Software (7863)

Wiki boss speaks out over IWF child porn ban

"There's no question that it's a dodgy picture"

9 December 2008 15:40 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is considering a court challenge against decision to block access to part of the site in the UK.

As we previously reported, British ISP providers had blocked access to the page covering the The Scorpion's "Virgin Killer" album after the IWF said it was a potentially illegal image of child sexual abuse.

The result of this is that millions of users in the UK are now unable to edit the online encyclopaedia's pages while the IWF has come into criticism for not blocking the same image on other, commercial, sits.

Speaking to Channel 4 news, Jimmy Wales said: "My first thoughts when I was told that the Internet Watch Foundation had blocked the Wikipedia page was that we should take them to court. But because they're not a statutory body, I've been told we can't necessarily challenge their decision".

"The Internet Watch Foundation were clearly over reaching their remit when they blocked the text page on Wikipedia - there's nothing illegal about the description of the album. I'd also question their wisdom about trying to block the image itself".

Wales continued: "There's no question that it's a dodgy picture, but it's an artistic protest made many years ago, but my concern isn't so much about the image - it's the ambiguous nature that they are acting in. It's not clear if they are over-reaching their authority".

Full tags

Software, Websites, Wikipedia, IWF