A pro-Israel group's plan to rewrite history on Wikipedia

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
Submitted by Khawaga on 22 April, 2008 - 09:35.
Quote:
A pro-Israel pressure group is orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia administrative structures to ensure these changes go either undetected or unchallenged.

A series of emails by members and associates of the pro-Israel group CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), provided to The Electronic Intifada (EI), indicate the group is engaged in what one activist termed a "war" on Wikipedia.

From Electronic Intifada

yuda "Elitist Twat"
Posts: 269 Joined: 04-12-04 Location: Otautahi
22 April, 2008 - 10:02

That's the one problem with open publishing, any idiot can publish any piece of crap as fact

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
22 April, 2008 - 10:44

Well, in this case it is more insidious than that. They're planning on getting a bunch of admins and moderators that will not edit any Israel articles so that they can later come in and act as "neutral" moderators in disputed Israel related articles. In most articles I've found Wikipedia to be more or less correct, and studies on wikipedia shows that it is basically as reliable as most professional encyclopedias in several academic fields. The problem now is the increasing dictatorial powers that mods and admins have, and the deletion frenzy.

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2803 Joined: 13-10-05
22 April, 2008 - 11:53

thanks for that khawaga. not the first time a bunch of rightwingers have tried this.

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
22 April, 2008 - 12:21
Quote:
thanks for that khawaga. not the first time a bunch of rightwingers have tried this.

Yeah? Do have any info on other groups that have tried this?

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2803 Joined: 13-10-05
22 April, 2008 - 13:14

there's this, but i remember more extensive tampering. will look further.

edit: here's a bit more, and here's a passel of 'em. none as extensive as CAMERA's attempt, it seems tho'.

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
22 April, 2008 - 13:28

Ah cheers. I thought you had other examples of concerted efforts like CAMERA. I guess you have to be extra careful after wikscanner.

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2803 Joined: 13-10-05
22 April, 2008 - 13:36

CAMERA (you may already know) has been around for a good 25 years and is somehow connected with FLAME:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facts_and_Logic_About_the_Middle_East

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
22 April, 2008 - 13:52
Khawaga wrote:
Quote:
thanks for that khawaga. not the first time a bunch of rightwingers have tried this.

Yeah? Do have any info on other groups that have tried this?

i know some anonymous people ran a campaign like this to delete the page on the Ottawa panhandlers' union a while back, which they succeeded in doing. this was associated with a big anti-panhandlers union postering campaign in Ottawa itself

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
22 April, 2008 - 13:54

This was the first time I had ever heard of CAMERA (I think, there are just so many of these psycho groups out there so I can't really tell them apart).

Asher "Anarcho-Kyke Federation Of Aotearoa"
Posts: 779 Joined: 18-03-06 Location: Aotearoa / New Zealand
22 April, 2008 - 16:31

CAMERA is one of the bigger and more influential organisations of its type (media monitoring and pressuring)...

Eyal Rozenberg "engulfed by nationalist reformism"
Posts: 56 Joined: 10-02-07 Location: Palestine/Israel
24 April, 2008 - 18:56

Oh, you should read the stuff that goes on Hebrew Wikipedia... totally zany.

Anyway, I've sworn a vow not to waste my time by editing Wikipedia entries. I just assume everything remotely political is heavily biased and untrustworthy.

australianirish...
Posts: 21 Joined: 12-12-05
3 May, 2008 - 06:17

Wikipedia is becoming a joke, and will soon get worse.

Hebrew Wikipedia does sounds like a good laugh haa.

Sean Siberio
Posts: 107 Joined: 03-04-08
5 May, 2008 - 22:05

I don't think Wikipedia is a joke, and I say that as someone whose fought any number of edit wars on Wikipedia about controversial history articles. And how can it "become" a joke, unless people who know better refuse to help edit it. If you do that, well then no shit the articles are going to become "heavily biased and untrustworthy. Argh.

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
7 May, 2008 - 13:41

Update from Electronic Intifada

Quote:
EI accused CAMERA of "orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia administrative structures to ensure these changes go either undetected or unchallenged."

That got Wikipedia's attention. A panel of three administrators sanctioned or indefinitely blocked and banned five members of Ini's group. "Wikipedia is based on open, transparent editing in an atmosphere of mutual respect between editors," these administrators opined. "This goal is fundamentally incompatible with the creation of a private group to surreptitiously coordinate editing on Wikipedia by ideologically like-minded individuals." A formal arbitration process is ongoing.

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2803 Joined: 13-10-05
7 May, 2008 - 14:14

solid

newyawka "They gonna eat your shoulders."
Posts: 2803 Joined: 13-10-05
10 May, 2008 - 05:41

CAMERA at work:

Quote:
Last week, I wrote an article that described how untreated sewage was being pumped from illegal Israeli settlements on to Palestinian land, contaminating their reservoirs. This isn't controversial. It has been documented by Friends of the Earth, and I have seen it with my own eyes.

The response? There was little attempt to dispute the facts I offered. Instead, some of the most high profile "pro-Israel" writers and media monitoring groups – including Honest Reporting and Camera – said I an anti-Jewish bigot akin to Joseph Goebbels and Mahmoud Ahmadinejadh, while Melanie Phillips even linked the stabbing of two Jewish people in North London to articles like mine.

link

naoko
Posts: 2 Joined: 29-02-08 Location: United States
13 May, 2008 - 21:01

I wonder if this is the same group of people who I noticed butchered the Rachel Corrie page about a year ago. I tried to fix some ridiculously inaccurate things there only to find a group of people controlling it and being banned from fixing the page. I haven't been there since then and wondering if the same crap is still there.

Khawaga " - not a legendary physicist."
Posts: 973 Joined: 07-08-06
14 May, 2008 - 08:46

If not the exact same people as CAMERA, then at least kindred spirits.