Conference proceeding
Are anonymity-seekers just like everybody else? An analysis of contributions to Wikipedia from Tor
2020 IEEE SYMPOSIUM ON SECURITY AND PRIVACY (SP 2020), v 2020-
01 Jan 2020
Abstract
User-generated content sites routinely block contributions from users of privacy-enhancing proxies like Tor because of a perception that proxies are a source of vandalism, spam, and abuse. Although these blocks might be effective, collateral damage in the form of unrealized valuable contributions from anonymity seekers is invisible. One of the largest and most important user-generated content sites, Wikipedia, has attempted to block contributions from Tor users since as early as 2005. We demonstrate that these blocks have been imperfect and that thousands of attempts to edit on Wikipedia through Tor have been successful. We draw upon several data sources and analytical techniques to measure and describe the history of Tor editing on Wikipedia over time and to compare contributions from Tor users to those from other groups of Wikipedia users. Our analysis suggests that although Tor users who slip through Wikipedia's ban contribute content that is more likely to be reverted and to revert others, their contributions are otherwise similar in quality to those from other unregistered participants and to the initial contributions of registered users.
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Details
- Title
- Are anonymity-seekers just like everybody else? An analysis of contributions to Wikipedia from Tor
- Creators
- Chau Tran - New York UniversityKaylea Champion - University of WashingtonAndrea Forte - Drexel UniversityBenjamin Mako Hill - University of WashingtonRachel Greenstadt - New York UniversityIEEE
- Publication Details
- 2020 IEEE SYMPOSIUM ON SECURITY AND PRIVACY (SP 2020), v 2020-
- Series
- IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Number of pages
- 17
- Grant note
- NSF REU; National Science Foundation (NSF); NSF - Office of the Director (OD) CNS-1703736; CNS-1703049 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Resource Type
- Conference proceeding
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Information Science
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000618063500012
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85088110708
- Other Identifier
- 991019168912604721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Computer Science, Information Systems
- Computer Science, Theory & Methods
- Engineering, Electrical & Electronic