News of Wikipedia being blocked over controversial content usually originates out of countries like China, but this week's Wikipedia drama comes courtesy the UK. Thanks to a recommendation by the British watch group Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), ISPs across the country blocked access to one or more pages on Wikipedia's site, with some blocking access altogether. Although the IWF has since backed down and removed the offending content from its list, questions still remain about the organization's power to cause such widespread censorship.

According to a new statement posted to IWF's website, the organization reconsidered the age of the controversial image at Wikipedia—a 1976 album cover by the Scorpions—and its wide availability online. Although the IWF believes that the album cover could potentially be in breach of the Protection of Children Act of 1978, the fact that the image is some 32 years old and posted pretty much everywhere on the Internet (especially after this week) has prompted the IWF to remove it from its list of illegal content. "Any further reported instances of this image which are hosted abroad, will not be added to the list," wrote the IWF. "Any further reported instances of this image which are hosted in the UK will be assessed in line with IWF procedures."

The controversy originates around the cover of a Scorpions album titled Virgin Killer. The image pictures a naked girl who appears to be under the age of 18, with a strategically-placed image of cracked glass over her. The cover is featured on Wikipedia's page about the album, as is traditional for most albums with entries on the site.

The IWF says that the image on Wikipedia was reported through the organization's website and assessed by the IWF at that time. "The content was considered to be a potentially illegal indecent image of a child under the age of 18, but hosted outside the UK," said the IWF. As a result, the organization consulted with law enforcement and notified one partner agency overseas, and then added the URL to a list provided to local ISPs of sites that contain potentially illegal images of children.

That's when things went crazy. Some ISPs decided to block just the image, while others blocked the entire page (text included), while others blocked all of Wikipedia—reports of the incident are all over the map. Wikipedia users were unsurprisingly irked by the sudden decision to block various parts of the site due to an image that has been in public circulation for some 22 years. Many have noted that the very same album cover is still featured on other web sites, including Amazon, that are allowed through the ISPs in question.

"The Internet Watch Foundation were clearly over reaching their remit when they blocked the text page on Wikipedia—there's nothing illegal about the description of the album. I'd also question their wisdom about trying to block the image itself," Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told the UK-based Channel 4 News in response to the ban.

Wales pointed out the apparent discrimination against Wikipedia when the controversial image is still hosted on web sites around the world. "As a result of their actions, the image is actually being seen by more people, it's appearing on thousands of blogs today. It will continue to be passed on. What are they going to do? Are they going to block all of the web if it continues to be spread?"

It's certainly a good question. Just because the IWF has backed down over the Virgin Killer album cover (and only internationally-hosted versions of it) doesn't rule out similar occurences in the future. What happens if people start reporting every instance of another controversial image and the ISPs react similarly each time? With concerns over potential Internet censorship already looming in the UK, this latest Wikipedia incident is going to have reverberations, despite the fact that access is already being restored.