I submitted the proposal to be able to eliminate certain parts of the
articles in certain countries, where the local governments find those
parts illegal: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=62231
But it got rejected, and I am not sure I am clear why.
The problem is that there are countries that lack the freedom of speech
(most of the countries), and some of them get very aggressive about
banning materials that most reasonable people wouldn't find
objectionable. The very recent example, provided in the bug report
above, is banning of any references of Adolf Hitler's book "Mein Kampf"
in Russia. While this case may seem not as important, but I don't see
why users outside Russia should be affected by such decision, when they
may not even support any decisions or values of the said government.
Yet, everybody's version of wikipedia page is affected, and materials
are hidden.
My suggestion, if implemented, would allow to hide certain parts of the
articles in the country (or area) of jurisdiction of the corresponding
court, while allowing users not living there to still see the original
version.
If such governments get their way in banning materials globally, this
will effectively make wikipedia biased, and reflecting various POVs of
various courts, which has never been intended by wikipedia.
Yuri
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