The new forum originally had a little country flag next to each post showing the country that the post was made from based on the GeoIP encoding (the country the IP address is from). Before I switched over to the new site someone made an issue about it violating their privacy and I didn't want to complicate and confuse the switchover with policy debate at the same time as technical issues so removed the flags even though I disagreed.
Someone has already requested it as a feature and I think it should be added back so I thought it's now time to open the discussion and get everyone's opinions. First, the reason I think it should be shown:
- It adds the posters context to the discussion, especially if it is about some cultural specific story (e.g. US gun control, Chinese aviation or whatever).
- It shows up potential spammers / scammers - if someone is from China or Nigeria and they are claiming to be some grandmother from Wisconsin then you know there may be something up - yes, people can fake their location but why not raise the bar and make it more difficult for them ... Even if people aren't scammers, I don't see why we need to enable anyone to portray a false identity (e.g. claiming to be in the US when they are maybe in the UK).
- It shows up people using anonymizing proxies. If someone's location changes every other post then it's more visible than the IP hash and I think people should at least be aware of that so that they can chose to be more guarded with what they share.
- It looks cool and shows what a global community we are.
- It's a public internet forum, not a secret society or whistleblowing organization.
The bottom line is that I don't believe that showing the country compromises anyone's actual privacy because the country is a trait shared by so many people. If someone is posting other information that identifies them then the country is the least of the concerns. If someone wants to be protective of their identity then they can - but I don't think they should be able to hide that they are doing it and potentially try to portray a fake persona, befriend people and possibly try to get information from others. If someone is hiding even a basic thing about their country then I think others have a right to know in order to decide how open to be with them in return.
When it comes to privacy there are recognized "Personally Identifiable Information" or PII which can be very strong (SIN/NI number) or weak (name). Some depend on their combination with other pieces of information to determine whether they identify someone - so name alone (if the name is common) doesn't identify you but name and town and / or street may be enough.
From WikiPedia:
The following data, often used for the express purpose of distinguishing individual identity, clearly classify as PII under the definition used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (described in detail below):[6]
- Full name (if not common)
- Email address (if private from an association/club membership, etc.)
- IP address (in some cases)
The following are less often used to distinguish individual identity, because they are traits shared by many people. However, they are potentially PII, because they may be combined with other personal information to identify an individual.
- Login name, screen name, nickname, or handle
- First or last name, if common
- Country, state, or city of residence
- Age, especially if non-specific
- Gender or race
- Name of the school they attend or workplace
When a person wishes to remain anonymous, descriptions of them will often employ several of the above, such as "a 34-year-old white male who works at Target". Note that information can still be private, in the sense that a person may not wish for it to become publicly known, without being personally identifiable. Moreover, sometimes multiple pieces of information, none sufficient by itself to uniquely identify an individual, may uniquely identify a person when combined; this is one reason that multiple pieces of evidence are usually presented at criminal trials. It has been shown that, in 1990, 87% of the population of the United States could be uniquely identified by gender, ZIP code, and full date of birth.[7]
- Grades, salary, or job position
I highlighted the relevant piece ...
I believe that anyone who believes that their country identifies them is being overly paranoid, especially if they take no measures to protect their identity.
So, I think the country flag should be shown and the argument against showing it is weak. But I'd like to hear other people's opinions first.
So, what do you think?