Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

“Go ahead. Make my day!”

Seriously, don’t these folks have better things to do? There are terrorists all over the place, spy swaps with lots of Russian moles still in place because exposing them would mess up business deals, and the FBI goes after Wikipedia? Geeeesh!

The FBI, as a part of the Executive Branch, is responsible for enforcing the law, not interpreting the law. Wow, those Founding Fathers were smart to separate powers.

In a July 22 letter to Wikipedia (PDF), which was posted by The New York Times, the FBI demanded that its official seal be removed from an article about the FBI, because the agency did not approve of the use of the image.

As a photographer, I understand a bit about the unauthorized use of images. (You should, too!) However, I also believe that the courts would “find in favor of” Wikipedia in this matter, if it goes that far.

The FBI letter goes on to threaten legal action if the demand is ignored: “Failure to comply may result in further legal action. We appreciate your timely attention to this matter.”

The CNET article states:

“However, Wikipedia thinks the law-enforcement agency may have misread the law it cited in its letter and is willing to go to court to prove it, if necessary. “While we appreciate your desire to revise the statute to reflect your expansive vision of it, the fact is that we must work with the actual language of the statute, not the aspirational version of Section 701 that you forwarded to us,” Mike Godwin, general counsel for Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit company that runs Wikipedia, wrote the FBI in response. (18 U.S.C. 701 prohibits the manufacture, sale, or possession of any badge, identification card, or other insignia, of the design prescribed by the head of any department or agency of the United States for use by any officer or employee of that agency.)

Godwin argues that the statue prohibits the unauthorized reproduction of the insignia on badges and identification cards–not encyclopedia articles.”

Mike Godwin, general counsel for Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit company that runs Wikipedia noted, in his reply to the FBI, that the FBI HAD EDITED THE LAW in the message sent to Wikipedia:

“Entertainingly, in support for your argument, you included a version of 701 in which you removed the very phrases that subject the statute to ejusdem generis analysis. While we appreciate your desire to revise the statute to reflect your expansive vision of it, the fact is that we must work with the actual language of the statute, not the aspirational version of Section 701 that you forwarded to us.”

Godwin’s letter also notes that the FBI seal appears on a number of other Web sites, including an online entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica. The New York Times article is entitled, “F.B.I., Challenging Use of Seal, Gets Back a Primer on the Law.”

As I mentioned above, the FBI is part of the Executive Branch of government. Revisions of law are generally a responsibility of the Legislative Branch. One of the fascinating (to me at least) characteristics of control freaks is that they continuously seek to expand their own control in a world that is insecure and frightening to them. I have worked for a number of them and have some as neighbors. It is one of the mental illnesses that is socially acceptable (even very USEFUL) in our culture.

An FBI spokesperson, William Carter, told the Times,”You can’t use the FBI seal, by law, unless you have the permission of the FBI director.”

If the FBI wanted to “save face” and move on in this matter, the Director could give permission to Wikipedia. (Most people might forget about it by next week. )

CNN notes that discussion of the issue in online media has been brutal:

On the blog BoingBoing, Rob Beschizza writes that this is a no-win situation for the FBI.

“The part that’s hard to understand is why the FBI would seek to abuse the law in such petulant fashion,” he writes, “knowing that it will be subject to public ridicule for its actions.”

The magazine Vanity Fair posted the FBI’s seal on its website in a symbol of jest. And, as the blog Geekosystem says, an editor on the site aggregator Reddit jokes that maybe the FBI got Wikipedia confused with WikiLeaks — the site that’s been causing a stir lately over leaked war documents.

If the FBI confused Wikipedia with WikiLeaks, they really should “get out more.” I suspect that wide-ranging powers that have been given to law enforcement in the war against terrorism have gone to the heads of some agents and agencies.

Humorously, there is NOW a Wikipedia entry on the “Seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”

The legal director of the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, Cindy Cohn, called the matter both “silly” and “troubling.”

“Really,” she added, “I have to believe the F.B.I. has better things to do than this.”

I’m really glad that I am not the only one who feels that way!

-Bill at

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