British ISPs Block Wikipedia

Beginning on Dec. 6th, Several internet service providers began blocking an article on Wikipedia, citing concerns of Child Pornography. The site contains an article on the album "Virgin Killer" by the German rock band, The Scorpions. The objectionable content is the album cover art, which shows a pre-pubescent girl in a sexualized pose. The site can be seen here.

The reason for this block was due to an inclusion into the Internet Watch Foundation's black list for objectionable content.

Of note is that this foundation is not a government entity, and is merely a charitable organization that monitors the web for potential criminal content. Once it receives notice, it reviews the material and then notifies the police and ISPs if the content is potentially infringing. ISPs have almost always used this list as a filter for objectionable content. As a side note, the inclusion of the Wikipedia entry also disabled 95% of British internet users from editing other articles on the site.

Beyond any argument of net neutrality which might arise from the actions of the ISPs, the role that IWF plays must be reviewed critically. They have no legal authority to censor and there has been no legislative action leading them to believe that they should have the authority to censor (unless one considers the inaction of the British parliament to regulate the body or create an accountable body in the IWF's place).

Needless to say, British internet users, upset by this overt form of censorship, demanded that Wikipedia be restored to its original form. Yesterday, the IWF reversed its decision releasing a statement. In it, they concluded that "...the image in question is potentially in breach of the Protection of Children Act 1978. However, the IWF Board has today (9 December 2008) considered these findings and the contextual issues involved in this specific case and, in light of the length of time the image has existed and its wide availability, the decision has been taken to remove this webpage from our list."

While this instance of non-governmental censorship may have been averted due to the court of public opinion, this form of criticism is surely not available for the majority of sites that are affected by the IWF's list for mobilizing this kind of reaction towards the body most likely only occur if large sites are effected.