There are increasingly frequent proposals for a database of harassers, that is, some central storage of identifying information about people who perpetrate harassment of various kinds.
Purpose of this page
This page is intended to be an overview of requirements for such a database, partly to discourage casual efforts. (Doing it badly is probably worse than not doing it at all.)
If you want to have a detailed discussion of such a database or start making specifications, please use Talk:Database of harassers instead.
Problems that need to be solved
This is a (possibly incomplete) list of problems that need to be considered before making such a database.
Privacy issues
What information is stored about accuser and accused? How long is information stored for? Is it always public, never public, or public in some situations? How long is it public for? What happens in the event of someone recanting their report?
Leak and hack concerns
If the database stores non-public information, what steps are taken to protect it from hacking? What about associated information, eg, the email archives of the sysadmins or project leads? They may need equally strong protection.
What about deliberate leaks by, eg, disaffected former staff or volunteers?
Who watches the watchers?
Who gets to access the database? What are these people like, why do people have a reason to trust them? What happens when a report against one of them is filed?
False reports
There are two possible types of malicious false reports:
- false reports designed to smear a person
- false reports designed to reduce the credibility of the database
While the rate of false reports of abuse is very overblown in popular discourse, false reports do occur and in a project of this size should be anticipated.
Retribution
People naming harassers and accusers may be targeted by either that person or others for further abuse. But at the same time, publishing accusations against people while allowing their accuser to be anonymous is tricky ethically.
Legal issues
Incidents that involve the police and courts
If an incident is separately reported to police, how does the database deal with issues of, for example, contempt of court and restrictions on reporting during trial?
If charges are dropped, or the alleged offender is tried and found not guilty, what happens to their entry in the database?
Defamation
There's at least a reasonable chance that the hosts of the database could be held liable for defaming (libelling) people listed in the database if the truth of the reports can't be sufficiently verified. (In fact, in some jurisdictions the truth alone isn't a defence: you need to show both truth and public interest to defend against defamation suits.) This will have a chilling effect as even successful defences against legal actions take a lot of time and money.