[Wikimedia-l] French intelligency agency forces removal of a Wikipedia article

[Leonard Wallentin]

Was it an author of the article they contacted, or just a random administrator?
Leo

_______________Leonard Wallentinleo_wallentin at hotmail.com@leo_wallentin+46 (0) 735 - 933 543

> Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2013 13:44:57 -0600
> From: fredbaud at fairpoint.net
> To: wikimedia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] French intelligency agency forces removal of a Wikipedia article
> 
> Somehow it is important... Streisand effect writ large. Unless somehow it
> was just a mixup, or a deliberate attempt to put a false target forward.
> 
> Fred
> 
> > This is seeming a little silly; it's just a big communications station.
> >  It's got huge radio towers and is very visible on the skyline for a
> > distance.  It's got a civilian radio/TV tower colocated with it.
> >
> > I can't see what would be sensitive in the article..
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 12:12 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Typical. They were not willing to tell our legal counsel why or what
> >> was
> >> classified; she, of course, has no French security clearance; now it is
> >> spread all over an administrators noticeboard, and restored.
> >>
> >> They weren't wrong but neither is our legal counsel or the users; so
> >> "fell between the cracks." Hopefully the matter was not too important;
> >> I'm sure we have enough money to pay for relocating the facility to a
> >> secure location.
> >>
> >> Fred
> >>
> >> > This is where the discussion is happening on-wiki:
> >> >
> >> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Bulletin_des_administrateurs#Secret_d.C3.A9fense
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 10:52 AM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Hard to know what was involved from the information you provide. The
> >> problem is there is classified information that amounts to nothing and
> >> then there is classified information release of which can cause
> >> serious damage. Defiance will eventually result in serious trouble.
> >> Not that we should knuckle under to nonsense.
> >> >>
> >> >> Fred
> >> >>
> >> >> > Hi there,
> >> >> > I guess you might be interested to hear that Direction Centrale du
> >> Renseignement Intérieur (Central Directorate of Interior
> >> >> Intelligence,
> >> >> > DCRI), a French intelligence agency that reports directly to the
> >> Ministry of the Interior, has apparently forced a French Wikipedia
> >> administrator to delete an article that in their opinion—as I
> >> understand it—revelead classified information deemed very harmful
> >> >> to
> >> >> > the French national defence ("compromission du secret de la
> >> Défense
> >> nationale").
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Interestingly, they contacted the WMF legal team with a request to
> >> remove (delete? suppress?) this article a couple of weeks before
> >> >> that,
> >> >> > but were refused after failing to provide further information on
> >> why
> >> the article should be removed (in the words of a Foundation legal
> >> counsel).
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Undounted by that, they approached the said administrator — who
> >> operates under his real name, so I guess it was pretty easy to track
> >> him — and asked him to delete this article, a request which he
> >> obliged. (The article has since been restored by a different
> >> >> > administrator). As far as I understand, the version of the article
> >> they wanted to have deleted was
> >> >> > <https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=81104004>.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I guess that when an intelligence agency asks their citizen to
> >> remove information from Wikipedia citing the penal code (article
> >> 413-11 of the French penal code in this case), it is something worth
> >> sharing
> >> >> (no
> >> >> > harm intended).
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Further reading in English:
> >> >> > * <https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=prev&oldid=91703508>
> >> *
> >> <https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=91705235>
> >> >> >
> >> >> > --
> >> >> > Tomasz W. Kozłowski
> >> >> > a.k.a. [[user:odder]]
> >> >> >
> >> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
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> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> >
> >> > Matthew Roth
> >> > Global Communications Manager
> >> > Wikimedia Foundation
> >> > +1.415.839.6885 ext 6635
> >> > www.wikimediafoundation.org
> >> > *https://donate.wikimedia.org*
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > -george william herbert
> > george.herbert at gmail.com
> >
> 
> 
> 
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