Slashdot Mirror
French Intelligence Agency Forces Removal of Wikipedia Entry
saibot834 writes "The French domestic intelligence agency DCRI has forced a Wikipedia administrator to delete an article about a local military base. The administrator, who is also the president of Wikimédia France, has been threatened by the agency with immediate reprisals after his initial refusal to comply. Following a discussion on the administrator's noticeboard, the article (which is said to violate a law on the secrecy of the national defense) has been reinstated by a foreign user. Prior to pressuring the admin, DCRI contacted the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), which refused to remove the article. WMF claimed the article only contained publicly available information, in accordance with Wikipedia's verifiability policy. While the consequences for Wikimedia's community remain unclear, one thing is certain: The military base article – now available in English – will get more public awareness than ever before."
I think the important part of the wiki article (English version) is that it mentions nuclear attack orders may be relayed through the station and that there are four others, with additional wiki links to those stations.
Let's imagine (crazy idea, I know) that their goal is the application of local law... they certainly know that this will create unwanted attention in the short run, but maybe that's a sacrifice they're willing to make to have wikimedia comply with local law?
Welcome to the Internet, France. Wiki ain't local. Suck it.
That said - This article has pretty much nothing of interest in it except maybe a tiny bit of cold war trivia only of interest to the most die-hard "must know everything" historians. That, therefore, makes me suspect this base's official purpose as a cover for something much, much more interesting. Thanks, France, for drawing attention to this!
And in a wonderful example of self-reference, this Slashdot article is referenced in the Wikipedia article.