Wikipedia users are now again able to view the cover of the 1976 album, ‘Virgin Killer’, by The Scorpions.

Access to the Wikipedia page was blocked after worries that the cover, featuring a naked girl would be illegal. Approximately 95% of people in Britan were unable to access the page because internet providers agreed to enforce a ban of the page by blocking access to it.

The Internet Watch Foundation lifted the restrictions after taking into account the length of time the image has existed and its wide availability.

Before the ban, the album cover was relatively obscure becasue of its age and because it represented the Scorpion’s phychedelic rock stage before they ventured into harder rock, but what happened is that when the ban was started, an overwhelming amount of people were intrigued by the story and tried to search for the cover graphics on the internet.

In a statement the IWF stated “IWF’s overriding objective is to minimize the availability of indecent images of children on the internet, however, on this occasion our efforts have had the opposite effect.” They acknowledged the growth in people trying to seek out the cover after they started the ban.

Go figure.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry with the old and “new” covers.