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Censorship

Submission + - Wikipedia censored in UK

Submitted by
DarkCow
DarkCow writes: "Wikipedia has been put on an IWF blacklist, apparently due to an article containing an image depicting a naked child on an album cover.
Most major UK ISPs are affected, in that all wikipedia-destined traffic is routed through a handful of transparent proxies, causing a bit of a panic over at the admin's noticeboard. ZDNet and The Register report.

"The great firewall of the UK" doesn't have quite the right ring to it. Any suggestions?"
Censorship

Submission + - UK ISPs switch on mass Wikipedia censorship (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by coolnicks
coolnicks writes: Wikipedia has been added to a Internet Watch Foundation UK website blacklist, according to discussions on the Wikipedia administrators noticeboard, this is because a transparent proxy has been enabled for customers of Virgin Media, Be/O2/Telefonica, EasyNet/UK Online, PlusNet, Demon and Opal. This has two effects: users cannot see content filtered by the proxies, and all user traffic passing through the proxies is given a single IP address per proxy. As Wikipedia's anti-vandalism system blocks users by IP address, one single case of vandalism by a single UK user prevents all users on that user's ISP from editing. The effect is to block all editing from anonymous UK users on that list of ISPs. Registered users can continue to edit.
Censorship

Submission + - UK now censoring Wikipedia 1

Submitted by badfish99
badfish99 writes: As the register is reporting, ISPs in the UK are now censoring access to Wikipedia, because of the image on this page.
I've just tried to access it myself, and I get a 404 error, with no indication that the page really exists but has been censored. How many other 404 errors in the last few years have been things that the government didn't want me to read? It's a good job I've installed Tor.
Censorship

Submission + - UK ISPs censor Wikipedia page, serve fake 404 1

Submitted by
McDutchie
McDutchie writes: "Suddenly, access to Wikipedia from most major UK ISPs has become painfully slow. The reason: all your connections to Wikipedia are being transparently proxied through a single IP address, and the article about the 1970s Scorpion album, Virgin Killer, is blocked, presumably because of the cover image. The proxy serves fake 404 Not Found error page, so you wouldn't know about the block unless you were familiar with Wikimedia's regular 404 page. Wikinews has more on this."
The Internet

Submission + - UK ISPs are censoring Wikipedia

Submitted by Concerned Wikipedian
Concerned Wikipedian writes: Starting December 4th, Wikipedia administrators noticed a surge of edits from certain IP addresses. These IPs turned out to be the proxies for the content filters of at least 6 major UK ISPs. After some research by Wikipedians, it appears that the image of the 1970s LP cover art of the Scorpions' "Virgin Killer" has been blocked because it was judged to be "child pornography" and all other attempts to access Wikimedia foundation sites from these ISPs are being proxied to only a few IP addresses. The latter is causing many problems for Wikipedia administrators because much of the UK vandalism now comes from a single IP that when blocked affects potentially hundreds of thousands of anonymous users who intend no harm and are utterly confused as to why they are no longer able to edit. The image was flagged by the the Internet Watch Foundation, which is funded by the EU and the UK government and has the support of many ISPs and online institutions in the UK. The filter is fairly easy to circumvent simply by viewing the article in some other languages, or by logging in on the secure version of Wikipedia. [Wikinews] and [ZDnet]
Censorship

Submission + - Major UK ISPs Blacklist Wikipedia 1

Submitted by
Jonnty
Jonnty writes: "Wikipedia has been put on a blacklist of theInternet Watch Foundation, a UK body which gives ISPs lists of sites they reckon ought to be blocked. While UK users can still browse Wikipedia, they're now doing it through about 10 proxy servers, causing havoc among the community as innocent users are blocked over the actions of vandals hundreds of miles away. According to Wikinews, it's all a result of an album cover by the Scorpions featuring a naked ten year old girl, which has caused controversy in the past. However, it certainly raises questions about whether the IWF is compent enough to hold such power — it looks like they've blocked Rapidshare in the past, too."
Censorship

Submission + - UK ISPs erect 'Great Firewall of Britain' (wikinews.org)

Submitted by redbu11
redbu11 writes: Since yesterday, 5 December, wikipedia administrators realized strange things were going on: users of many majors UK ISPs visited wikipedia from only two IP addresses. This caused serious troubles in wikipedia operations, because all of a sudden it was impossible to filter vandals out. At first, a technical bug on wikipedia was suspected; the discussion can be seen on wikipedia here Investigation has shown that something more sinister was going on. The IWF foundation, http://www.iwf.org.uk/, appeared to dislike the cover of Scorpions album named "Virgin Killer" shown here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Killer The album cover is controversial and many feel that it's distasteful, however it is not illegal by any means; the album was sold in great numbers. Instead, IWF silently ordered several UK ISPs to reroute wikipedia traffic to a special censorship proxy (wikipedia saw IP of the proxy instead of the actual IP addresses). What is especially alarming about IWF approach is that: IWF did not notify Wikipedia that there is any legal problem with their pages; IWF did not file any legal claim (as one would expect if any law would have been broken); IWF did not notify own customers about ongoing censorship. One would expect a clear message saying that a page was blocked, who blocked it and how to request unblocking if this happened by mistake. Instead, the page presents a fake "404" error as if the page would be missing from wikipedia. The ongoing story is documented here.
The Internet

The Kremlin Tightens Its Grip on the Internet 280

Posted by CmdrTaco from the more-you-tighten-your-fingers dept.
reporter writes "According to a report just published by "The Washington Post", the percentage of Russian adults having access to the Internet has risen from 8% in 2002 to 25% in 2007. This growth has attracted the attention of the Kremlin. Its allies are creating pro-Kremlin web sites and are purchasing web sites known for high-quality independent journalism. Pro-Kremlin bloggers have used their skills to bury news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations: at Russian news portals, web links to news about pro-Kremlin rallies consistently rank higher than web links to news about anti-Kremlin demonstrations. The most disturbing development is that the Kremlin intends to develop a Russian Internet which is separate from the global Internet. Russian officials are studying the techniques that the Chinese use to censor the Internet."
The Internet

YouTube For High-School Jocks 97

Posted by kdawson from the sports-videographers dept.
theodp writes "Used to be college scouts had to put in lots of miles to find a hick from French Lick. But thanks to the Internet, athletic recruiters no longer have to traipse out to actual games to find talent. The players are coming to them via links to video streamed from sports-info websites like Student-Athlete Showcase, iPlayers, and GetMyNameOut. The home-video-meets-NFL-Films highlight reels — which parents commission for a fee ranging from $300 to $5,000 — have become a standard component of college applications for jocks (as well as for aspiring actors, dancers, and musicians). One sales pitch: 'Are you willing to risk your child's potential scholarship with a homemade videotape? Remember, first impressions last forever!'"
Toys

Geek and Gadgets Set Cross-US Speed Record 805

Posted by kdawson from the breaker-breaker-need-a-bear-check dept.
Brikus writes "And you thought your car had gadgets. In this story from Wired magazine, we hear about Alex Roy and his quest to break the record time for a cross-USA road trip. One of the biggest roadblocks to breaking the record: highway patrol officers, about 31,000 along the way. So Roy decked out his E39 BMW M5 with a thermal camera, radar/laser detectors, GPS devices, police scanners, and other high-tech gadgets and toys."
The Courts

Oklahoma Game Law Permanently Enjoined 60

Posted by Zonk from the that's-what-you-get dept.
The poorly-written game law passed in Oklahoma - and subsequently found unconstitutional by the courts - has now been permanently enjoined from existing. This has been a pet project of Governor Brad Henry, and this enjoinment will stop the law from rearing its head again. "The law sought to ban the dissemination to minors of any computer or video game that contains any depiction of "inappropriate violence," which was defined by depictions that fall into any one of nine broad categories. Violators would also have been subject to fines of up to $1,000 ...It also seems in some way that the law singled out the game industry, since according to the court decision, the law was found to be underinclusive - meaning that a minor might be prevented from buying a video game with 'inappropriate violence' but may still legally buy or rent the book or movie on which the game was based." GamePolitics has reaction to this decision.

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