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ISPs block Wikipedia
Monday 8th December 2008, by Daniel King
Access to Wikipedia has been blocked by six internet service providers (ISPs) in the UK.
The site was added to the Internet Watch Foundation's (IWF's) block list after a banned image from the 1976 record of the Scorpion's Virgin Killer cover was published.
It features a nude underage girl, which prompted the IWF to block the site as this qualifies as child porn.
The ISPs to take action over the image are O2, Virgin Media, Easynet, PlusNet, Demon and TalkTalk.
Users trying to access the page might find a warning posted, stating that it has been blocked for containing indecent images children.
Alternatively, broadband customers with Virgin Media or other ISPs could find the page is either blank or returns a 404 error message.
The IWF said: "A Wikipedia web page was reported through the IWF's online reporting mechanism in December 2008.
"As with all child sexual abuse reports received by our Hotline analysts, the image was assessed according to the UK Sentencing Guidelines Gouncil (page 109)."
ISP Review said the incident shows how blocking content is not as simple as it sounds.
The news provider noted that if ISPs block a single user by their IP address, it can lead to many people being blocked as Wikipedia traffic is routed through transparent proxies.
This eases bandwidth but means that thousands of broadband subscribers can appear to come from the same IP address.
Sky Broadband recently adopted a new child protection system from Crisp, which works by flagging up potentially inappropriate conversations on instant messaging services, social networking sites and online games.
Parents are then notified via text message or email.
Categories: Broadband, Internet Security, Be, TalkTalk, Virgin Media
