US Dept of Justice IP address blocked after 'vandalism' edits to Wikipedia

US Dept of Justice IP address blocked after 'vandalism' edits to Wikipedia

www.mister-info.com

Wikinews has learned that a United States Department of Justice (DOJ) IP Address has been blocked on Wikipedia after making edits to an article which were considered "vandalism". In two separate instances, the IP address from the DOJ removed information from the Wikipedia article about the organization Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA), regarding an attempt by the organization to secretly gain influence on the site. The IP address has been confirmed by Wikinews to be registered and used by the DOJ located in Washington, D.C.

(visit the link for the full news article)

On April 21, Electronic Intifada published a report based on leaked emails written between CAMERA and Wikipedia contributors who are allegedly planning to gain influence on the online encyclopedia. Information about CAMERA's campaign to influence Wikipedia was first added to the site's article about the organization on April 21 by user 'Bangpound', who cited the Electronic Intifada article.

According to the edit history on the Wikipedia article CAMERA, the entire subsection relating to this controversy was removed by the IP address 149.101.1.130, which is hosted by 'wdcsun30.usdoj.gov' and is used by the DOJ. The IP address removed information regarding CAMERA's plan to "cooperate with prominent Wikipedia editors to promote a Zionist viewpoint and oppose pro-Arab viewpoints on Wikipedia" at least two separate times, on April 24 and April 25.

I tend agree with the Supreme Courts that allows Wikileaks exercise their right to Freedom of Speech, this I'm not too sure of. I dont think anyone should block the IP address of any government agency. This is an obvious national security issue. Isnt it?




www.mister-info.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Here's the wiki article on the matter (of course, it may have been edited )

[ripped directly from wikipedia]
In an April 2008 article on the pro-Palestinian news site Electronic Intifada, e-mails purported to have been sent between CAMERA members were published, which laid out a plan to cooperate with prominent editors of Wikipedia, the open-content online encyclopedia, to correct perceived anti-Israel bias on the site. A Wikipedia user reportedly advised the group that "One or more of you who want to take this route should stay away from any Israel realted (sic) articles for one month until they (sic) interact in a positive way with 100 wikipedia (sic) editors who would be used later to vote you as an administrator."[36][37] Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, writes "CAMERA's emails are particularly insidious in that stealth and misrepresentation are presented as the keys to success."

It would seem that people aren't exactly pleased about this.

Not too surprising, considering that members of the political establishment have warned us in public about the ease of which wikipedia can be vandalised.

Perhaps this is a "If you can't beat them, join them" mentality?

p.s; which thread are you using?

[edit on 29-4-2008 by Anti-Tyrant]

Amazing the DoJ is so blatant about their intervention on Israel's behalf. They couldn't even set up a fake independent IP for their dirty work.

In your face censorship. S&F

reply to post by Anti-Tyrant


This thread is fine, thanks...not sure how 2 thread started. I had added a line on how strange I found " cooperate with prominent Wikipedia editors to promote a Zionist viewpoint and oppose pro-Arab viewpoints on Wikipedia".

[edit on 29-4-2008 by Master_Wii]

I do not think that anyone would doing this would actually reveal the IPs just like that. My guess:
someone (hacker) found computers in this institution that would have very poor security - or no security at all (you would be impressed on how many gvt computers run with no Windows Service Pack installed ) then he used them as a launching platform. No hacker ever uses his computer!

See, that would be assuming the government people are actually intelligent.

Obviously that can not be the case, else they would not be working for the Government.

Originally posted by Master_Wii
I dont think anyone should block the IP address of any government agency. This is an obvious national security issue. Isnt it?

It's their site and they have every right to do with it what they please. If gub'ment keeps it up I wouldn't be surprised if Wikipedia is forced to deny all from *.gov. I'm sure soon enough all the Federal .govs will be banned so only local and state networks have access. That's not to say they can be trusted too, but the Feds obviously can be trusted a lot less.