around that point. I'm still not clear why we would want to know the IP exactly for analytical purposes. Some intrepid programmer could write a program which would simply collect detailed analysis of a person's in-world behaviour and call them "Bob992" instead of 13.42.204.192 or whatever. Making the information packets anonymous. That would still allow any sort of analysis the Tatars want to make, and not reveal any private information. W _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
