Activists Use Wikipedia To Test Aussie Net Censors

pnorth writes "Editors at Wikipedia have removed a link to a blacklisted web site that sat uncontested for over 24 hours in the main body of the Australian regulator's own Wikipedia entry. The link, which directs readers to a site containing graphic imagery of aborted foetuses, was inserted into ACMA's Wikipedia entry by a campaigner against Internet filtering to determine whether Australia's communications regulator had a double-standard when it came to censoring web content. The very same link motivated the regulator to serve Aussie broadband forum Whirlpool's hosting company with a 'link deletion notice' and the threat of an $11,000 fine. Last night, the link became the subject of 'warring' between several Wikipedia administrators in the lead up to its removal, with administrators saying they didn't want to be used to prove a point."

Comments

There are some things we shouldn't see

[BadAnalogyGuy]

As much as I'm all for freedom of speech, sometimes I think people take it a little too far by bringing such graphic images into the public square. Anti-abortionist protestors will frequently hold up graphic (bordering on pornographic) posters showing aborted fetii. This is done in full view of children.

I think the internet should be free, but seriously, how much worse off would we be if we didn't have Goatse.cx, TubGirl and other shock sites?

Re:There are some things we shouldn't see

[Samah]

I think the internet should be free, but seriously, how much worse off would we be if we didn't have censorship groups and "think of the children" advocates?

Well, Australia would have an R18+ video game classification, for one thing.

Re:There are some things we shouldn't see

[ChameleonDave]

It's proper Latin, you insensitive clod!

If you're talking about leaving the o out, then yes, it's proper Latin. The word was fetus in Classical Latin. It gained an o in the mediaeval period. Standard English overwhelmingly prefers this later spelling, but the etymology does give Americans a very good excuse for removing the o in this particular word.

The plural of this word in Latin is spelt the same as the singular, but the u is lengthened in the pronunciation. When this is the case, we in English just give the word a normal English plural in -es.

Giving the word a plural in -i (by analogy with words like alumnus) is a forgivable mistake, but "f(o)etii" is just idiocy. You might as well write "babyses".

Re:There are some things we shouldn't see

[gnud]

Sorry, how can you possibly link an aborted fetus to pornography?

It seems you don't know the meaning of the word pornographic.

I quote the third meaning of the word:

3 : the depiction of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse a quick intense emotional reaction <the pornography of violence>

Re:There are some things we shouldn't see

[stdarg]

I agree with your doubt, but why does that mean we suck? We suck because we're not totally irrational?

Even people who say things like "I will die for your rights!" realize that "free speech" as an absolute cannot exist alongside other absolutes like "privacy" which you mentioned, or "religion" or anything else that has a component that may restrict speech.

The West's rationality and introspection is a great strength not a source of suckiness. I guess it's not a strength, but more a thing of beauty. I know what you mean though. It sucks when you have that attitude but the people you're fighting don't. Things change, exceptions are made.

Re:There are some things we shouldn't see

[DrLang21]

That's all well and good but do you then care to explain to me why at any other occasion it is illegal to expose a woman's nipples in public? I get irked about it more because of the absurd double standard than I do about the act itself.

Re:Update: full block list available on wikileaks

[Chuck Chunder]

Is that link Slashdotted or am I being blocked?

Re:Error in story

[broken_chaos]

Link at the bottom of the page was removed 15 minutes after inital the protection by the same administrator who protected the page. Personally, I considered that short enough a time to consider it "at the same time". Approximately seven hours later (significantly longer than the initial 15 minutes) it was added back by another administrator.

Diff in question is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Australian_Communications_and_Media_Authority&diff=278141091&oldid=278071658

Civil disobedience

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm an Australian and I just downloaded the blacklist. Now what is ACMA going to do about it? I am tempted to start printing off the list and handing it out to strangers as a list of "all the good sites on the Internet". From a quick scan most of it looks to be random pron sites, they would have never gotten away with actually banning that many pron sites. Aussies love their porn. Though maybe they didn't ban the big pay ones as a thanks for all those anonymous donations.

Oh, and they have all the *chans. /b/ might almost be readable again if they ban all us Aussies.

Re:WP:POINT

[julesh]

This seems to be a classic case of WP:POINT: do not disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point. Whatever the merits of of linking/delinking wikipedia is not the appropriate venue. The sole reason for including something in wikipedia should be its encylopedic value.

Being able to see the content that was blocked increases the encyclopedic value because it allows the reader to decide for themselves whether or not blocking it was appropriate.

Re:Wikipedia

[Hordeking]

I don't get how this does anything other than annoy the Australian censors. What point are they trying to prove? "It you put fetus pictures on a webpage, it'll be blocked?" Isn't that point already proven?

I think they're trying to do 2 things here.

1. See if the ACMA will blacklist their own article on Wikipedia, because it has a link to a blacklisted site. If they don't, there's a double standard in play.
2. To demonstrate that the ACMA is overstepping whatever authority it has by extending its censorship beyond the original charter (child abuse/porn/think of the children) and has moved onto graphic material, though not obscene in the normal sense of the word.

For 1, this is straightforward enough.

For 2, this is interesting, as the people publishing the forbidden link are anti-abortion. Now, many people who are anti-abortion (I would guess) are quite rabidly pro-ACMA. They also view abortion as a form of child abuse (remember, they usually consider conception to be when life begins, not when the baby comes out of the breach). So what we end up with is essentially people publishing images of murder victims/abuse victims with the explicit intent of showing the harmful effects of the abortions. The ACMA probably claims to be banning the material because it's graphically revolting, but then again, that would be a personal judgement call. Given the reason for the ACMA (think of the children), this probably oversteps the boundary of what they are there for. One might also make the leap and say that just by blacklisting the site, the ACMA is making conflicting statements ("We condemn child abuse, but you aren't allowed to speak against it unless we approve.")