Talk:Information sensitivity

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[edit] Cleaning up

• OK, I've started the first phase of the cleanup. It was a bit of a pain, since it is so hard to edit things embedded in those table definitions. The long term solution might be to take the non-classified descriptions out of the table and paste them into normal paragraphs. A section on "classified information" can link to the real classified information wiki entry and maybe provide a synopsis. Then we can simply delete the table, which, though eye-catching, has problems. Specifically, it is hard to edit (a huge problem for a wiki entry) and it contains unsourced (and probably incorrect) information, like the "clearance levels" which to my knowledge aren't part of the US DOD's clearance process. Cryptosmith (Rick Smith) 21:02, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Older comments

this is intentionally kept as abstract as possible while keeping distinct levels of sensitivity based on their "intentions" or "purpose". please explain why you flagged it with "globalize" (although improvement and translation (as in classified information is a good thing)) Iancarter 01:18, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Basically for Improvement & Translation, Also for the colour coding. Feedyourfeet 10:36, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Editors should take care in using pronouns, especially the pronoun "you", when discussing editorial issues, since multiple people are editing and making comments. A "You" may point to the wrong editor. It's better to depersonalize when talking about issues.

A fundamental problem with the article is that it tries to take the hierarchical structure used for some classified information, the corresponding notion of "levels", and the associated notion of somewhat formal sensitivity descriptions, and apply all this to non-classified information. This is simply wrong. While the article is correct in identifying certain types of sensitive non-classified information, none of these are "levels", nor are they formalized in the same way as a classification level like "Secret". As a first step to correct this situation, the article should follow Wikipedia style guidelines regarding the use of "ALL CAPS" (i.e. don't use them except for acronyms) and provide more descriptive and general definitions of the non-classified sensitivity categories. The article should eliminate the parallel formatting that makes the non-classified categories appear as if they're conceptually similar to classification levels (which they are not). Also, the article should follow Wikipedia guidelines by providing references. Cryptosmith (Rick Smith) 01:48, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup request

First of all, I put in a request for sources because the cited sources almost exclusively apply to classified information. The important contribution of this entry is that it talks about unclassified information sensitivity. Unfortunately, there is perhaps one reference ("seal of the confessional") that's not about classified information.

Second, the list of classification levels should be eliminated, and that section redirected to the classified information article. There has been a long-term, ongoing, serious effort there to capture world wide information about classification levels there. I don't want to do that update myself because I don't want to fiddle with the tables and I'm happy to let the article's creator do it if possible.

Third, the article suggests that there are standard, widely-accepted "labels" for the different kinds of sensitive but unclassified information. As someone with a bit of experience in information security, I know this is not true. I think the article has done a good, basic job of categorizing types of sensitive but unclassified information. Those "labels" should be converted into "section titles" that retain the summaries of types of sensitive information. It's important not to say more about the categories that is generally accepted.

Fourth, the article suggests that the series of unclassified sensitivity labels represent a series of ordered levels. The article should be edited to eliminate this suggestion. It doesn't make sense to present these sensitivity labels as if they represent levels. Moving the reference to classification levels will help reduce this implication, which is heavily suggested by using the same visual structure for the unclassified category list and classified level list.

Fifth, as a style thing, I suggest avoiding all caps in the unclassified category names. It suggests that these are formally defined, standardized, and widely-accepted labels for well-defined concepts. This is unfortunately not the case. Cryptosmith (Rick Smith) 19:02, 11 August 2006 (UTC)