The MNHQ Moderation Team: Thread 2

[BarrackerBarmer]

Follow on thread regarding the data breach situation:
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Dear MNHQ

I'm very grateful for the commitment to free speech you've publicly taken, and for Justine's courage this week.

A former disgruntled employee of MN is writing on Twitter about the 'transphobia' of MN staff, and calling you TERFs. She is showing a great deal of bias and intolerance towards women with feminist views, this may well be her honest opinion, which is no big deal I suppose, since she is no longer an employee.

At least, it isn't an issue until she calls a shout out to her
'friends who still work at MN' to report and take down posts by 'transphobic scum', by which she appears to be referring to any poster objecting to being called TERF by her friend.

Regardless of the personal views of the MNHQ staff, who should be as free to hold their own views as I am mine, I am disturbed that there may be a small contingent of employees who are invested in unfair moderation and will not be applying fair-handed principles, at least if the claims of this ex-employee are credible.

Can you please give posters some reassurance that the difficult job of fair-handed moderation isn't being abused by the 'friends' of ex-employees who are 'reporting it all' and taking down posts because any gender criticism means the poster is 'transphobic scum'?

Thank you.

I'm glad to see this has been reported to the appropriate authorities but there are a couple of points I can't resist throwing in:

I don't care what the law is, I don't care what the likelihood of this or that is, the chances are if you post anything online, you will never be quite sure where it's gone and who has seen it. It's a risk we take, and fantastic social facilities like Mumsnet do, in my mind, prove that it's well worth the risk (that doesn't mean I'm not glad Mumsnet are doing their best to deal with this).

The person who did the leaking probably didn't realise they'd done the IP thing but they did state that they had 'no loyalty' to Mumsnet any more. That suggests they're emotionally driven rather than acting ethically or with an eye to obeying the law so it will be hard to predict what they'll do next and impossible to predict what those they've shared information with will do so - whether grave or trivial, the damage is done.

In that situation, hasty action would be locking the stable door after etc. It makes sense for Mumsnet to move slowly and carefully, and it should be re-assuring, rather than concerning, to see them giving as much consideration as they can to all the people involved. Just think - if you or I are ever accused of anything horrible, won't it be nice to see them trying to consider our feelings/welfare as well as everyone else's?

Going slowly and carefully is a common feature of good leaders/managers, and it always infuriates people who are (even rightfully) upset/frightened/angry about something. It's not the same as doing nothing.

Thanks for the update Justine. Pleased to hear this is being taken seriously.

I am happier with the update. I do think the actual act was the result of misguided stupidity, but it is still important to cover all bases.

However, it many more times more important to do this when you take into account the wider context of this breach. There are so many axes grinding out there. It makes sense to talk to the ICO and police.

Well, it's prompted me to fire up the Opera VPN (I use VPNs heavily, but it's a pain to switch it on and off as required: by using Opera's builtin VPN I can have a window open which is VPN'd and my main browser which isn't) and get a Protonmail account and switch my MN, Reddit and a couple of other accounts to ProtonMail and do a few other privacy cleanup things. It's an ill-wind, etc.

Thank you Justine. I appreciate that won't have been easy on a personal level and that you really haven't got a lot of room to move on this. Its was all you could do under the circumstances.

The police may well conclude that there isn't a public interest in following it up.

It is important to demonstrate the seriousness of the matter that they are involved and for them to make that judgment call for your own liability and reputation.

Thank you.

Well, it's prompted me to fire up the Opera VPN (I use VPNs heavily, but it's a pain to switch it on and off as required: by using Opera's builtin VPN I can have a window open which is VPN'd and my main browser which isn't) and get a Protonmail account and switch my MN, Reddit and a couple of other accounts to ProtonMail and do a few other privacy cleanup things. It's an ill-wind, etc

Is there an easier way to explain that? :)

Thanks Justine! .

KeneftYakimoski
I had a quick read re Opera and there have been criticisms of its security levels. Haven't had time to look properly. Are you a techie? Keen to discuss suitable apps for use

Ok I will go off and start a thread and stop derailing this one

Techie to English explanations of the security stuff would probably be useful to a lot of people if anyone felt like having a go at that...

Had a thought based on my questions upthread and the speed the thread is moving... Might it be a good idea to stick a thread in site stuff just for questions about our data, that potentially can be answered by one of the admins or by tech, not just by @JustineMumsnet ?

MipMipMip I expect that even the tabloid press know when to hold back, and what is in the public interest in the legal sense. They will be waiting to see what happens.

I had a quick read re Opera and there have been criticisms of its security levels. Haven't had time to look properly. Are you a techie?

I know, but it mostly related to situations that don't apply to me. I have looked reasonably carefully. Yes, very.

Here, I made one...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/3226301-Thread-just-for-questions-about-our-data-on-mn-re-EH-breach

Techie to English explanations of the security stuff

VPN: conceal your activity from people with access to your local network, and prevent a website you access from having sight of the IP number you are coming from. Requires that you trust the VPN providers.

Opera Browser: has a built-in VPN, which allows you to get some of the advantages for the web pages you visit using that browser, without the problems that can accrue when you use a VPN for everything on your computer. Ideal if you want to access a couple of websites with privacy, but aren't bothered or can't get that privacy more widely.

Protonmail: a possibly-secure webmail service, which has the merit of just being "another email address" to break the link of all your various social media accounts being tied together by your email address. A second gmail account is probably as good.

@JustineMumsnet Thank you for that reassuring update

Thank you Justine . I’m reassured by your actions.

Hi all,
Lowly mod here, just to say that we have deleted references to Emma Healey's university and current employer. Being public information, they don't exactly break the guidelines, we do see that, but let's try to keep ourselves absolutely as clean as a new whistle. Hope that's okay.

Name changed and re registered with new account. Ocasional poster and long time lurker on feminist chat. Really glad to read update from Justine.

Ha! They don't break guidelines at all

Ok, have started a security protection thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/geeky_stuff/3226310-Protecting-your-Data-Personal-Security-Online?watched=1

Melamin I would have expected this to be picked up is all- kind of thing that's usually grasped with both hands.

I can't decide if it would be good - showing the calculated actions of TRAs, or bad - potentially harming mumsnet and putting off vulnerable posters.

I hope the police/CPS do prosecute. With the law changes coming it wouldn't altogether surprise me if it was used as a show case.

Techie to English explanations of the security stuff

Oh, thank you!

Good call. Happy to shut up now and await due process.

Thanks, Justine