Screenshot via Wikipedia.com
“The free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” is facing pressure from not just anyone.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is on Wikipedia’s user-friendly tail. The agency has grown inflamed over the posting of its official seal on the site’s FBI entry, which presents counterfeiting issues.
In a letter posted online by the New York Times, the bureau writes: “The FBI has not authorized use of the FBI seal on Wikipedia. The inclusion of a high quality graphic of the FBI seal on Wikipedia is particularly problematic, because it facilitates both deliberate and unwitting copying and reprinting of the seal’s image.”
As for Wikipedia’s response, CNN reports that its camp is prepared to stand its ground. In a separate letter posted by the Times, Wikimedia Foundation’s general counsel, Mike Godwin, wrote: “In short, then, we are compelled as a matter of law and principle to deny your demand for removal of the FBI Seal from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. We are in contact with outside counsel in this matter, and we are prepared to argue our view in court.”