[WikiEN-l] Re: Classified information in Wikipedia

Thu Apr 7 17:10:50 UTC 2005

> So, I don't think the possibility of someone adding 
> classified information to Wikipedia and us not knowing about 
> it is infeasible. The legal question is: what happens if the 
> US government says to remove it? The more I think about it, 
> the more the answer is, "we probably just remove it anyway." 

How can we assert that information which a government has classied as
"secret" is "freely copyable under the GFDL"? By what authority can we
grant a license to the entire world, to propagate information whose
creator has specifically labelled "do not disseminate"?

Is Wikipedia aiming to become a player in the game of "expose all the
CIA's secrets"? ... Claiming some sort of First Amendment right (like
the newspapers that "out" spies, for the purpose of (a) getting a scoop
which boosts circulation or (b) sabotaging US foreign policy, since it's
"bad" for America to employ spies? Anyone who wants to play this game
should do it on their own dime. Leave me out of this, please.

I don't think you can build world peace by undermining intelligence
agencies. Facilitation of mutual understanding is a more fruitful
avenue, hence the value of NEUTRAL articles about controversial
subjects, like religion, history and politics.

Ed Poor, aka Uncle Ed