- Help:Privacy
- To merge with Wikipedia:Privacy
Wikipedia is used nearly all over the world^ by people seeking information on myriad topics. Wikipedia strongly supports the notion that anyone is free to research and acquire knowledge on any topic. This view is however not shared by everyone, and notably governments have been known to crack down on those who read certain topics.
Wikipedia also adheres to the principle that it does not censor anything because it is objectionable or offensive. "Attempting to ensure that articles and images will be acceptable to all readers, or will adhere to general [|Norm (social)|social]] or religious norms, is incompatible with the purposes of an encyclopedia." Anything that is allowed per American law (where Wikipedia is hosted) and follows Wikipedias policies is allowed. This may cause issues in locales with stricter censorship, or even among individuals in nations with ostensibly no censorship, but who do not have the same clout to defend themselves as the Wikimedia Foundation.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).
The use of https also ensures that it is not possible to block individual pages, or even to see which page a user visits. A few countries have chosen to block all of Wikipedia, either temporarily or permanently, though they are in minority. This means Wikipedia often hosts information on controversial topics that may be censored elsewhere, such as: the Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989, Green Illusions, The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, or Alice in Wonderland. While ostensibly safe to read about these topics on Wikipedia,^ editing and following external links may be subject to tracking. This type of tracking has lead to arrests previously, examples.... No known case of readers being arrested for following external links exists, but there are cases where editors have been prosecuted for engaging in Wikipedia.
This help page is a guide on how to ensure privacy both when editing an reading Wikipedia. If all you do is choose to read on Wikipedia and not edit or follow external links, most of the suggestions here are of minor concern to you.
Reading edit
IP-obfuscation edit
When reading Wikipedia there are several ways to obfuscate your traffic. Using such methods arguably adds very little in terms of privacy — if you only read on Wikipedia. If you
Referrers edit
Editing edit
Wikipedia strongly supports the
Editing by using an account ensures extra protection from tracking.
IP-obfuscation edit
Obfuscating your IP, by using either a VPN or Tor is normally not allowed while editing. If you are unable to edit without these tools you may apply for an exception at linkehre