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UK ISPs Are Censoring Wikipedia

Posted by Soulskill on from the how-not-to-accomplish-something dept.

Concerned Wikipedian writes "Starting December 4th, Wikipedia administrators noticed a surge of edits from certain IP addresses. These IPs turned out to be the proxies for the content filters of at least 6 major UK ISPs. After some research by Wikipedians, it appears that the image of the 1970s LP cover art of the Scorpions' 'Virgin Killer' album has been blocked because it was judged to be 'child pornography,' and all other attempts to access Wikimedia foundation sites from these ISPs are being proxied to only a few IP addresses. This is causing many problems for Wikipedia administrators, because much of the UK vandalism now comes from a single IP, which, when blocked, affects potentially hundreds of thousands of anonymous users who intend no harm and are utterly confused as to why they are no longer able to edit. The image was flagged by the the Internet Watch Foundation, which is funded by the EU and the UK government, and has the support of many ISPs and online institutions in the UK. The filter is fairly easy to circumvent simply by viewing the article in some other languages, or by logging in on the secure version of Wikipedia."

7 of 668 comments (clear)

  1. Re:That's OK. by aliquis · · Score: 4, Funny

    Worked just fine for me (BBB, Sweden), so now I've found out they had a small nude girl on their cover and have spread the URL. Also it made me kind of naughty feeling and penis-tingeling ....

    Streisand-effect indeed.

  2. Re:That's OK. by aliquis · · Score: 4, Funny

    What? So it's really a service called virgin media which block virgin media? That sucks :/

    Good idea.

  3. Re:That's OK. by Alsee · · Score: 5, Funny

    The naked human body is a testament to the Creator's majesty and perfection, not a sin, and I see no reason why we should cover-up a naked human anymore than we cover-up a naked deer or naked bear or naked seal.

    You forgot naked beaver.

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    - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  4. Re:That's OK. by theaveng · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have beavers in my backyard.

    They are completely naked and despite the protests of my Bible-thumping neighbors, the beavers are welcome to remain on my property & be as naked as a jaybird if that's what they desire.

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    FOX NEWS.com should be BANNED from television and internet. Have the Congress take it over and give us Truespeak.
  5. Re:Sigh by McGiraf · · Score: 4, Funny

    whooosh

  6. Re:I think that by modern law, they are in the rig by sanyasi · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have a burka fetish. Take that, Saudi Arabia!

  7. Re:That's OK. by value_added · · Score: 4, Funny

    I have beavers in my backyard.

    Beavers are OK. It's shaved beavers that will cause you to run afoul of the law. And possibly incur the wrath of various PETA groups.