Wikipolitics

It's all over the internet - Congress has been playing with the Wikipedia. Color me surprised. If there's any group of people who like gaming a system, it's politicians and marketers.

From WikiNews:

...Staff members of the offices of United States Senators, using Senate-linked IP addresses, have been editing Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia that allows its users to edit its content. In some cases, they have removed facts from the articles.

Using the public history of edits on Wikipedia, Wikinews reporters collected every Senate IP address from which Wikipedia edits had been made as of February 3, then examined where the IPs came from and the edits that were made from computers connected at those addresses. IP, or Internet Protocol, addresses are unique numbers electronic devices use to communicate with each other on an individual basis...

In other words, WikiNews is monitoring big brother - excellent!

From MSNBC:

...Among the revisionism taking place, Senator Joe Biden's office removed a reference to a 1996 plagiarism scandal, while California staffers took out a reference to Senator Dianne Feinstein's 1997 conflict of interest issue over her husband's investments in China. An aide for Representative Marty Meehan replaced his Wikipedia biography with a flattering official one and removed a reference about a pledge by the seven-term congressman to serve only four terms.

The Wikinews reporters also found a handful of entries vandalised by Washington politicos, including a description of Senator Tom Coburn as being voted "the most annoying senator by his peers in Congress".

Wikinews traced the culprits by noting their unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and identifying them with those of the US Senate sergeant-at-arms. This was further narrowed down by sending emails to politicians' offices and noting the IP addresses contained in their replies...

I love it. The traditional media is reporting based on what the Open Media that New Media Musings usually covers, though more inline with blogs. This is the sort of thing that shows that open content can not only provide a reliable news source, but that it can also be used to track naughty politicos.

Last, but by no means least, is the BBC:

...Wikipedia says the controversy raises questions about whether it is ethical for those with a vested interest in the subject to edit entries about it.

It said the Congressional computer network has been blocked from editing for brief periods on a number of occasions in the last six months due to the inappropriate contributions.

The article on President Bush has been altered so many times - not just from within Congress - that Wikipedia's volunteer monitors have had to block further "editing".

But it also says its investigation showed the vast majority of edits from Senate IPs were "beneficial and helpful".

Massachusetts newspapers disclosed last month that staffers for Representative Marty Meehan had polished the boss's Wikipedia biography.

Deleted were references to a long-abandoned promise to serve only four terms, and to his campaign war chest...

This brings to mind two things. First, everyone editing the Wikipedia should have a username and be logged in - something that is already happening. The second is that this username should reflect who they are - my main problem. I don't sweat admin level people, but when they have strange names and aren't easily identified - it leads to problems. And when it comes to editing the Wikipedia - if you can't put your name behind what you write, or are afraid to, maybe you shouldn't be editing it.

There are times when anonymity is good. When it comes to a public resource for knowledge, accountability to the community must be made a part of the package. The history of articles shows what changes have been made, and by who. If we've reached the stage where we're tracking IP addresses to see who has been naughty or nice, it's time for people to start using their real names as user names on the Wikipedia.

And yes, I use my real name as my username. ;-)