Canadian DND Computers Used to Edit Wikipedia

Here in Canada there is a growing story about how our government unilaterally decided to purchase the F-35 JSF. The problem isn't so much about the aircraft itself, more that the government made the decision to purchase them without offering a tender for other manufacturers to bid on.

Now we have this story on how dissent in this country concerning this deal was published on Wikipedia only to be removed by users of Department of National Defence computers.

A Defence Department spokesperson confirms computers at the department's research agency were used to alter a Wikipedia page entry about the Joint Strike Fighter jet and the Conservative government's decision to spend as much as $18 billion on the aircraft.

Those edits included the removal of information critical of the government's plan to buy the jets and the addition of insulting comments aimed at Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff.

Read more: www.cbc.ca...

Source

Not only did the editors delete comments critical of the plan/move, but they also added both insults against the leader of the opposition and claims that he approved of the plan.

Now the trend in Canadian politics is to blame a janitor or security guard creating a dead end for any investigation. That being said...WTF?

1) Editting criticism from a public forum
2) Lying about support for the plan
3) Taking cheap shots at a political leader

We don't get the almost daily beating from our politicians that our American cousins do, but it still goes on. This action shows not only what type of control government wants to have over what we preceive of the world, but it also shows how out of touch they are with the world themselves.

As first reported in a story by Postmedia, Wikipedia traced the edits to computers owned by Defence Research Development Canada's Ottawa offices. Wikipedia locked down the entry, labelled the changes as vandalism and only allowed recognized editors to work on the page.

Read more: www.cbc.ca...

Source

Whoever was responsible for this didn't realize that they could be tracked; I didn't think there was anyone that naive left online now-a-days.

One of the other things that bothers me about this is that in May of this year there was a story about the Canadian Government Hiring companies to 'Correct' Online Misconceptions. I find it troubling that two months later this is the type of 'Misconception' that my government wants corrected. I don't know if the masses really are that dumbed down now that a news article from May 23 2010 is completely forgotten (and I'm assuming here that they even noticed, I know what the truth is there though) but people here should be outraged at this.

...especially because it comes so close on the heels of the G2o fiasco that is still being investigated.

Disturbing, even more so because it is not any surprise.



[edit on 29-7-2010 by [davinci]]

I wonder what Rex Murphy will have to say about all of this.

I hope he comments on the matter.

they're not the ones out of touch with the world we are. we are the ones who are in this social prison. its like saying that the people who run the correctional institute, the judges, police, juries, politicians who make laws and lawyers are out of touch with the world but the prisoner whos been in jail for the last 25 years and has no clue what the world outside looks like has it going on.

reply to post by randomname


I agree with you, in this case though I was referring to whoever it was that editted the Wikipedia entries without thinking that they would be traced/caught.

You are absolutely correct however that overall most people are living a fantasy. Sadly it's not even a good fantasy; it is the belief that the world they see on TV is actually reality.

Lies are the truth and the truth is a lie.

If it wasn't so disgusting I'd be impressed.

The thing about Wikipedia is anyone can edit the pages at any time.

I can edit Obama's page to say he is a known purchaser of Chinese down syndrome midget porn and likes to sleep with his rubber ducky.

Wikipedia should always be taken with a grain of salt and not as factual information, because it's not set up to be that.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix


Very true.

However it is not that the information was wrong/bigotted and needed correcting. The DND user's actions were sufficient that Wikipedia themselves shutdown the edit function for the general public because the user tried to edit the story and comments into a positive one for the government (while taking an oppertunity to cheap-shot the opposing party leader too).

Pure propaganda and spin.

Like I said, this will dead-end at a security guard or janitor losing their job and the story will fade. The truth is however that someone in a government office tried to misrepresent the public reaction to a deal that most view as shady. It's one thing to have a person at home write inflamatory comments or make changes to suit their agenda, it's quite another to have a government employee form a work computer try to cover-up/edit what public sentiment is regarding a political decision.

Had this not been caught then people who are unaware of the nature of Wikipedia would have read this and been influenced into thinking that everything was ok; there really is no issue beyond the media looking for a story somewhere.

I know that we are a socialist nation, but this is beyond that. The DND is supposed to protect our nation from hostility, not protect the image of the government from legitimate criticism over it's actions.



[edit on 29-7-2010 by [davinci]]

I'm thinking this is someone who wasn't official. Just like those who respond dishonestly and with insults on threads and to posts here on ATS,
there are those with a certain intolerance running around loose in our government too.
If there is one thing they hate, it is honest debate.
Sad people.

PS
love your stoneman
I travel by water alot, stonemans are your friends


[edit on 30-7-2010 by Danbones]