25 July 2014
Last updated at 08:12 ET
Computers on Capitol Hill have been banned from making edits to Wikipedia in the past
The 10-day block comes after anonymous changes were made to
entries on politicians and businesses, as well as events like the
Kennedy assassination.
The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was edited to say that he was an "alien lizard".
One staffer said they were being banned for the "actions of two or three".
Edits from computers using the IP address belonging to the House of Representatives have been banned before, following similar acts of vandalism.
'Russian puppet'
Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress
Computers on Capitol Hill have been banned from making edits to Wikipedia in the past
Wikipedia
administrators have imposed a ban on page edits from computers at the
US House of Representatives, following "persistent disruptive editing".
The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was edited to say that he was an "alien lizard".
One staffer said they were being banned for the "actions of two or three".
Edits from computers using the IP address belonging to the House of Representatives have been banned before, following similar acts of vandalism.
Continue reading the main story
Jimmy Wales Founder of Wikipedia"Maybe someone at the House of Representatives better think about their IT staff”
The latest block comes after
rogue edits were brought to light by a Twitter feed, @congressedits,
which posts every change made from the government-owned address.
One of the acts highlighted was an alteration to the page on
the assassination of John F Kennedy, which was changed to say that Lee
Harvey Oswald was acting "on behalf of the regime of Fidel Castro".
An entry on the moon landing conspiracy theories was changed to say they were "promoted by the Cuban government".
Another entry, on the Ukrainian politician Nataliya Vitrenko, was edited to claim that she was a "Russian puppet".
The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was revised, describing him as an "alien lizard who eats Mexican babies".
However the edit that finally brought administrators to ban
anonymous edits from the House IP address was made on the entry for
media news site Mediaite, describing the blog as "sexist transphobic"
and saying that it "automatically assumes that someone is male without
any evidence".
Mediaite had previously run a story on the rogue edits from congressional computers.
Counter productive?
An entry on the moon landing conspiracy theories was changed to say they were "promoted by the Cuban government".
Another entry, on the Ukrainian politician Nataliya Vitrenko, was edited to claim that she was a "Russian puppet".
The biography of former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was revised, describing him as an "alien lizard who eats Mexican babies".
One edit said the Cuban government was behind the murder of John F Kennedy
Mediaite had previously run a story on the rogue edits from congressional computers.
Counter productive?
Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, told the BBC that the
incident did not surprise him, and vandalism has "always gone on and it
always will".
The MediaIte entry on Wikipedia was edited to say the site was "sexist transphobic"
But he said that the @congressedits Twitter feed may have been counter-productive.
"There is a belief from some of the [Wikipedia] community that it only provoked someone - some prankster there in the office - to have an audience now for the pranks, and actually encouraged them rather than discouraged them."
He added: "Maybe someone at the House of Representatives better think about their IT staff - they might be hunting them down this very moment."
UK government edits
The MediaIte entry on Wikipedia was edited to say the site was "sexist transphobic""There is a belief from some of the [Wikipedia] community that it only provoked someone - some prankster there in the office - to have an audience now for the pranks, and actually encouraged them rather than discouraged them."
He added: "Maybe someone at the House of Representatives better think about their IT staff - they might be hunting them down this very moment."
UK government edits
Earlier this year, the BBC discovered that the phrase "all
Muslims are terrorists" was added to a page about veils by users of UK
government computers.
That followed a report by the Liverpool Echo which found that insults had been added to the entry for the Hillsborough disaster.
Wikipedia allows any user to make changes to a page, even anonymously.
However, the changes are policed by volunteers, known as Wikipedians, who can reverse false edits, and even impose bans on users who continually flout the site's editing rules.
Collective punishment
One edit wrote that moon landing conspiracy theories were endorsed by Cuba
Wikipedia allows any user to make changes to a page, even anonymously.
However, the changes are policed by volunteers, known as Wikipedians, who can reverse false edits, and even impose bans on users who continually flout the site's editing rules.
Collective punishment
Wikipedians have been warning editors from the House of
Representatives since March 2012, and moved to block the address for one
day earlier this month.
On Thursday, the IP address was blocked for 10 days, but one staffer protested that they were being punished for the actions of a few.
"Out of over 9,000 staffers in the House, should we really be banning this whole IP range based on the actions of two or three?
"Some of us here are just making grammatical edits, adding information about birds in Omsk, or showing how one can patch KDE2 under FreeBSD."
Another user from the Hill was quick to dismiss suggestions that the rogue edits were made by elected officials.
"I think the probability is near zero that these disruptive edits are being done by a member of Congress."
On Thursday, the IP address was blocked for 10 days, but one staffer protested that they were being punished for the actions of a few.
Donald Rumsfeld's biography was altered to say he was an "alien lizard"
"Some of us here are just making grammatical edits, adding information about birds in Omsk, or showing how one can patch KDE2 under FreeBSD."
Another user from the Hill was quick to dismiss suggestions that the rogue edits were made by elected officials.
"I think the probability is near zero that these disruptive edits are being done by a member of Congress."
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From other news sites
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The Statesman Wikipedia blocks 'disruptive' page edits from US Congress 4 hrs ago
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Telegraph Wikipedia bans editing of its pages by Congressional staffers after 'online vandalism' 5 hrs ago
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Mail Online UK Wikipedia bans computers in Congress from editing pages 7 hrs ago
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Sky News Wikipedia Bans 'Disruptive' Edits By Congress 7 hrs ago
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The Independent Wikipedia bans edits from within US House of Representatives after conspiracy theory tweaks 10 hrs ago
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