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In the media

Probe into Nehru edits launched; dangers of the right to be forgotten

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By Gamaliel

In brief

Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957
  • Nehru probe launched: NDTV reports that the Indian government has launched an investigation into the source of June 26 Wikipedia edits regarding Jawaharlal Nehru that caused outrage in that country (see previous Signpost coverage). (Aug. 5)
  • Clashing rights: In the New York Times, Farhad Manjoo writes about the spread of the right to be forgotten and its potential dangers in the wake of European court rulings demanding Google take down links. Manjoo quoted Jimmy Wales as saying “If we’re asking Google to comply in every version of Google worldwide, it becomes very hard to say where we want Google to draw the line. It’s a race to the bottom. Governments all around the world will immediately say, ‘Great, we’ll ask for things to be deleted worldwide.'" (Aug. 5)
  • Editorial comrades: The Daily Beast interviews Christopher Robinson and Gavin Kovite, authors of the new novel War of the Encyclopaedists, about protagonists who keep in touch by editing a Wikipedia article. (Aug. 2)
  • Grudge match: A few media outlets reported that the feud between rappers Drake and Meek Mill spilled over onto Wikipedia, with Drake partisans vandalizing articles. (July 31)
  • Pre-production: Bollywood Dhamaka reports that the Wikipedia article of actress Mandana Karimi, who debuts in the upcoming film Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3, has been deleted. A source told Bollywood Dhamaka that “Mandana is trying to procure the details of how the page got deleted. She is talking to some of her friends, who are proficient in information technology to help her sort out the mess. The actor's team will set up a new page." Karimi's article was deleted on July 14 following an AfD discussion on the grounds of notability and that she had not starred in any films that had been released. (July 31)
  • Wales slams Reddit: Wales spoke out to the Huffington Post about the embattled social media website Reddit. Wales suggested that Reddit should act more forcefully against hate speech, which is rampant on Reddit, though many on the site have suggested that clamping down on such content would be censorship. Wales said "Censorship involves a government using force or someone using a threat of intimidation or violence to suppress speech. That's a very different thing to saying that this is a private platform, where we are not welcoming hate speech." (July 31)



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  • The Wales quote sounds very much like "Censorship is suppression of speech I disagree with." It's important to remember that censorship is not necessarily bad.
  • As to intimidation being a touchstone, we use intimidation on Wikipedia, and in the wider world, to censor. It could be argued that the community sanctions are relatively mild, on their face apparently being limited to withdrawal of permission to edit Wikipedia. Actually this is not true, by limiting individuals ability to correct things said about them on Wikipedia we affect their employment prospects (something similar is celebrated by Mike Godwin elsewhere in this issue) and that includes not just subjects of articles like the professor who has claimed to have his employment prospects blighted by coverage introduced by a SPA, but Wikipedians who may not be eligible for roles that require "good standing".
All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 14:11, 6 August 2015 (UTC).[reply]
I guess offensive content can be removed from Wikipedia now, so long as it's not being removed by a government. Abyssal (talk) 23:44, 11 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Make sure we cover what matters to you – leave a suggestion.
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