Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy
This policy is approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. It may not be circumvented, eroded, or ignored by Wikimedia Foundation officers or staff nor local policies of any Wikimedia project. |
Because we believe that you should not have to provide personal information to participate in the free knowledge movement, you may:
- Read, edit, or use any Wikimedia Site without registering an account.
- Register for an account without providing an email address or real name.
Because we want to understand how Wikimedia Sites are used so we can make them better for you, we collect some information when you:
- Make public contributions.
- Register an account or update your user page.
- Use the Wikimedia Sites.
- Send us emails or participate in a survey or give feedback.
We are committed to:
- Describing how your information may be used or shared in this Privacy Policy.
- Using reasonable measures to keep your information secure.
- Never selling your information or sharing it with third parties for marketing purposes.
- Only sharing your information in limited circumstances, such as to improve the Wikimedia Sites, to comply with the law, or to protect you and others.
- Retaining your data for the shortest possible time that is consistent with maintaining, understanding, and improving the Wikimedia Sites, and our obligations under applicable law.
Be aware:
- Any content you add or any change that you make to a Wikimedia Site will be publicly and permanently available.
- If you add content or make a change to a Wikimedia Site without logging in, that content or change will be publicly and permanently attributed to the IP address used at the time rather than a username.
- Our community of volunteer editors and contributors is a self-policing body. Certain administrators of the Wikimedia Sites, who are chosen by the community, use tools that grant them limited access to nonpublic information about recent contributions so they may protect the Wikimedia Sites and enforce policies.
- This Privacy Policy does not apply to all sites and services run by the Wikimedia Foundation, such as sites or services that have their own privacy policy (like the Wikimedia Shop) or sites or services run by third parties (like third-party developer projects on Wikimedia Cloud Services).
- As part of our commitment to education and research around the world, we occasionally release public information and aggregated or non-personal information to the general public through data dumps and data sets.
- For the protection of the Wikimedia Foundation and other users, if you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, you may not use the Wikimedia Sites.
تَعارُف
خٲر مَقدَم!
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that operates collaborative, free knowledge websites, like Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wiktionary.
This Policy explains how we collect, use, and share your Personal Information.
- We collect very little Personal Information about you.
- We do not rent or sell your Personal Information to third parties.
By using Wikimedia Sites, you consent to this Policy.
The Wikimedia movement is founded on a simple, but powerful principle: we can do more together than any of us can do alone. We cannot work collectively without gathering, sharing, and analyzing information about our users as we seek new ways to make the Wikimedia Sites more usable, safer, and more beneficial.
We believe that information-gathering and use should go hand-in-hand with transparency. This Privacy Policy explains how the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that hosts the Wikimedia Sites, like Wikipedia, collects, uses, and shares information we receive from you through your use of the Wikimedia Sites. It is essential to understand that, by using any of the Wikimedia Sites, you consent to the collection, transfer, processing, storage, disclosure, and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. That means that reading this Policy carefully is important.
We believe that you should not have to provide nonpublic Personal Information to participate in the free knowledge movement. You do not have to provide things like your real name, address, or date of birth to sign up for a standard account or contribute content to the Wikimedia Sites.
We do not sell or rent your Personal Information, nor do we give it to others to sell you anything. We use it to figure out how to make the Wikimedia Sites more engaging and accessible, to see which ideas work, and to make learning and contributing more fun. Put simply: we use this information to make the Wikimedia Sites better for you.
After all, it is people like you, the champions of free knowledge, who make it possible for the Wikimedia Sites to not only exist, but also grow and thrive.
Definitions
We recognize that only a minority of you are familiar with technical terms like "tracking pixels" and "cookies" used in the Privacy Policy.
Whether you are brand new to privacy terminology or you are an expert who just wants a refresher, you might find our Glossary of Key Terms helpful.
Because everyone (not just lawyers) should be able to easily understand how and why their information is collected and used, we use common language instead of more formal terms throughout this Policy. To help ensure your understanding of some particular key terms, here is a table of translations:
When we say... | ...we mean: |
---|---|
"the Wikimedia Foundation" / "the Foundation" / "we" / "us" / "our" | The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., the non-profit organization that operates the Wikimedia Sites. |
"Wikimedia Sites" / "our services" | Wikimedia websites and services (regardless of language), including our main projects, such as Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, as well as mobile applications, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), emails, and notifications; excluding, however, sites and services listed in the "What This Privacy Policy Does Not Cover" section below. |
"you" / "your" / "me" | You, regardless of whether you are an individual, group, or organization, and regardless of whether you are using the Wikimedia Sites or our services on behalf of yourself or someone else. |
"this Policy" / "this Privacy Policy" | This document, entitled the "Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy". |
"contributions" | Content you add or changes you make to any Wikimedia Sites. |
"Personal information" | Information you provide us or information we collect that could be used to personally identify you. To be clear, while we do not necessarily collect all of the following types of information, we consider at least the following to be "personal information" if it is otherwise nonpublic and can be used to identify you:
|
"third party" / "third parties" | Individuals, entities, websites, services, products, and applications that are not controlled, managed, or operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. This includes other Wikimedia users and independent organizations or groups who help promote the Wikimedia movement such as Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups as well as volunteers, employees, directors, officers, grant recipients, and contractors of those organizations or groups. |
What This Privacy Policy Does and Does Not Cover
Except as explained below, this Privacy Policy applies to our collection and handling of information about you that we receive as a result of your use of any of the Wikimedia Sites. This Policy also applies to information that we receive from our partners or other third parties. To understand more about what this Privacy Policy covers, please see below.
Examples of What This Privacy Policy Covers
|
---|
For the sake of clarity, this Privacy Policy covers, regardless of language:
|
This Privacy Policy, however, does not cover some situations where we may gather or process information. For example, some uses may be covered by separate privacy policies (like those of the Wikimedia Shop) or sites or services run by third parties (such as third-party developer projects on Wikimedia Cloud Services). To understand more about what this Privacy Policy does not cover, please see below.
More on what the Wikimedia Foundation Privacy Policy does not cover
|
---|
This section is part of the Privacy Policy and is meant to explain in detail which situations are not covered by our Privacy Policy.
Sometimes, volunteers may place a data-collecting tool, such as a script, gadget, tracking pixel, or share button, on a Wikimedia Site without our knowledge. This Policy does not cover how third parties handle the information they receive as a result of such a tool. If you come across such a third-party tool, and you believe it violates this Policy, you can remove the tool yourself, or report it to privacy[at]wikimedia.org so we can investigate. |
Where community policies govern information, such as the CheckUser policy, the relevant community may add to the rules and obligations set out in this Policy. However, they are not permitted to create new exceptions or otherwise reduce the protections offered by this Policy.
Collection & Use of Info
Types of Information We Receive From You & How We Get It
Your Public Contributions
Whatever you post on Wikimedia Sites can be seen and used by everyone.
When you make a contribution to any Wikimedia Site, including on user or discussion pages, you are creating a permanent, public record of every piece of content added, removed, or altered by you. The page history will show when your contribution or deletion was made, as well as your username (if you are signed in) or your IP address (if you are not signed in). We may use your public contributions, either aggregated with the public contributions of others or individually, to create new features or data-related products for you or to learn more about how the Wikimedia Sites are used, as further explained below in the "How We Use Information We Receive From You" section of this Privacy Policy.
Publicly Visible Information
|
---|
Unless this Policy says otherwise, you should assume that information that you actively contribute to the Wikimedia Sites, including Personal Information, is publicly visible and can be found by search engines. Like most things on the Internet, anything you share may be copied and redistributed throughout the Internet by other people. Please do not contribute any information that you are uncomfortable making permanently public, like revealing your real name or location in your contributions. You should be aware that specific data made public by you or aggregated data that is made public by us can be used by anyone for analysis and to infer further information, such as which country a user is from, political affiliation and gender. |
Account Information & Registration
You do not need to create an account to use any Wikimedia Site.
If you do create an account, you do not need to give us your name or email address (although you can if you choose to, such as for the "Email this user" feature for example).
If you do not create an account, your contributions will be publicly attributed to your IP address.
Want to create an account? Great! Do not want to create an account? No problem!
You are not required to create an account to read or contribute to a Wikimedia Site, except under rare circumstances. However, if you contribute without signing in, your contribution will be publicly attributed to the IP address associated with your device.
If you want to create a standard account, in most cases we require only a username and a password. However, if you choose not to provide an email address, we cannot help you recover your password.
More on Usernames
|
---|
Your username will be publicly visible, so please be careful about revealing your real name or other Personal Information in your username. Your password is only used to verify that the account is yours. Your IP address is also automatically submitted to us, and we record it temporarily. This is to protect Wikimedia users and project content; in the event of abuse, IP addresses may be associated with usernames as part of an investigation. No other Personal Information is required: no name, no email address, no date of birth, and no credit card information. Once created, user accounts cannot be removed entirely (although you can usually hide the information on your user page if you choose to). This is because your public contributions must be associated with their author (you!). In some circumstances, the Wikimedia communities can assist users with removing additional information related to their account from the projects. |
To gain a better understanding of the demographics of our users, to localize our services and to learn how we can improve our services, we may ask you for more demographic information, such as gender or age, about yourself. We will tell you if such information is intended to be public or private, so that you can make an informed decision about whether you want to provide us with that information. Providing such information is always completely optional. If you do not want to, you do not have to—it is as simple as that.
Location Information
GPS & Other Location Technologies
Some features we offer work better if we know what area you are in.
If you consent, we can use GPS (and other technologies commonly used to determine location) to show you more relevant content. We keep information obtained by these technologies confidential, except as provided in this Policy. You can learn more by checking out the list of examples of how we use these technologies in our FAQ.
Metadata
Sometimes, we automatically receive location data from your device. For example, if you want to upload a photo on the Wikimedia Commons mobile app, we may receive metadata, such as the place and time you took the photo, automatically from your device. Please be aware that, unlike location information collected using GPS signals described above, the default setting on your mobile device typically includes the metadata in your photo or video upload to the Wikimedia Sites. If you do not want metadata sent to us and made public at the time of your upload, please change your settings on your device.
IP Addresses
Finally, when you visit any Wikimedia Site, we automatically receive the IP address of the device (or your proxy server) you are using to access the Internet, which could be used to infer your geographical location.
Information Related to Your Use of the Wikimedia Sites
We use certain technologies to collect information about how you use Wikimedia Sites.
Like other websites, we receive some information about you automatically when you visit the Wikimedia Sites.
We also use a variety of commonly-used technologies, like cookies, to collect information regarding how you use the Wikimedia Sites, make our services safer and easier to use, and to help create a better and more customizable experience for you.
We want to make the Wikimedia Sites better for you by learning more about how you use them. Examples of this might include how often you visit the Wikimedia Sites, what you like, what you find helpful, how you get to the Wikimedia Sites, and whether you would use a helpful feature more if we explained it differently. We also want this Policy and our practices to reflect our community's values. For this reason, we keep information related to your use of the Wikimedia Sites confidential, except as provided in this Policy.
Information We Receive Automatically
Because of how browsers work, we receive some information automatically when you visit the Wikimedia Sites. This includes when you use an online tool on a third-party site that loads information coming from the Wikimedia Sites. This information includes the type of device you are using (possibly including unique device identification numbers, for some beta versions of our mobile applications), the type and version of your browser, your browser's language preference, the type and version of your device's operating system, in some cases the name of your internet service provider or mobile carrier, the website that referred you to the Wikimedia Sites, which pages you request and visit, and the date and time of each request you make to the Wikimedia Sites.
Put simply, we use this information to enhance your experience with Wikimedia Sites. For example, we use this information to administer the sites, provide greater security, and fight vandalism; optimize mobile applications, customize content and set language preferences, test features to see what works, and improve performance; understand how users interact with the Wikimedia Sites, track and study use of various features, gain understanding about the demographics of the different Wikimedia Sites, and analyze trends.
Information We Collect
We use a variety of commonly-used technologies, like cookies, to understand how you use the Wikimedia Sites, make our services safer and easier to use, and to help create a better and more customizable experience for you.
We actively collect some types of information with a variety of commonly-used technologies. These generally include tracking pixels, JavaScript, and a variety of "locally stored data" technologies, such as cookies and local storage. These types of technologies may also be used in online tools on a third-party site that loads information from the Wikimedia Sites. We realize that some of these technologies do not have the best reputation in town and can be used for less-than-noble purposes. So we want to be as clear as we can about why we use these methods and the type of information we collect with them.
Depending on which technology we use, locally stored data may include text, Personal Information (like your IP address), and information about your use of the Wikimedia Sites (like your username or the time of your visit). See below for more information.
We use this information to make your experience with the Wikimedia Sites safer and better, to gain a greater understanding of user preferences and their interaction with the Wikimedia Sites, and to generally improve our services. We will never use third-party cookies, unless we get your permission to do so. If you ever come across a third-party data collection tool that has not been authorized by you (such as one that may have been mistakenly placed by another user or administrator), please report it to us at privacy@wikimedia.org.
More on Locally Stored Data
|
---|
Locally stored data, JavaScript, and tracking pixels help us do things like:
|
Want to know even more? You can read more about some of the specific cookies we use, when they expire, and what we use them for in our FAQ.
We believe this data collection helps improve your user experience, but you may remove or disable some or all locally stored data through your browser settings, depending on your browser. You can learn more about some options you have in our FAQ. While locally stored data may not be necessary to use our sites, some features will not function properly if you disable locally stored data.
While the examples above concerning information about you collected through the use of data collection tools are kept confidential in accordance with this Policy, please note that some information about the actions taken by your username is made publicly available through public logs alongside actions taken by other users. For example, a public log may include the date your account was created on a Wikimedia Site along with the dates that other accounts were created on a Wikimedia Site.
How We Use Information We Receive From You
عام
We and our service providers use your information for the legitimate purpose of pursuing our charitable mission, including:
Operating the Wikimedia Sites, sharing your contributions and administering our Services.
|
---|
We engage in these activities to manage our relationship with you, because we have a legitimate interest and/or to comply with our legal obligations. |
Providing customized Services.
|
---|
We will customize the Services, in some instances, with your consent; or in keeping with our legitimate interest. |
Sending emails with news updates and communications about items we believe may be of interest to you.
|
---|
We will send these types of emails to you only with your consent except as otherwise permitted by applicable law. We do not sell, rent, or use your email address to advertise third-party products or services to you. You can manage what kinds of notifications you receive and how often you receive them by going to your Notifications Preferences and User profile. You can learn more about email and notifications and how to change your preferences in our FAQ. |
Sending optional surveys and requesting feedback.
|
---|
We will always tell you, at the time we give you an opportunity to share your thoughts, how we plan on using your answers and any Personal Information you provide. Your responses to our surveys and feedback requests are always optional. We will email these types of requests to you only with your consent except as otherwise permitted by applicable law. You can manage what kinds of notifications you receive and how often you receive them by going to your Notifications Preferences and User profile. You can learn more about email and notifications and how to change your preferences in our FAQ. |
Improving the Wikimedia Sites and making your user experience safer and better.
|
---|
We engage in these activities to further our legitimate interest and/or to comply with our legal obligations. |
باقی
Location information
GPS & Other Location Technologies
As stated above, we can use commonly-used location technologies to show you more relevant content. For example, our mobile apps can identify articles from the Wikimedia sites about points of interest near your location. As a reminder, you can consent to and/or deactivate our access to these location technologies at any time for example through the native OS functionalities on your mobile