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."

Comments

Le effect Streissand.

[serviscope_minor]

I wonder what that French agency which likes to create French words instead of using ones derived from other languages will coin to name the Streissand effect.

Re:Le effect Streissand.

[JakeBurn]

Ah, valid criticisms. Those I like. Such as pointing out that only the worst type of loser chooses to check the box 'Post Anonymously'. If you have an opinion, speak it. Being afraid of judgment from people you have never or will never meet shows an extreme lack of self esteem. Type out your opinions like an ADULT and be done with it.

"smart-assed immature punks' are the people who honestly think anyone gives a damn about spelling mistakes on the internet. Should I berate you endlessly for not putting a comma between miserable and worthless as you should have? It would be a waste of both our times and we both know it. Adult only references a person's age, not their ability to not act like a know-it-all piece of shit who feels that everyone should be grateful at being corrected on a matter they care nothing about. Save us the shame of knowing about your neurotic tendencies and keep them to yourself.

Re:Le effect Streissand.

[BarfooTheSecond]

That said - This article has pretty much nothing of interest...

In this case you're probably right, however one shouldn't forget that intelligence job is to gather tiny bits of information that might look of no interest to average people to reconstruct schemes in contexts that are of interest to them (and other intelligence services). It's a profession.

It is the same problematic as with Facebook lambda users for example who say "Due, I don't publish very private information about myself there, so what, and who cares...", when you warn them about their privacy. They simply ignore there are specialists out there, how powerful data mining systems are and how they are capable of spotting, linking and gathering tiny elements of information where themselves just see nothing.

I just want to say that intelligence agencies know what is sensible or of interest to them and what is not. We, outsiders, don't.

But sure they got a Streisand effect here...

Re:compromised, fullstop.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Submitter here

[saibot834]

In this case the problem was not that Wikipedia was centralized. The Wikimedia Foundation in the US did not comply with the agency's demands.

The problem was that the administrator's real name was publicly known (he's a public figure and it's his username) so that they were able to find someone under French jurisdiction. Most admins and non-admins use pseudonyms and are thus immune to real-life pressure.

All in all, I'd say the system worked. The admin had to give in to the immense pressure, but he was sensible enough to publicly announce what he did, thus enabling foreign users to reinstate the article. Now, the really threatening cases are those with gag orders, such as given by US intelligence agencies.

Could have been worse

[dbIII]

Could have been worse like another time in New Zealand - at least they didn't sink Wikipedia's boat and kill their photographer.

Re:Military intelligence

[roman_mir]

I think someone in the French military got their panties in a wad about nothing...

- careful, it's France. You don't insult the panties that the French military is brandishing without suffering a severe ... retreat.