FBI demands Wikipedia remove its seal
The F.B.I. recently demanded Wikipedia remove its official seal from the site. Wikipedia has refused, and attempted to teach the Bureau a lesson in U.S. laws.
There was I thinking the F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Investigation) would be really quite busy in the current climate of criminality and terrorism being serious problems in out society. But it appears not. In fact, the F.B.I. is so under-worked and over-manned that it can waste time trying to stop Wikipedia from displaying the Bureau’s official seal on one of its pages.
According to The New York Times, the F.B.I. wrote a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation in July ordering the removal of the official Bureau seal from one of its pages. This wasn’t an informal request, with the threat of legal action – “Failure to comply may result in further legal action. We appreciate your timely attention to this matter,” – added to make sure the order was complied with.
But the guys at the Wikimedia Foundation are made of strong stuff, and therefore refused to do as they were asked.
The F.B.I. wants the seal removed supposedly to prevent people making fake badges using it, and to prevent any profit being made from it. But the Foundation has questioned the Bureau’s interpretation and use of the law, accusing it of misquoting the legal statute.
Furthermore, Michael Godwin, general counsel of the Wikimedia Foundation, finished his response by stating, “we are prepared to argue our view in court.” Which would certainly make for a compelling case, and all over the publishing of what amounts to a logo.
As usual with this type of thing, the order has backfired on the F.B.I. In reporting this story, many more websites than Wikipedia has displayed the official seal in an attempt to add context. Which means any problem the Bureau had with Wikipedia has now been expanded to hundreds of other Web destinations as well.
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March 22nd, 2011
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