[WikiEN-l] Illegal sources

Fri Apr 7 09:23:33 UTC 2006

On 4/7/06, Stephen Bain <stephen.bain at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.

Mmmmm... interesting case. In my view, sources have to be verifiable
for someone, i.e. at least some wikipedians need to be able to check
verifiability. So perhaps sources that are illegal everywhere should
not be allowed? (This, of course, causes severe practical problems. If
it is illegal for, say, most citizens of English speaking countries to
check something, it is difficult to argue there *is* verifiability.
Moreover, how would we know something is illegal everywhere?).
Nonetheless, I don't think the laws of Florida should apply, if users
in, say, Australia can check a source legally, I see now verifiability
problem even if US users cannot.