I just saw on the abc that people who use software to monitor wikipedia have reported that defense.gov.au is responsible for hundreds of wikipedia edits on articles such as the 'children overboard' thing, and removing negative stuff about Peter Costello etc..

I found this article http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/24/2014759.htm the details of the tv report were slightly different.

the american government does the exact same thing. people from the cia and pentagon etc have been changing wikipedia articles for yonks.

Are you saying someone EDITED wikipedia to change the perspective on an article! I'm outraged and shocked!

Well, I guess I'm not really shocked or outraged. I mean, I would be if I was a nimrod.

in an open source encyclopaedia, why is this a problem?

media hype ++. people complain about lawyers, the world would be better with journalists.


and the retards who are about to protest in sydney for APEC.

It's all the rage for politicians:

It has allowed the identification of edits by computers registered to the CIA and the Vatican.

The most embarrassing edit traced to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PMC) is an act of vandalism on a martial-arts related entry, in which the user wrote, “Poo bum dicky wee wee” on the page in an apparent test.

Link.

Also US congress.

Political spats, petty vandalism, cleft chins and Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s (fictional) death by shark attack — Wikipedia users on House computers clearly have a lot of time on their hands.

The question is whether someone's getting paid to read and edit wikipedia articles or whether this is someone we know doing it or what...

The question is whether someone's getting paid to read and edit wikipedia articles or whether this is someone we know doing it or what...

The question for me is the same as for any government position - if they're jerking off on taxpayer money, they should get fired. If they're getting told to do it by managers, then its a different problem.

im pretty sure this sort of thing has been going on since the wikipedia was started

People editing a resource that's not only freely editable, but the entire purpose of which is open edits? I find that hard to believe, Spook - IF that's your real name and someone from the AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT hasn't EDITED IT to PLANT FALSE information on the INTERNET, the place where EVERYONE KNOWS you go when you're looking for REAL LIVE INFORMATION that is 100% TRUE AND FACTUAL

trog, the internet doesnt lie

I doubt that is even Trog posting.

fyi it's spelt defence
also, lol
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5624399,00.jpg

Dream job of the week:

Get paid to put "Poo bum dicky wee wee" into wikipedia articles.