Wikipedia Filtered in U.K. Over Album Cover Art

Iria

Access to editing a Wikipedia article in the U.K. has been effectively blocked after the U.K.'s Internet Watch Foundation added a Wikipedia article on Virgin Killer, an album from German heavy metal group Scorpions, to its blacklist.
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Source: Tech-Ex

BlueMak

I just checked the page, unbelievable I would like to say. I can't access the url either. Nice to see how easy it is to control freedom around here.

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Matth

Got as far as BBC Radio now, the Radio 4 "Today" programme
BBC - Today

There are several issues, the starting one being the actual decision that was made, on an Album cover image that is still available in-store, on amazon - while the deliberately controversial cover was changed, the artwork is apparently stil included in the boxed set.

Image description: Naked flat chested girl (I will not make an age judgement there) in "glamour" pose with lower modesty preserved by cracked glass effect. (and yes, I am pretty much giving away that I have viewed/obtained the image, only as a result of this furore, after the blocking).

Maybe it would have slipped by almost unnoticed, were it not for the detrimental effect that forced proxying (most ISPs use a single proxy for IWF filtering) had on access to the entire wikipedia, treating all users of a single ISP as a single IP and crippling IP (anon user) edits and also interfering with account creation.

The final issue calls into question the decision making and governance of any censorship body, and indeed, their whole effectiveness, as there are many ways that this blocking can be bypassed.


Will Wikipedia back down and self-censor for a quiet life - and having got ON the list, how long would it take to get off it?

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Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead
Now Mary takes her lamb to school,
Between two crusts of bread

Zardon

Interestingly the image (which is available on google image for those interested in seeing it) has been rumoured to have been sourced from a child porn database at the time when the album was released.

Either way, It is a little bit tasteless, I cant even begin to imagine the band discussions

"hey ive a great idea for an album cover guys!"

"yeah what, something futuristic or perhaps cartoon based?"

"nah, lets have a young girl totally naked on the front and we break the cover like glass just over her genitals"

Amazing what you could get away with in the 70's. If that happened now the band would be blacklisted from gigs or even recording......

EfrainMan

The wikipedia article says it was the record company's idea and the girl was one of theirs (daughter or niece or something) and some band members regret it now (of course, not when it was being made )

So it was the label having those discussions

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