French intelligence forced Wikipedia sysop to delete article

Headquarters of the French Central Intelligence Agency

Wikimedia France issued a statement strongly condemning the pressure exerted by employees of the Central Department of Internal Intelligence (DCRI) on the volunteer sysop Wikipedia.

In early March, DCRI employees contacted Wikipedia for the first time and demanded an immediate removal from the French section of the encyclopedia of an article on a military radio station that contains classified information. Wikipedia refused to fulfill the request, citing insufficient grounds for making such a decision.


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Not satisfied with the answer, on April 4, 2013, the secret services summoned to their office one of the French Wikipedian community, which has access to the function of deleting articles.

Like many other members of the Wikipedia community, this user works on a voluntary basis. At the DCRI office, he was forced to remove the article, threatening to leave him in custody and open a criminal case in case of non-compliance. Although the volunteer explained to agents how Wikipedia works, and that in this way they will not be able to permanently delete information, they still insisted on deleting the article. Naturally, under pressure, the guy fulfilled the requirements of DCRI, he had no other choice. The agents also told him to tell the rest of the sysop that if they tried to cancel the deletion of the article, they would be accountable to the law.

Interestingly, this sysop had nothing to do with the article and did not know about its existence until the call to the internal intelligence office. He was chosen because he was the easiest to identify: he often participated in various events of Wikipedia and Wikimedia in France, gave interviews as a representative of Wikipedia, etc.

The Wikimedia organization strongly condemns such actions of internal intelligence. “Wikimedia France cannot understand how bullying and coercive methods can be used against a person committed to the ideals of freedom of information and knowledge. Since Wikimedia France supports freedom of knowledge, it is our duty to expose such acts of censorship against a French citizen and Wikipedia editor, ”said in an official statement.

The controversial material was published in the French Wikipedia a few years ago and during this time did not cause any problems until April 4, 2013. Naturally, after such a scandal, a secret radio station could become one of the most popular articles in the French section.

“The Internet is not a place that can be regulated in such a brutal way,” says Wikimedia France, and expresses hope for an independent investigation into the incident. “France is a legal state where national security should not be protected by such methods.”