[Infowarrior] - UK filtering Wikipedia access

[Richard Forno]

British ISPs restrict access to Wikipedia amid child pornography  
allegations

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Wikinews has learned that at least six of the United Kingdom's main  
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have implemented monitoring and  
filtering mechanisms that are causing major problems for UK  
contributors on websites operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, amongst  
up to 1200 other websites. Wikinews has also learned that some ISPs  
have blocked customers from accessing some Wikimedia websites  
including the free, online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, altogether. The  
filters appear to be applied because Wikimedia sites are hosting a  
Scorpions album cover which some call child pornography. Scorpions are  
a German rock band who have used several controversial album covers  
and are perhaps best known for their song, "Rock You Like a Hurricane".

The measures applied redirect traffic for a significant portion of the  
UK's Internet population through six servers which can log and filter  
the content that is available to the end user. A serious side-effect  
of this is the inability of administrators on Wikimedia sites to block  
vandals and other troublemakers without potentially impacting hundreds  
of thousands of innocent contributors who are working on the sites in  
good faith.

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http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_ISPs_erect_%27Great_Firewall_of_Britain%27_to_censor_Wikipedia