[WikiEN-l] FBI vs. Wikipedia

[Carcharoth]

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 6:30 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:
>> Now this is fascinating:
>>
>> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/Image:Q-clearance_badge.jpg
>>
>> That image deletion debate appears to be over some security badge. The
>> debate started in February 2007 and was closed in June 2007 (deletion
>> debates were closed faster back then). But the image is now deleted.
>>
>> And look at the deletion reason:
>>
>> 18 U.S.C. §701
>> https://secure.wikimedia.org/otrs/index.pl?Action=AgentTicketZoom&TicketID=1236826
>>
>> I think that is an OTRS request pertaining to 18 U.S.C. §701. I would
>> be very interested to know how many OTRS tickets and/or deletion logs
>> involved citations of 18 U.S.C. §701, which is one of the statutes
>> being cited here as well.
>
> That would seem to be a valid basis for oversight. However, the image of
> the badge is on Commons.

What? I'm talking about a different image now. And I'm talking about
the Commons queue of OTRS queries:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS

Though confusingly that page only gives details for confirming image
details. It should also say that anyone can contact OTRS (which serves
all the projects) and complain about an article or image or almost
anything.

In this case, I think someone contacted OTRS (in December 2007) with a
complaint about the "Q-clearance badge" image and the OTRS volunteer
deleted the image. I can't find any other deletion discussion relating
to that image (other than the deletion discussion that took place from
February to June 2007 - before the OTRS request), so I presume that
this is what happened. You would have to look at the OTRS ticket (or
ask someone with access to that OTRS queue) to be certain what
happened there.

Oh, and the image is on en-Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q-clearance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Q-clearance_badge.jpg

22:27, 12 December 2007 Georgewilliamherbert (talk | contribs)
restored "File:Q-clearance badge.jpg" ‎ (5 revisions and 1 file
restored: Restore here; commons image to follow; OTRS ticket
2007120810008853 discussion on OTRS list and WMF legal)

The person at the deletion discussion who said it was a rubbish photo
was correct.

But have a look at some of the edits associated with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Q-clearance_badge.jpg&diff=354779997&oldid=271185331

And look at the lengths people will go to:

"Cropped from this photograph, a photograph of Linton Brooks  by the
Los Alamos National Laboratory. The source image has since been
modified to remove the badge from the photograph. The original is
still available via the Internet Archive as of Feb. 15, 2007:
http://web.archive.org/web/20060227224312/http://www.lanl.gov/news/albums/meetings/Brooks_Linton_061005.jpg."

Massive debate on the talk page as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Q_clearance

"Q clearance is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) security
clearance equivalent to a United States Department of Defense Top
Secret (TS) clearance and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information
(CNWDI)."

Remember this all took place when Brad Patrick was WMF lawyer.

Carcharoth