[WikiEN-l] Illegal sources

Fri Apr 7 09:07:37 UTC 2006

Here's a problem: what happens when the contents of an article can
only be verified by relying on sources which are illegal to view?

The issue has arisen in the context of the article currently known as
[[2004 Ukranian child pornography raids]]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Ukranian_child_pornography_raids>.

The article has changed now, but much of the content (describing the
pornography-producing organisation, aswell as describing the actual
material produced) was based on the assertions of those who had viewed
the content. On a couple of occasions, when sources were asked for in
relation to particular claims in the article, users provided links to
the Internet Archive's stored copy of the pornographic website.

Based on the descriptions given in the news sources, it would be
illegal for me (and for most others) to view this content, and thus it
would be illegal for me to verify the article. Thus, from my
perspective, the article is unverifiable.

I think it would be very much a matter of common sense to alter
[[WP:V]] and [[WP:RS]] to prohibit the use of illegal sources to
verify articles. But the question is where should the line of
definition be drawn? Laws vary substantially across jurisdictions.
Should we prohibit reliance on sources which are illegal to view in
Florida? Laws are much stricter in other countries: New Zealand
springs to mind as an example, but there are other countries where I
am sure the laws are even stricter.

--
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain at gmail.com