Posted on August 24, 2007 - by Justin Hartman
SA and Australian Governments caught editing Wikipedia
IT Web yesterday broke a story that the South African government was attempting to censor the largest human edited encyclopedia, Wikipedia. In their article they report that
Wikipedia’s edit history for the article “HIV/Aids in South Africa†shows repeated vandalism from IP address 164.151.130.36. This address resolves to a machine called mx1.statssa.gov.za, located just off the Ben Schoeman highway in Centurion, and is owned and operated by the South African government.
As if this isn’t bad enough I just finished reading an article on TechCrunch about the Australian Prime Minister’s Office having been caught editing Wikipedia as well. TechCrunch have reported that
Staff from the Office of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC) edited Wikipedia entries that were damaging to the Goverment, including pages covering the Children Overboard Affair and Mandatory Detention. Other edits included deleting the nickname of “Captain Smirk†from the Wikipedia biography of Australian Treasurer Peter Costello, and a range of bizarre edits, including the addition of the line “Poo bum dicky wee wee†to a Wikipedia article on Bubishi, a book related to Martial Arts.
These recent plots by Governments have been uncovered by the Wikiscanner which lists anonymous Wikipedia edits from large corporations. The question this raises (and has done so for some time in my mind) is just how reliable Wikipedia really is. I’ve always implored the effort of Wikipedia but as with anything opened to public consumption you leave yourself open to cheating and blatant propaganda that can’t really be combated.
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August 25, 2007
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How reliable are you Justin? The South African Government editing Wikipedia? You make it sound like official policy – it was probably some little nerd in the stats office – hardly a “plot”.
I wonder why the local media so reactive when it comes to the government – I think if you took a poll of cabinet and parliament – who make up the SA Government -there might be a only vague awareness of what a Wiki is.
I don’t know about Australia, but guess it’s much of the same and as for Wikipedia – I’m prepared to give it a go, although I cross check.
Everything is propaganda Justin – Growing up in apartheid South Africa, the history I learned in printed schoolbooks, the religion I learned in church, it was all lies, all propaganda – at least with Wikipedia everyone has a chance to add their propaganda(or delete it), it isn’t one sided – so that is pretty close to a democratic voice.
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August 25, 2007
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Hi Karen
You are most likely correct that there is only a handful of people (possibly) involved in this censorship but does that change anything? The point I’m trying to make is that Gov both here and in Australia are trying to censor content – end of story.
Now we can debate till the cows come home just how widespread the issue is in Government but for me that’s not relevant. If one of them does it how long do you think it will take for the rest of them to latch on?
Was I a little overzealous with the propaganda issue – definitely!
That said, I’ve watched the issues crop up over Wikipedia pages that are factually incorrect, some of which refused to be changed by Wikipedia themselves and while this aims to be a democratic voice for the masses and the information contained most people won’t ever know about the incorrect ones.
Are we not just starting a new culture of disinformation?
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August 25, 2007
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I know what you’re saying about Wikipedia. I’ve heard others raise the same concerns. I think in many ways the internet as a whole is seen by many as a new “culture of disinformation” and by some as a playground for pedofiles or for bomb makers or whatever.
One needs to be selective.
Wikipedia is often my fist stop. Then I check the facts with other sources.(I’m neurotic, so I check with a few sources anyway). I think it could become a very interesting resource, especially for Africa when more people are able to make their voices heard and tell the history we still don’t know about.
Everyone believes their beliefs are right – did you watch Christiane Amanpour’s brilliant three part CNN series God’s Warriors that ended last night?
But hopefully with a website where everyone can add and delete, it will eventually balance out.
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August 25, 2007
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How reliable are you Justin? The South African Government editing Wikipedia? You make it sound like official policy – it was probably some little nerd in the stats office – hardly a “plot”.
I wonder why the local media so reactive when it comes to the government – I think if you took a poll of cabinet and parliament – who make up the SA Government -there might be a only vague awareness of what a Wiki is.
I don't know about Australia, but guess it's much of the same and as for Wikipedia – I'm prepared to give it a go, although I cross check.
Everything is propaganda Justin – Growing up in apartheid South Africa, the history I learned in printed schoolbooks, the religion I learned in church, it was all lies, all propaganda – at least with Wikipedia everyone has a chance to add their propaganda(or delete it), it isn't one sided – so that is pretty close to a democratic voice.
Visit My Website
August 25, 2007
Permalink
Hi Karen
You are most likely correct that there is only a handful of people (possibly) involved in this censorship but does that change anything? The point I'm trying to make is that Gov both here and in Australia are trying to censor content – end of story.
Now we can debate till the cows come home just how widespread the issue is in Government but for me that's not relevant. If one of them does it how long do you think it will take for the rest of them to latch on?
Was I a little overzealous with the propaganda issue – definitely!
That said, I've watched the issues crop up over Wikipedia pages that are factually incorrect, some of which refused to be changed by Wikipedia themselves and while this aims to be a democratic voice for the masses and the information contained most people won't ever know about the incorrect ones.
Are we not just starting a new culture of disinformation?
Visit My Website
August 25, 2007
Permalink
I know what you're saying about Wikipedia. I've heard others raise the same concerns. I think in many ways the internet as a whole is seen by many as a new “culture of disinformation” and by some as a playground for pedofiles or for bomb makers or whatever.
One needs to be selective.
Wikipedia is often my fist stop. Then I check the facts with other sources.(I'm neurotic, so I check with a few sources anyway). I think it could become a very interesting resource, especially for Africa when more people are able to make their voices heard and tell the history we still don't know about.
Everyone believes their beliefs are right – did you watch Christiane Amanpour's brilliant three part CNN series God's Warriors that ended last night?
But hopefully with a website where everyone can add and delete, it will eventually balance out.
Visit My Website
August 28, 2007
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Wikipedia is also my first stop and more often than not I don’t go anywhere else. It’s just so darn easy to get info and therein lies the problem.
For the most part there is nothing really wrong with Wikipedia and as mentioned before I’m a big fan – I just think we need to be careful.
I didn’t see that series Karen, when exactly was it on? I’d love to try and see if I can get my hands on it…
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August 28, 2007
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I agree 100%. I’m the kind who wears braces and a belt. God’s Warriors was on last week over three nights Wed – Friday from 9 – 11. on CNN. It should have been compulsory viewing. It was really interesting, scary and great reporting. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/gods.warriors/
It is so ironic because it shows so clearly that all three groups – these are the radicals, the fundamentalists in all three religions really want to same thing – a better world with more God in it; a more moral society, less materialism etc – but sadly they all believe that the only way it can happen in their way.
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August 28, 2007
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Wikipedia is also my first stop and more often than not I don't go anywhere else. It's just so darn easy to get info and therein lies the problem.
For the most part there is nothing really wrong with Wikipedia and as mentioned before I'm a big fan – I just think we need to be careful.
I didn't see that series Karen, when exactly was it on? I'd love to try and see if I can get my hands on it…
Visit My Website
August 28, 2007
Permalink
I agree 100%. I'm the kind who wears braces and a belt. God's Warriors was on last week over three nights Wed – Friday from 9 – 11. on CNN. It should have been compulsory viewing. It was really interesting, scary and great reporting. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/gods.warriors/
It is so ironic because it shows so clearly that all three groups – these are the radicals, the fundamentalists in all three religions really want to same thing – a better world with more God in it; a more moral society, less materialism etc – but sadly they all believe that the only way it can happen in their way.