Yoiks!! First Enron, Worldcom etc., then Abramoff, then hockey hero Wayn Gretzky, and now Wikipedia!! When will it ever end??
Ed >http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR20060208 02 >212.html?nav=rss_politics > >Wikipedia's Help From the Hill > >Edits Lead Site to Block Some Lawmakers' Offices > [as if that could prevent forgeries from 3rd-party addies..] > > By Yuki Noguchi > Washington Post Staff Writer > Thursday, February 9, 2006; Page A21 > >The scope of the scandal keeps growing, and now that an investigation has >been launched, a growing list of Capitol Hill members and their staff >appear to be involved. > >No, this isn't about fallout from the shenanigans of former lobbyist Jack >Abramoff. This concerns Wikipedia -- the online encyclopedia written and >edited by anyone who wants to contribute -- and the suspected perpetrators >of untruths about certain lawmakers. > >Recent reports about editorial antics taking place on the site -- selective >erasures of past faux pas, outright insults and dozens of other politically >motivated revisions -- prompted Wikipedia to block temporarily some >addresses on Capitol Hill from being able to edit entries. > >At the same time, Wikinews, the affiliated news site about Wikipedia, >launched an investigation into changes from Senate offices. Wayne Saewyc, a >volunteer Wikinews editor, designed a computer program to match up more >than 65,000 possible Internet addresses to offending changes, and it traced >them back to various lawmakers' offices. (A similar gumshoe tactic could >not be used on House offices, because those computers share an Internet >address, according to Wikipedia and Wikinews). > >This crime-scene-style investigation points to staff members of at least >five offices: Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Sen. Dianne Feinstein >(D-Calif.), Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) >and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). > >In all cases the edits removed factually accurate but unflattering >descriptions of the lawmakers, and in many cases they added some >beautifying language describing awards or glorifying legislative records. > >An entry for Feinstein removed references to her net worth and a $190,000 >fine she paid for not disclosing that her husband, Richard C. Blum, had >guaranteed her gubernatorial campaign loans in 1990. > >Edits allegedly made by Burns's staff removed references to his calling >Arabs "ragheads," inserting a paragraph instead called "A Voice for the >Farmer" that touted his advocacy for agriculture. > >"I don't know why this is a story," said James Pendleton, a spokesman for >Burns. "There is no sanctity in Wikipedia. Somebody will always come and >change it." He declined to comment on Wikipedia's assertion that some of >the changes came from his office. > >The edits to Feinstein's entry were done by a former staffer acting alone, >said Howard Gantman, a spokesman for the senator. "Online encyclopedias are >prone to errors," he said, but staff members have been directed to >coordinate changes with the senator's communications people, who are to >contact Wikipedia directly. > >Wikipedia maintains that, by soliciting edits from all volunteers, the site >generally arrives at a neutral description of people and events -- a >contention challenged by some on the Hill. > >"There were several factual things that were wrong," said Tom Steward, a >spokesman for Coleman, defending the staff's changes to the senator's >voting record. "There are some subjective things in there, but obviously, >as the editors of their site, they have the final say in what they write." > >The edits to Biden's entry removed and altered references to incidents of >alleged plagiarism. Biden spokesman Norm Kurz said changes that were "made >to Biden's site by this office were designed to make it more fair and >accurate." > >Harkin's spokeswoman, Allison Dobson, said that the alterations were made >by a junior staff member and that the office has reemphasized a policy that >any changes must be authorized. > >Saewyc, the Wikinews editor, said he solicited comment from the senators' >offices but has not received any replies. > >Meanwhile, some congressional offices are doing their own sleuthing. Staff >members for Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) traced one offending change -- >inserting that "he likes to beat his wife and children" -- to an Internet >address in Omaha. But the person couldn't be identified from the general >address, said Jen Rae Hein, a spokeswoman for the congressman. > >Instead, the office called Wikipedia, which put a temporary freeze on edits >on Terry's entry and took down all references to the offending edit. > > > > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ >SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword >"igve". > > >_______________________________________________ >Futurework mailing list >[email protected] >http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > Sent using cyberus.ca WebMail - http://www.cyberus.ca/ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
