Re: Proposed GR: Repeal the 2005 vote for declassification of the debian-private mailing list

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Gunnar Wolf writes ("Re: Proposed GR: Repeal the 2005 vote for declassification of the debian-private mailing list"):
> Myabe Ian fears (I don't want to attribute ideas he has not yet
> discussed) that somebody external to the project will try to correlate
> events with spikes in d-private activity, and "explain" how much we
> have discussed in the shadows about a contentious topic. Some people
> will not like that idea.

Something like that, yes.  It might even be possible to, for example,
infer what the topic of an activity spike was likely to be, and then
infer from timing who was giving input into sensitive discussions;
guess whether publicly visible status changes to project contribors
were associated with disciplinary action or were simply routine
housekeeping; assess whether the project was aware of some opportunity
or threat; even perhaps to predict and perhaps forestall
time-sensitive actions the project might be likely to take.

Detailed traffic data is a surprisingly revealing.  IMO -private's
should remain private.

Ian.

-- 
Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>   These opinions are my own.

If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is
a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.