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Wackypedia blocks US Department of Justice IP for "vandalism"

Sticks and stones
Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 23:10

WIKIPEDIA HAS BLOCKED an IP address which purportedly belongs to the US Department of Justice, after at least two attempts to edit an article were deemed “vandalism”.

The whole convoluted tale starts with a pro Israel organisation called CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), which seems to have been trying rather hard to increase its influence and clout on the collective encyclopedia, without anybody finding out. Like having a powerful US lobby isn’t enough.

Needless to say, the attempts failed. The propagandists' arch net nemesis Electronic Intifada got wind of the dodgy attempts through several clumsily leaked emails between CAMERA and willing Wikipedia contributors which alluded to the fact that it was trying to tip the bias of the articles in Israel’s favour.

The aim was to "cooperate with prominent Wikipedia editors to promote a Zionist viewpoint and oppose pro-Arab viewpoints on Wikipedia". As all is fair in love and cyber war, Electronic Intifada published the leaked emails on April 21st, provoking ire and disgust.

A march 13th email published by the Electronic Intifada, apparently hailing from Gilead Ini, a Senior Research Analyst at CAMERA, called for pro Israeli volunteers to ensure that any entries or articles on the site were "free of bias and error, and include necessary facts and context". Basically, twist the truth if necessary to make Israel look good.

A few days later, obviously just remembering that dirty plots to hijack public media weren’t always appreciated, Ini made sure to write a follow up email, calling for discretion and asking email recipients not to "forward it to members of the news media". Well, we can see how that’s worked out for him,.

Even worse were later emails (which Electronic Intifada also managed to get its hands on) between CAMERA members sharing tips about how to get themselves elected as Wikipedia administrators, allowing them to edit any number of articles in Israel’s favour, or give certain pages a more anti-Arab stance.

One tip, posted by a Wackypedia user calling himself 'Zeq' advised that any "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. " With spelling as bad as that, you’d think he’d be a shoo-in for the job.

But the plot thickened when another wackypedia user, 'Bangpound', was so outraged by the published emails that he saw fit to edit the CAMERA organisation’s own wiki page, adding the information published by Electronic Intifada to it. Just three short days later, however, Bangpound’s citation was deleted, along with the entire subsection devoted to the controversial emails, by an IP address which was hosted by 'wdcsun30.usdoj.gov' and was directly traced back to the US Department Of Justice.

The same IP address also went on to vandalise other articles, including one o n James E. Akins, who was the American ambassador to Saudi Arabia between 1973 and 1975 and who is also a fellow on the US Iran Policy Committee. Wackypedia purportedly warned the IP user several times before slamming them with a four day ban on grounds of "repeated vandalism."

Wikipedia also decided to block several other users who they said were collaborating with CAMERA in a disgraceful attempt to turn articles on the site to their advantage.

So Electronic Intifada has won its cyber battle for now. It’s just a shame that not all wars are waged online. µ

L’Inqs
Electronic Intifada
Wikimedia foundation
Mister Info

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Comments
Hmmmm let me guess

Your not a fan of Isreal? 

I think the last comment in the article shows a lack of imparticality on your part.

By the way I say plauge on both their houses in case you think I side with either one of them.

posted by : LPF, 29 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Twisting the truth, eh?

Your article seems a good example of the need for people to edit articles for accuracy. You quoted an e-mail suggesting that people ensure 'articles on the site were "free of bias and error, and include necessary facts and context". ' To which you commented: "Basically, twist the truth if necessary to make Israel look good."

Your comment is an example of "twist[ing] the truth", which is ironic given the subject of the article. Someone advocating that an article be free of bias and error is advocating directly against the twisting you allege.

There may very well have been an effort to correct an existing bias, or to create a bias of their own, but you also show a strong bias. :) 
The mainstream media typically does put a bias toward the extreme on the stories they report. Tame stories with normal people who act rationally tend to sell few newspapers.

posted by : Dale, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
NEW Concepcion:

I Watch as Mike Magee works so Hard To Command Audience. Its Great Fishing Hole. Let Me Compare Mike to Nathan Brockwood, occasional writer within hallowed Halls of theInq.

Mr. Brockwood started Insight64 in Oct,2003 when AMD started iA64 transition toward 64 bit. Trouble:Nobody reads Insight64. It lasped into Coma. People Just don't Use internet for in Depth resources en masse'.

Now Mr. Brockwood Writes articles & submits them to BIG Publishers in Tech, as well as theInq, Really BIG Names such as: WashingtonPost & WallStreetJournal all carry Nathans Stories Today.Really Big Step Up in Audiance. Heres My Thought, Msr. Magee should as well submit to Large Big City Press. Get Some real Readership, Get Heart to Go Thumpie-thump.Or Andrew or anyone.

Little Utterances that will Never Be Read Make slight Difference. 
I Would NOT Even recommend Reading: Commentos Section, it blurs Article. or Maybe Commentos First, just to Forget Them & get Facts into Noggin'.
Who Cares if US Ambassador Cousin Wants to Hack off one of Points in Star, Its Just Grabble(newterm). Read Inquirer & lets hope someday Mike Magee as read in New York Times or BBC, Serializer will take qualified Articles to audiance they diserve.
Thomas stewart von Drashek

posted by : T.homas, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Positive feedback

God, this article was boring.

posted by : spunkmeister, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Whats new?

Along with internet media the israeli's also have this level of influence with the general media (which is supposedly majority owned by the jewish fatcats)- which is plain to see taking into account the pro-israeli stuff on telly and in the papers these days.

I've always steered away from using wikipedia as a reference point online due to this bias as it is pretty clear in other sections too - take for example Islam and Christianity - all the negative article editing that goes on in them articles its clear to see that only those who oppose these faiths (probably the jewish faith) actually edit them.

Good article - Thanks to the Inquirer for highlighting this - lets see how many pro-israeli's flame this article and you'll see how much of an influence they have.

posted by : Zoomee, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Awesome

*points and laughs at israel fan-boys*

YOU LOST!

Great article

posted by : Marcin, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Its a shame...

yes, it is indeed.

Dale, apparently you're just not used to the Inq style...

posted by : superhobo, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
This just in: people use the interweb at work

I really don't see what the DOJ headline has to do with anything. After all, nobody has ever used the interweb to write wikis at work while wasting worthfull work wesources.

Say that 10 times fast.

posted by : TZ, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Not just a lobby

This group was recruiting new (aka anonymous) users and mostly disrupted wikipedia by pushing their views and breaking rules - which is not allowed. This is why the users were banned.

posted by : FSX, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
Sylvie Barak from Israel?

I thought Sylvie Barak was from Israel? Not that it means anything one way or the other......

posted by : Todd, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
nationality doesn't imply nationalism

" I thought Sylvie Barak was from Israel? Not that it means anything one way or the other......"

doesn't necessarily mean anything. one of my closest friends is half Israeli and will happily spend an hour telling you why many of the Israeli >government< (note specific target) policies are really messed up and serve to perpetuate the no-win situation they're in. he doesn't "hate" Israel or Jews, and he's certainly not anti-Semitic. he's simply detached enough to see things from a thoughtful, reasoned, and (relatively) unbiased perspective. he'll also tell you why the Palestinian "goverment" actions are often self-defeating and serve to perpetuate the mess *they're* in, as well, if you're willing to listen.

amazingly, that's often the case with many "critics" of Israeli policy (and US policy, for that matter). it's shocking, i know. it's a shame that many people are so incapable of detaching themselves emotionally from religious and nationalist dogma that they doom themselves and many others to repeating the same murderous actions over and over while wondering why the "enemy" hates them so much.

posted by : RK, 30 April 2008 Complain about this comment
To last poster

To the guy who commented that if the writer is from israel, why are they pro concessions?

Good question.

Refer to this:

http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2007/12/27/david-landau-oslo-logician-asks-condi-rice-to-rape-israel/

Then see this:

http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2008/04/28/war-is-not-the-answer-depends-on-the-question/

I'll reference to Richard Landes, who discusses the problem in a historical and sociological context, and writes a more detail answer than I will bother with.

"The practical instruments of negotiation, aid, and development assistance, the psychological instrument of respect for human dignity and equality, and the political instruments of human, juridical, and civil rights provide a more effective, just, and moral answer.'

"I agree with all of those “instruments” when they are practicable. But in the (hopefully rare) situation where they do not work, applying them actually backfires. Remember Gandhi’s famous non-violent resistance (suicidal) advice to the Jews when dealing with the Nazis — which, alas, too many instinctively followed. Such techniques only work when dealing with people who have a liberal conscience (like the British in India). When dealing with political cultures that seek dominion at any cost, such kindness registers as weakness and triggers aggression, not reconciliation."




posted by : Bob, 01 May 2008 Complain about this comment
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