Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress

[Lite Beer]

Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress
By Joe Miller
Technology Reporter
Capitol Hill

Wikipedia administrators have imposed a ban on page edits from computers at the US House of Representatives, following "persistent disruptive editing".

The 10-day block comes after anonymous changes were made to entries on politicians and businesses, as well as events like the Kennedy assassination.

The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was edited to say that he was an "alien lizard".

One staffer said they were being banned for the "actions of two or three".

Edits from computers using the IP address belonging to the House of Representatives have been banned before, following similar acts of vandalism.

The latest block comes after rogue edits were brought to light by a Twitter feed, @congressedits, which posts every change made from the government-owned address.

Read More: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28481876

-- BBC 2014-07-25

[impulse]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

[Credo]

....But, but, but...if Wikipedia says so, it must be so!

Perhaps editing something should be made a little more difficult and stringent. Perhaps people who deliberately post misinformation should be dealt with legally.

Edited July 26, 2014 by Credo

[F430murci]

Ah, have a sense of humor. Rumsfield a shape shifting lizard. Cool!

[Pinot]

Wait, Rumsfield isn't an alien lizard?

[attrayant]

Perhaps people who deliberately post misinformation should be dealt with legally.

Yeah, defamation lawsuits have worked so well in other countries, after all.

/sarcasm

The whole point of the article is that Wikipedia already has sufficient checks in place to catch and reverse this kind of vandalism. Nothing more is needed.

[garyinhuahin]

Wait, Rumsfield isn't an alien lizard?

Correct. The problem with the edit was the erroneous use of the past tense.

[rickirs]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

"Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country."

Do you have a source for "the guys" identities? Odds are they are anti-Republican and/or anti-government hackers. But there is nothing wrong having a 3rd grade mentality, you can still post on TV.

[impulse]

Do you have a source for "the guys" identities? Odds are they are anti-Republican and/or anti-government hackers. But there is nothing wrong having a 3rd grade mentality, you can still post on TV.

I guess they could be anyone logging into the Internet Cafe in the basement of the US House of Representatives.

If there was an Internet Cafe there.

Otherwise, smart money would be on someone working there- with access to computers at that block of IP addresses.

BTW, I agree with them on the Rumsfeld/Lizard thing. I just don't think it's appropriate to be messing with Wikipedia on government computers.

I suspect the guy's computer exploded mysteriously when they posted the truth about Cheney, then the NSA dragged off the corpse and cleaned up the room. Wait, did you hear that??? Oh my G........

[spidermike007]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

If we only had an idea about one tenth of the nonsense they are involved in, in terms of disinformation, spying on their own citizens, disrupting the free flow of information, censoring the media, and much more, we would be horrified. Our government does not have one benevolent molecule in its entire superstructure. It is populated by fearful, fear mongering, misinformed, ill advised, people lacking wisdom, guidance, or forethought.

[CBR250]

Ah, have a sense of humor. Rumsfield a shape shifting lizard. Cool!

Was it meant to be funny? I sure thought it was an accurate observation.

Edited July 26, 2014 by CBR250

[Jonmarleesco]

I should have thought that was a compliment to Rumsfeld.

[HerbalEd]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

So you have actual facts on how many and who did this? Was it a personal assistant of a congress person, or an after-hours janitor? Do tell all.

[HerbalEd]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

If we only had an idea about one tenth of the nonsense they are involved in, in terms of disinformation, spying on their own citizens, disrupting the free flow of information, censoring the media, and much more, we would be horrified. Our government does not have one benevolent molecule in its entire superstructure. It is populated by fearful, fear mongering, misinformed, ill advised, people lacking wisdom, guidance, or forethought.

Not even one?

[spidermike007]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

If we only had an idea about one tenth of the nonsense they are involved in, in terms of disinformation, spying on their own citizens, disrupting the free flow of information, censoring the media, and much more, we would be horrified. Our government does not have one benevolent molecule in its entire superstructure. It is populated by fearful, fear mongering, misinformed, ill advised, people lacking wisdom, guidance, or forethought.

Not even one?

Ok, maybe just one. But one is not enough.

Spidermike007

[impulse]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

So you have actual facts on how many and who did this? Was it a personal assistant of a congress person, or an after-hours janitor? Do tell all.

Seriously, do you think the janitor can even fire up one of their computers and get past the Windows log in? I'm a peon in a private company and even my computer has log on security.

And if they can, that's an even worse indictment of the level of congressional security- security that's the responsibility of "the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country".

Besides, janitors are smart enough to know the IP address and time and date can be traced.

[impulse]

Oops. Silly me. I lose track of seasons here in Thailand.

I suspect Wikipedia better keep those IP addresses locked out until the summer interns are back in Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the County College of Morris (AKA Harvard on the Highway).

Sadly, they'll probably be looking for something else to occupy their time and we may be seeing blue dresses in the news....

[F430murci]

Since when was Wikipedia serious. I always thought it to be pretty much a joke as far as a source of legitimate information. Candidly, it is not much better than here as a source of information, I.e., more opinion based or cherry picked articles to support a belief trying to convey.

I am pretty sure I read about assistants to politicians spoofing Wikipedia in 2011ish so this is not exactly new news or some huge epiphany.

Heaven forbid that someone would try and attack the credibility or veracity of Wikipedia. That should be an indictable offense, or at the very least an impeachable offense. Blasphemy I tell you.

[Scott]

I use wikipedia a lot, but only for the most general and basic information. I have known very few encyclopedias that were good for much more than cursory understanding of a subject. I wouldn't rely on it for anything like an in-depth analysis of an on-going situation.

Some things do require a little bit of real research.

[F430murci]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

So you have actual facts on how many and who did this? Was it a personal assistant of a congress person, or an after-hours janitor? Do tell all.

Seriously, do you think the janitor can even fire up one of their computers and get past the Windows log in? I'm a peon in a private company and even my computer has log on security.

And if they can, that's an even worse indictment of the level of congressional security- security that's the responsibility of "the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country".

Besides, janitors are smart enough to know the IP address and time and date can be traced.

Maybe janitors have computers or can access public wireless access on their iPhones while working. Okay, who cares . . . I doubt it is a janitor and I heard several years ago congressional aides were doing this. Why can't they fun too. All work and no play makes one an axe killing The Shinning psychopath.

Thank God for the high level of investigative journalism able to get to the bottom of this conduct and clarify that Alex Jones is not a Russian agent and Rumsfield is not an alien lizard that eats Mecican babies. Otherwise, I would have though this was true.

--------

As the Washington Post first noted, someone using a United States House of Representatives internet connection felt the need alter Wikipedia's "Horse head mask" entry to reflect President Obama's recent encounter with one in Denver.

Other news outlets pointed out that someone using the same Capitol IP address had changed Wikipedia pages so that they accused the Cubans of spreading moon landing conspiracies, claimed that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is a Russian agent, and perpetuated the long-standing though likely untrue rumor that Donald Rumsfeld is "an alien lizard who eats Mexican babies."

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/congressional-ip-address-banned-from-wikipedia.html

Edited July 26, 2014 by F430murci

[F430murci]

Here are some interesting and better ones:

----------------

n 2006, the Lowell Sun broke the story of a Hill staffer editing the Wikipedia entry of his boss, whose broken campaign promises were deleted while glossy biographical details were added.

. . .

Someone edited Heritage Foundation fellow Brian Darling's Wikipedia page to add that he was involved with breeding rare long-haired cats as a child.

. . .

One close reader of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah's page changed "22 billion dollars" to "$22 billion," which we have to admit is a genuine public service to those of us who are OCD about edits.

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/10/your-tax-dollars-are-hard-at-work-editing-the-horse-head-mask-page-on-wikipedia/

[Franky Bear]

I had Nelson Mandela as a porn star for months on wiki years ago

[F430murci]

I had Nelson Mandela as a porn star for months on wiki years ago

Haha, that made me laugh. Here are the supposed 50 most outrageous Wikipedia edits. Some are funny.

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/03/the-50-most-outrageous-wikipedia-hacks/

[Franky Bear]

I had Nelson Mandela as a porn star for months on wiki years ago

Haha, that made me laugh. Here are the supposed 50 most outrageous Wikipedia edits. Some are funny.

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/03/the-50-most-outrageous-wikipedia-hacks/

Harmless fun. It wasn't long after WIKI came online. I had some great fun. I have some of my own screen shots of my own vandalism. I love when ppl use wiki as a solid point of reference when arguing online. The second they do that they have lost IMO

[h90]

Wait, Rumsfield isn't an alien lizard?

Correct. The problem with the edit was the erroneous use of the past tense.

[h90]

I use wikipedia a lot, but only for the most general and basic information. I have known very few encyclopedias that were good for much more than cursory understanding of a subject. I wouldn't rely on it for anything like an in-depth analysis of an on-going situation.

Some things do require a little bit of real research.

It is OK for non political things, electric, chemicals, animals.....But was better in the past, before they decided that an article must not be too long and too detailed.

Of course political topics are difficult.....

[tony5150]

I didn't know Alex Jones and David Icke were working at the house of representatives. Lol

[spidermike007]

Yep. Those are the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country. Carefully selected from thousands of applicants for each open slot.

3rd grade mentality. Gotta be proud.

So you have actual facts on how many and who did this? Was it a personal assistant of a congress person, or an after-hours janitor? Do tell all.

Seriously, do you think the janitor can even fire up one of their computers and get past the Windows log in? I'm a peon in a private company and even my computer has log on security.

And if they can, that's an even worse indictment of the level of congressional security- security that's the responsibility of "the guys trusted to advise and assist the guys running our country".

Besides, janitors are smart enough to know the IP address and time and date can be traced.

Do not concern yourself with the janitor comment. It was made by an Obama apologist. There are millions of them. They always like to apologize for Obamas lack of competence, his mistakes, his fascism, his lack of will, and his lack of judgment, and most of all his inability to lead.

Spidermike

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[chuckd]

All this tinkering with Wikipedia is merely Chicago politics in action.

That's the way it's been done in the Windy City for years and, now, the nation's capitol