UK Internet users can't edit Wikipedia because SOMEBODY-THINK-OF-THE-CHILDREN

[Laivasse]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7770456.stm

Wikipedia child image censored

A decision by a number of UK internet providers to block a Wikipedia page showing an image of a naked girl has angered users of the popular site. The blocked page of the online encyclopaedia shows an album cover of German heavy metal band Scorpions, released in 1976.

Internet providers acted after online watchdog the Internet Watch Foundation warned them its picture may be illegal. The IWF said it was a "potentially illegal child sexual abuse image". The image is available in a number of books and had never been ruled illegal. But the IWF, which warns internet providers about possible images that could be linked to child abuse, said it had consulted the police before making its decision.

The foundation's list of proscribed sites is widely used by British internet service providers to filter out images showing child abuse and other illegal content. As a result, the addition of the Scorpions Wikipedia page has made it inaccessible to the majority of British internet users.

The IWF, which lists the BBC, News International and internet companies AOL (UK) and Ask among its members, said as many as 95% of British users would now be unable to access the page.

Wikipedia volunteer David Gerard said he and fellow users were angry that as well as the photo, the text on the page had been blocked. "Blocking text is a whole new thing - it's the first time they've done this on such a visible site," he said. Mr Gerard also told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the album cover was still available as part of the band's box set and could be viewed on retail websites.

"When we asked the Internet Watch Foundation why they blocked Wikipedia and not Amazon, apparently the decision was 'pragmatic', which we think means that Amazon had money and would sue them, whereas we're an educational charity."

Ms Robertson also said the IWF needed to "take a view" on the images available on Amazon with its "analyst team and police partners".

Jay Walsh, a spokesman for the Wikimedia Foundation, which manages the encyclopaedia, said the removal of the page also appeared to have stopped thousands of UK users from editing articles on Wikipedia, which allows readers to self-edit its pages.

I learnt of this via an Uncyclopedia article, containing a link entitled 'Wikipedia? More like WikiPEDO-a'

But seriously :| This ****ing hysteria has got to stop. Britain is becoming such a shithole when it comes to personal freedoms nowadays, especially when a self-regulating body can arbitrarily block a page (containing no illegal content) from being accessed by virtually everyone in the country. Not to mention blocking most people in the UK from editing wikis on one of the hugest sites on the internet.

Wikimedia have issued a statement here.

As of December 6, 2008, most Internet users in the United Kingdom no longer have full access to Wikipedia. Due to censorship by the UK self-regulatory agency the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), most UK residents can no longer edit the volunteer-written encyclopedia, nor can they access an article in it describing a 32-year-old album by German rock group the Scorpions. Wikipedia visitors in the UK have also reported performance issues accessing the site.

“We have no reason to believe the article, or the image contained in the article, has been held to be illegal in any jurisdiction anywhere in the world,” said the Wikimedia Foundation's General Counsel, Mike Godwin. “We believe it's worth noting that the image is currently visible on Amazon, where the album can be freely purchased by UK residents. It is available on thousands of websites that are accessible to the UK public.”

EDIT!!!: Looks like I was a bit slow:

The decision was reversed by the IWF after four days of blocking.

More details on the whole thing here. This whole thing passed me by, since I'm not in the UK any more, and when I see shit like this I'm glad of it. I need my pedographic album covaz!

But still :| Discuss.

 

[Vegeta897]

Pfft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_goat

 

[NeptuneUK]

^

Hot.

 

[Laivasse]

Pfft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_goat

/reported to IWF

 

[Stigmata]

Pfft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_and_goat

So that's where they got the idea for the song Dick in a Box.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I got on it and i'm in the UK, so not all ISP's are blocking it.

 

[Laivasse]

Yeah I made an edit, looks like the IWF reversed their decision on Dec 9th. Like the ****ing dangerous idiots they are.

 

[MJ12]

Only in the UK.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

We're exclusive like that.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

no ukers on mah wikis.
srsly, wtf?

good thread title.

 

[JFry]

She does look a bit young. I mean fight the power! Stick it to the man!

 

[kineaesth]

I read about this like a week or more ago in the paper. That's right the paper.

The slowest news there is.

 

[Laivasse]

SO WHERE'S YOUR THREADcaps?

 

[Dalamari]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Faith_(album)

 

[Naph]

We must hide knowledge!

 

[Acepilotf14]

I saw that album cover before they censored it.
It's awesome.

 

[highlander]

hahaha....what.