British ISPs restrict access to Wikipedia

[awkx]

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_ISPs_...nsor_Wikipedia

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 would call child pornography. The Scorpions is the band behind "Rock You Like a Hurricane" and produced a number of controversial album covers.

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 contributing to the sites in good faith.

So webpages are now blocked in the UK based on a private complaint with no due process. Yay freedom! In case anyone is wondering, yes, the British gov't is very much behind this, although, at present, it is nominally "voluntary" for ISPs to implement the blacklists. And apparently there is already talk about expanding the filters to "militant Islamism" sites. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-184029.html

[Ten*K]

hmm... no, not surprised at all. the U.K gov't sucks for so many other reasons.

while the original album art is certainly gratuitous, certainly tasteless, and a little creepy, denying all access to any outside information based on one point of data in a limitless ocean of information is retarded, unless you live in sharia/communist states