Thread Closed
<magicAdminHat>
While I'd really prefer people raise issues like this privately, since this is being brought up publicly, I'll go ahead and respond.
I was asked by an FC leader if I could verify the IP address of a user on their site that they suspected was a sockpuppet of someone with whom they had disciplinary issues in their FC. The FC leader gave me a list of last known IP addresses for the alleged sockpuppet account on their site and the forum name here of the user who'd caused the issues, and I provided a simple "yes, this matches" response, along with some other information regarding the ISPs of the IP address history that the FC leader provided me that struck me as odd. This "other information" is something anyone can get from dnsstuff.com, among other sources, using the IP address. It didn't come from the RPC site database.
At no time did I hand out the IP address history of the person I was asked about. I was given a list of IP addresses from the FC's site and a forum name to check them against, and I provided a yes/no verification. There's no random handing out of personal information; there was a question about whether an account was a sockpuppet based on an IP address match being raised as part of a disciplinary investigation, and I provided verification. That's all.
If you'd like a more direct policy statement, my stance is that, other than as required by US law, the only private information that I may provide is IP address matching (a yes/no answer only) to FC leaders if they provide me with both the forum name and the IP address to match, and only in the context of a reasonable disciplinary concern that's articulated to me.
EDIT: By the way, this has happened a total of one (yes, 1) time in the entire time I've been admin of the site. This isn't a regular occurrence, nor should it be.
</magicAdminHat>
While I'd really prefer people raise issues like this privately, since this is being brought up publicly, I'll go ahead and respond.
I was asked by an FC leader if I could verify the IP address of a user on their site that they suspected was a sockpuppet of someone with whom they had disciplinary issues in their FC. The FC leader gave me a list of last known IP addresses for the alleged sockpuppet account on their site and the forum name here of the user who'd caused the issues, and I provided a simple "yes, this matches" response, along with some other information regarding the ISPs of the IP address history that the FC leader provided me that struck me as odd. This "other information" is something anyone can get from dnsstuff.com, among other sources, using the IP address. It didn't come from the RPC site database.
At no time did I hand out the IP address history of the person I was asked about. I was given a list of IP addresses from the FC's site and a forum name to check them against, and I provided a yes/no verification. There's no random handing out of personal information; there was a question about whether an account was a sockpuppet based on an IP address match being raised as part of a disciplinary investigation, and I provided verification. That's all.
If you'd like a more direct policy statement, my stance is that, other than as required by US law, the only private information that I may provide is IP address matching (a yes/no answer only) to FC leaders if they provide me with both the forum name and the IP address to match, and only in the context of a reasonable disciplinary concern that's articulated to me.
EDIT: By the way, this has happened a total of one (yes, 1) time in the entire time I've been admin of the site. This isn't a regular occurrence, nor should it be.
</magicAdminHat>
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))