Media frenzy: Govt caught editing Wikipedia
There has been something of a media feeding frenzy today over revelations that Australian government agencies, including the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet have been editing Wikipedia articles -- in some cases, to change the slant of the articles, in others, engaging in puerile vandalism. (Unless there's some valid reason for inserting "Poo bum dicky wee wee" into an article on martial arts)
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet edited a Wikipedia article on "Mandatory detention in Australia" to change a reference to inhumane conditions of detention" to read "allegedely [sic] inhumane conditions of detention" and inserted a "Some commentators argume [sic] that" elsewhere in the article. Perhaps they need to learn how to spell check their work? In any case, those changes were reverted less than six hours later because of the use of "weasel words". Thus, the system worked.
The edits made by the NSW Premier's Department are more concerning, as they involve the editing of articles to remove or sanitise potentially embarrassing information. Since the story broke this morning, the Wikipedia entry for Morris Iemma (the NSW Premier) has been the subject of repeated vandalism.
Alexander Downer has accused Wikipedia of being "anti government", and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet are denying that they were responsible for the edits in question. Despite the fact that the APNIC WHOIS database records the IP address in question as being in a block assigned to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, they deny it was in fact used by them.
The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet edited a Wikipedia article on "Mandatory detention in Australia" to change a reference to inhumane conditions of detention" to read "allegedely [sic] inhumane conditions of detention" and inserted a "Some commentators argume [sic] that" elsewhere in the article. Perhaps they need to learn how to spell check their work? In any case, those changes were reverted less than six hours later because of the use of "weasel words". Thus, the system worked.
The edits made by the NSW Premier's Department are more concerning, as they involve the editing of articles to remove or sanitise potentially embarrassing information. Since the story broke this morning, the Wikipedia entry for Morris Iemma (the NSW Premier) has been the subject of repeated vandalism.
Alexander Downer has accused Wikipedia of being "anti government", and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet are denying that they were responsible for the edits in question. Despite the fact that the APNIC WHOIS database records the IP address in question as being in a block assigned to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, they deny it was in fact used by them.
inetnum: 210.193.176.96 - 210.193.176.127EFA has been deluged by calls from the media wanting comments on this issue. I've done several radio interviews on the subject today. It's nice to know that at least someone listens to these interviews :)
netname: MCT-pmc-04
country: AU
descr: Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet
descr: Intellicentre Gateway Internet Service
admin-c: MCT2-AP
tech-c: MCT2-AP
status: ASSIGNED NON-PORTABLE
changed: cgacis@macquarie.net.au 20050107
mnt-by: MAINT-AU-MCT
source: APNIC
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