Wikipedia child image censored
Updated on 08 December 2008
UK internet users have been blocked from accessing parts of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia because of concerns over a "potentially illegal" image of a naked child.
Some internet providers have banned access to an article displaying a controversial album cover by German heavy metal band The Scorpions, which has had the knock-on effect of leaving users unable to edit the volunteer-led encyclopaedia.
Internet Watch Foundation - an independent self-regulatory body - added the web address of the page to a voluntary blacklist sent to around 95 per cent of UK internet service providers (ISPs) and other online companies.
The image online
Typing "Virgin Killer" into Google's image search returns more than 10,000 results. Fourteen of the 18 images on the top page of these results are an uncensored version of the offending album cover.
Online retailer Amazon displays the image, although it more commonly shows the alternative album cover featuring a picture of the band. The English-language version of the Scorpions' own website displays the controversial cover in its discography section.
The IWF took action after the article about the 1976 album Virgin Killer was reported to it earlier this month. The web page was reviewed and added to the blacklist so companies could protect their customers "from inadvertent exposure to a potentially illegal indecent image of a child".
Wikipedia's operators have reacted angrily to the censorship, saying they have been unable to find any evidence that the artwork - which shows a pre-pubescent naked girl with a crack of glass obscuring her genitals - is illegal.
"We have no reason to believe the article, or the image contained in the article, has been held to be illegal in any jurisdiction anywhere in the world," said Mike Godwin, general counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation, which publishes Wikipedia.
"We believe it's worth noting that the image is currently visible on Amazon, where the album can be freely purchased by UK residents," he added. "It is available on thousands of websites that are accessible to the UK public."
Wikipedia users have reported problems accessing the page through Virgin Media, O2-owned Be and several other internet providers.
Many users are unable to see any of the text on the web page, as well as the offending image.
The album was originally issued in many countries with an alternative cover.
