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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrench "FBI" Confines & Coerces Wikipedia Volunteer Into Deleting Article
In early March, the DCRI (Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur) contacted the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization which hosts Wikipedia. They claimed that an article on the French-language Wikipedia about a French military compound contained classified military information, and demanded its immediate deletion. The Wikimedia Foundation considered that they did not have enough information and refused to grant their request.
The Wikimedia Foundation has often collaborated with public authorities to follow legal decisions. It receives hundreds of requests every year asking for the deletion of articles, and always complies with clearly motivated requests.
Unhappy with the Foundations answer, the DCRI summoned a Wikipedia volunteer in their offices on April 4th. This volunteer, which was one of those having access to the tools that allow the deletion of pages, was forced to delete the article while in the DCRI offices, on the understanding that he would have been held in custody and prosecuted if he did not comply. Under pressure, he had no other choice than to delete the article, despite explaining to the DCRI this is not how Wikipedia works. He warned the other sysops that trying to undelete the article would engage their responsibility before the law.
This volunteer had no link with that article, having never edited it and not even knowing of its existence before entering the DCRI offices. He was chosen and summoned because he was easily identifiable, given his regular promotional actions of Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects in France.
More at http://blog.wikimedia.fr/dcri-threat-a-sysop-to-delete-a-wikipedia-article-5493 , including that the article had been available online for many years prior to its forced deletion.
Can there be any doubt as to whether, if authorities acquire the ability to alter online history via the Cloud and "semantic web" or otherwise, they'll hesitate to do it?
Among other lessons, Wikipedia and ALL of us should be regularly backing up our own, offline copies of everything we care about.
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French "FBI" Confines & Coerces Wikipedia Volunteer Into Deleting Article (Original Post)
snot
Apr 2013
OP
The blogpost doesn't mention that the article is back online and has spread to other wikis.
DetlefK
Apr 2013
#1
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)1. The blogpost doesn't mention that the article is back online and has spread to other wikis.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/07/french-secret-service-wikipedia-page
It was restored by a sysop of the french wikipedia of swiss nationality.
"Before this happened there were between 10 and 60 visitors to the page concerned. Now there are around 10,000 from around the world."
http://www.zdnet.com/french-spy-agency-tries-to-pull-classified-wikipedia-entry-only-draws-more-attention-to-it-7000013631/
In just a few hours, it became the most popular entry on Wikipedia France.
It was restored by a sysop of the french wikipedia of swiss nationality.
"Before this happened there were between 10 and 60 visitors to the page concerned. Now there are around 10,000 from around the world."
http://www.zdnet.com/french-spy-agency-tries-to-pull-classified-wikipedia-entry-only-draws-more-attention-to-it-7000013631/
In just a few hours, it became the most popular entry on Wikipedia France.
Possible only because that sysop had a backup.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)3. No need for an extra backup: Even wiki-sysops can't delete content forever and ever.
No matter who has vandalized and deleted what, it doesn't matter. Articles can be reset to an earlier version, deleted articles can be restored with a few clicks (if the sysop knows where to look at).
The wiki-software automatically saves EVERY VERSION OF EVERY CONTENT. The only people who can change things with finality are the bureaucrats (that's one step higher than sysop), because they are the only ones who can access the software itself. And bureaucrats have usually more of a ... seclusive personality.
snot
(10,530 posts)4. Good to know; but I aimed at something broader:
Wikipedia's not the only host for important info. There are many other important sources whose content is frequently altered or deleted for questionable reasons.