UK Bans Naked Girls And Talk Of Naked Girls From Wikipedia
“BUT, yer honour. I was researching Scorpion album covers on Wikipedia for a book on The Who’s influence on Germanic soft-rock. I am not a peado had have never been a paedo”.
So comes the defence. But it does not wash, at least not with a number of UK internet providers which have now blocked a Wikipedia page showing an image of a naked girl.
Visitors to the page are now met with the words “Sex case, sex case, hang him, ‘ang ‘im, ‘ang ‘im” and a knock on the door.
A shadowy “online watchdog” called the Internet Watch Foundation has warned one and all that the picture may be illegal.
A spokeswoman for the IWF, which lists its members as including the BBC, AOL (UK), Ask and News International, boasts that as many as 95% of British users would now be unable to access the page.
Wikipedia volunteer David Gerard observes that not only the picture but the text too has been blocked lest anyone who views it be turned on to studded leather jackets, finger perms and a place “Where the children of tomorrow dream away”.
Says he:
“Blocking text is a whole new thing – it’s the first time they’ve done this on such a visible site.”
Anorak applauds the directive and notes that from now on the word “naked” will be re-edited as “clothed” and searches for “girls” will result in pictures of fully grown men in skirts and regulation knickers.
Germans singing in English has also been banned.
Posted: 8th, December 2008 | In: Reviews Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
