Wikipedia censor mess 'a no-win'

After the clearing of smoke and a blaze of coverage today, it looks like the decision by the Internet Watch Foundation to ban a Wikipedia page – and therefore eventually block UK users from editing the site - is turning into a real mess.

Reports have started coming in that BT has now joined Virgin, Be and others in banning the page – though quite why they didn't automagically join the ban straight away isn't obvious (perhaps Wikipedia's usually on BT's exception list?)

When I spoke to the IWF earlier, they said that this sort of decision was taken on a regular basis – but was rarely as controversial. The current review of the initial decision to ban the Virgin Killer image should be made by noon on Tuesday, I was told.

But how was the decision made? Did something go wrong here?

I asked Richard Clayton - one of the country's leading internet security experts, and someone whose work we've featured many times – what was up.

"We see this borderline stuff all the time; it's a no-win," he said. The decision seems to have been based on taking the image out of context, something which might seem pretty strange - particularly "given that you can go into HMV and buy a copy on the high street".

The main outcome – apart from highlighting the way the British internet is censored – might be to highlight the lack of cooperation between British authorities and other international bodies, he said.
After all, the FBI had already investigated – and decided not to act upon - the image's use on Wikipedia, "but because the IWF doesn't talk to people outside of the UK they weren't able to appreciate what was going on."