Difference between revisions of "Privacy and public life policy"

From E-Democracy.org

Revision as of 19:23, 4 March 2009

E-Democracy.Org Privacy and Public Life Policy

Participation in E-Democracy.Org is fundamentally about public life.

We seek to create a safe, trusting environment where people know who has the ability to communicate publicly with them in our forums. While this is a community experience not a private life activity, we do take actions to protect your privacy.

E-Democracy does not sell, rent, or exchange private information with third parties on individuals using our web site, forums, or services. Representatives of E-Democracy.Org including staff, contractors, Board members, Forum Managers, and local volunteers may not use personally identifiable information that is provided to E-Democracy.Org for any purposes that are unrelated to the mission and official activities of E-Democracy.Org and its local affiliates.

For forum registration and verification purposes, we require real names, community, country, and at least one valid e-mail address.
Only members may post to a forum, and by submitting such a post, members share their e-mail address with other members via e-mail as typical with e-mail discussion lists. We obscure e-mail addresses in the web versions of posts.
The names of registered members of our public forums are listed with each forum on the web.
Anyone may read posts via our web site, but non-members do not have access to posters’ e-mail addresses, and cannot post to a forum. If you wish to remain anonymous, do not register and do not join a forum.
Our forum system uses “cookies” to allow you to maintain a logged in status and we use basic web statistic analytical tools. We do not monitor the viewing activities of users nor disclose such information.
Our Content Removal Policy does allow requests to redact personal information you or others shared via a public forum that is determined to present a potential threat to that individuals safety.
Posts, including the name of the author, made to our public forums, similar to print letter to the editor, may be publicly accessible in perpetuity.
Forums include optional member profiles with public fields will be accessible to others. Sharing public biographic information among members builds reciprocal trust. We hide e-mail addresses, but allow a "request contact" feature to ensure participation equality for web-based participants. Do not include information in these optional fields that you do not want to be public. Internet search engines may index your public posts and voluntarily provided profile information.

Any personal information collected by specific forums, local committees/chapters, or for use with other services owned and operated by E-Democracy.Org, labeled private will not be disclosed publicly. By default, as a "public life" initiative, information fields not clearly labeled private should be considered public, viewable, and potentially accessible.

Specific non-forum services, such as e-mail newsletters, surveys requesting demographic information, and online donation systems will have clearly stated additional privacy guarantees as appropriate.

Adopted by the E-Democracy.Org Board, February 2009

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-Back to: [[Rules committee]]
+E-Democracy.Org Privacy and Public Life Policy
-This is a ROUGH ROUGH draft by Steven Clift. Historically, E-Democracy.Org has limited its collection of information to a minimal set of items widely available as public information. We also strongly believe in our forums that participants have a right to know who else is posting or registered such that they can post. We do not require people to register to simply view our main Issues Forums, so such readers have the option to stay private.
+Participation in E-Democracy.Org is fundamentally about public life.
-In St. Paul, due to concerns about the use of false identities, they started to collect address and telephone information for '''only those wishing to post''' with the promise that it would be kept private and only used internally if identity verification was required.
+We seek to create a safe, trusting environment where people know who has the ability to communicate publicly with them in our forums. While this is a community experience not a private life activity, we do take actions to protect your privacy.
-With forums in the UK and New Zealand, we are also now operating in countries with more stringent privacy laws.
-This first draft is an attempt to layout a starting point for development of a privacy and publicness policy that reflects our values. This draft will be submitted for eventual adoption by our [[Board]].
-The draft:
-'''E-Democracy.Org Privacy and Public Life Policy'''
-Participation in E-Democracy.Org is fundamentally about public life.
-We seek to create a safer, trusted environment where people know who has the ability to communicate publicly with them in our forums (those in the room) while protecting the anonymity of those watching from a far (like those watching on television).
+E-Democracy does not sell, rent, or exchange private information with third parties on individuals using our web site, forums, or services. Representatives of E-Democracy.Org including staff, contractors, Board members, Forum Managers, and local volunteers may not use personally identifiable information that is provided to E-Democracy.Org for any purposes that are unrelated to the mission and official activities of E-Democracy.Org and its local affiliates.
-E-Democracy does not sell, rent, or exchange private information on individuals using our website, forums, and services with third-parties. To the greatest extent possible under law, we forbid use of any public information optionally disclosed by individuals on our site for direct commercial marketing purposes. Representatives of E-Democracy.Org including staff, contractors, Board members, Forum Managers, and local volunteers may not use personally identifiable information provided to E-Democracy.Org for purposes unrelated to the mission and official activities of E-Democracy.Org and its local affiliates.
+*For forum registration and verification purposes, we require real names, community, country, and at least one valid e-mail address.
+*Only members may post to a forum, and by submitting such a post, members share their e-mail address with other members via e-mail as typical with e-mail discussion lists. We obscure e-mail addresses in the web versions of posts.
+*The names of registered members of our public forums are listed with each forum on the web.
+*Anyone may read posts via our web site, but non-members do not have access to posters’ e-mail addresses, and cannot post to a forum. If you wish to remain anonymous, do not register and do not join a forum.
+*Our forum system uses “cookies” to allow you to maintain a logged in status and we use basic web statistic analytical tools. We do not monitor the viewing activities of users nor disclose such information.
+*Our Content Removal Policy does allow requests to redact personal information you or others shared via a public forum that is determined to present a potential threat to that individuals safety.
+*Posts, including the name of the author, made to our public forums, similar to print letter to the editor, may be publicly accessible in perpetuity.
+*Forums include optional member profiles with public fields will be accessible to others. Sharing public biographic information among members builds reciprocal trust. We hide e-mail addresses, but allow a "request contact" feature to ensure participation equality for web-based participants. Do not include information in these optional fields that you do not want to be public. Internet search engines may index your public posts and voluntarily provided profile information.
-We limit the information we require from forum registration to real names, community, country and at least one e-mail address. This helps protect your exposure online. E-mail addresses are not available to the public on the website. Only those who choose to post are sharing their e-mail with other participants via e-mail. With our public forums, your name is listed on the list of forum member only if you register and join that forum. Unregistered web visitors are not identified in member lists. If you wish to remain anonymous, do not register and join a forum. As an anonymous reader, you do not have the right to post.
+Any personal information collected by specific forums, local committees/chapters, or for use with other services owned and operated by E-Democracy.Org, labeled private will not be disclosed publicly. By default, as a "public life" initiative, information fields not clearly labeled private should be considered public, viewable, and potentially accessible.
-Optional member profiles have public fields that may be accessible to others. Sharing public biographic information among members builds reciprocal trust. We hide e-mail addresses, but do allow a "request contact" feature to ensure participation equality for web-based participants. E-mail participants may reply privately easily and we may add that right for web users. Do not share sensitive information via these optional public fields.
+Specific non-forum services, such as e-mail newsletters, surveys requesting demographic information, and online donation systems will have clearly stated additional privacy guarantees as appropriate.
-Any and all personal information collected by specific forums (for identity verification required to post (in St. Paul currently), local e-democracy committees/chapters, or for use in other E-Democracy.Org owned and operated services will clearly be labeled private and not disclosed publicly. By default, as a "public life" initiative information fields not clearly labeled private should be considered public, viewable, and potentially accessible. Specific non-forum services, such as e-mail newsletters, surveys requesting demographic information, and online donation systems will have additional privacy guarantees stated clearly on that service where information is submitted.
+Adopted by the E-Democracy.Org Board, February 2009