Updated: Demand that online encyclopedia remove FBI logo flunks the laugh test
For the love of J. Edgar Hoover, don’t FBI lawyers have anything better to do?
From a story in the New York Times:
The bureau wrote a letter in July to the Wikimedia Foundation, the parent organization of Wikipedia, demanding that it take down an image of the F.B.I. seal accompanying an article on the bureau, and threatened litigation: “Failure to comply may result in further legal action. We appreciate your timely attention to this matter.”
The problem, those at Wikipedia say, is that the law cited in the F.B.I.’s letter is largely about keeping people from flashing fake badges or profiting from the use of the seal, and not about posting images on noncommercial Web sites. Many sites, including the online version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, display the seal.
Wikipedia’s reply to the FBI: You can take your precious seal and, well, stick it wherever you please. Actually, the Wikipedia lawyer was far more tactful. You can read the letter here.
(2010’s 25 Geekiest 25th Anniversaries)
The Times story included a picture of the FBI logo, of course, sort of like the one you see here and on every other news site noting this tempest. And, given the well-documented power of the Streisand Effect, you can be certain it will be on countless sites by day’s end, not to mention T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers.
Ought to keep those FBI lawyers busy for the rest of the year.
Wikipedia should be commended to refusing to buckle, however, a commenter on Digg has a good suggestion should they decide to take a different approach: “Remove it and replace it with a picture of an actual seal, wearing an FBI hat. Job done.”
Now how about the FBI gets back to fighting crime.
(Wednesday update: Steisand Effect has a death grip on this one, all right. The story is right now the lead item on Yahoo News and media outlets worldwide are tripping over one another to weigh in on the silliness.)
