Wikipedia:Respect privacy
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To respect privacy is a fundamental concept of many societies. People have a right to peaceful enjoyment, without being disturbed or harassed by others. Wikipedia requires that all editors be civil to each other, and in doing so avoid personal attacks. Whilst giving out personal information on others may seem harmless, it can potentially cause significant harm to them, allowing identity fraud, vigilante action, and physical attacks, as well as some far worse possibilities.
Even if someone is not an editor on Wikipedia, be aware of Wikipedia's prominent status and on the policy governing content on living people. This can apply equally to all namespaces, including talk pages.
The removal of such information is allowed under Wikipedia:Civility, Wikipedia:No personal attacks and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons, and can be enforced by those with oversight permissions. This policy acts like Wikipedia:No personal attacks in clarifying wikipedia's position on this matter.
As such, we ask that you request explicit permission from the person in question before you post or link to an external site which reveals:
- The real name of person
- Marital status and their partner's name
- Date of birth
- Social security number
- Telephone number
- Hometown
- Home Address
- Place of work or employer
- Internet Protocol address (IP) or Internet Service Provider (ISP)
- ...and anything else that reveals any personal details about them
The above list is inclusive, not exclusive. If there is any doubt, don't reveal it. If their details would be useful, ask the person themselves to add it. Linking to such information external to wikipedia is also not allowed
There are, of course, some limited exceptions. If someone publicly reveals their personal details on Wikipedia, then it may remain. If someone has revealed their identity to be someone famous, then some personal details may already be in the public domain, but beware that there is no means to check that a Wikipedia user is who they say they are.
Remedies[edit]
If you find personal details of someone being given out without their permission:
- Remove the material or link from the article immediately.
- Go to Wikipedia:Requests for oversight and request removal by e-mail.
- Issue an appropriate warning template such as {{pinfo4}} or {{pinfo5}} (for details about other users) and {{test1}} or {{needsource}} (when dealing with people not using wikipedia).