[diversity] Proposal for anonymous gender metric question now on RIPE Labs
- Previous message (by thread): [diversity] Proposal for anonymous gender metric question now on RIPE Labs
- Next message (by thread): [diversity] Proposal for anonymous gender metric question now on RIPE Labs
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Shane Kerr
shane at time-travellers.org
Tue Jun 20 11:38:21 CEST 2017
Denis, At 2017-06-20 00:20:22 +0000 denis walker <ripedenis at yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > Sorry for making this personal, but I grew up in a small working > class town where, had my sexuality been known at that time, people > would have kicked the s**t out of me. I had an older gay cousin and > even some people within the family made fun of him. But that was > nothing compared to what can happen to people in many parts of the > RIPE region if it is known they have any gender diversity issues. My > cousin was laughed at by some members of the family. In some places > in 2017, members of a family will murder relatives to protect the > 'honour' of their family. I feel a lot of sympathy for anyone living in an oppressive situation. I don't deny that people are tortured, killed, and their families harmed for many unjust reasons - including their gender identity. > There seems to be some strange disjoint here between 'collecting > data' and what this data actually means. As a software developer and > analyst I also love to play around with data and find out interesting > things. Especially when the results lead on to some significant > change or improvement. I did so much of that with the contents of the > RIPE Database for so many years. But we are not collecting details of > age and colour preferences for shoes. This is sensitive, personal > data. If it is leaked or hacked it can cost lives. I am not trying to > be melodramatic here. This is the reality of the age we are currently > living in. I don't think there is an issue. I disagree with your repeated assertion that it is especially sensitive and can cost lives. When I buy an airline ticket I have to say "Dhr." ("sir") or "Mevr." ("madam"). When I check into a hotel I have to hand over my passport, which has my sex on it. Many driver's licenses have sex on them. Swedish national identity number is different depending on whether you are a man or a female. I'm sure others on the list can think of dozens of more examples where your gender or sex are non-private. Further, as has been repeatedly pointed out, this is opt-in. Anyone who feels concerned should not opt-in. I know you feel like people will feel pressured to participate and put false information in, but I cannot imagine any scenario where we could make people feel 100% safe with an Internet-based registration system. So the only options we are left with are to not gather information because maybe someone might feel pressured to lie, or to go ahead with a reasonable balance of privacy & information gathering. > I don't know why we are even having to have this conversation. There > are reputable companies that will operate surveys and the data they > collect is disconnected from any identifiable data. Use one of them. > You simply cannot take short cuts with such sensitive data. We are having this conversation because there are differing opinions. I think that I understand your concerns, I just do not agree that they are valid. Nevertheless, I am interested to hear of what your suggestions are for such reputable companies, or at least what selection criteria you would recommend for choosing one. Cheers, -- Shane -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 833 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digitale handtekening URL: <https://lists.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/diversity/attachments/20170620/8973a1fc/attachment.sig>
- Previous message (by thread): [diversity] Proposal for anonymous gender metric question now on RIPE Labs
- Next message (by thread): [diversity] Proposal for anonymous gender metric question now on RIPE Labs
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]