If You Don't Want to Be Labelled a Cabal, Don't Act Like One

Electronic Intifadah has exposed a campaign by CAMERA, the propagandists, to try to infiltrate the administration of Wikipedia in order to put out a pro-Israel view of the Situation on the world's encyclopedia. EI got a hold of CAMERA's emails, in which "Ini" and "Zeq" advised the cadre how to do their dirty work:

Ini suggests that after volunteers sign up as editors for Wikipedia they should "avoid editing Israel-related articles for a short period of time." This strategy is intended to "avoid the appearance of being one-topic editors," thus attracting unwanted attention.
 
...To further conceal the identity of CAMERA-organized editors, Ini warns, "don't forget to always log in before making [edits]. If you make changes while not logged in, Wikipedia will record your computer's IP address" -- a number that allows identification of the location of a computer connected to the Internet.
 
A veteran Wikipedia editor, known as "Zeq," who according to the emails is colluding with CAMERA, also provided advice to CAMERA volunteers on how they could disguise their agenda. In a 20 March email often in misspelled English, Zeq writes, "You don't want to be precived [sic] as a 'CAMERA' defender' on wikipedia [sic] that is for sure." One strategy to avoid that is to "edit articles at random, make friends not enemies -- we will need them later on. This is a marathon not a sprint."
 
Zeq also identifies, in a 25 March email, another Wikipedia editor, "Jayjg," whom he views as an effective and independent pro-Israel advocate. Zeq instructs CAMERA operatives to work with and learn from Jayjg, but not to reveal the existence of their group even to him fearing "it would place him in a bind" since "[h]e is very loyal to the wikipedia [sic] system" and might object to CAMERA's underhanded tactics.

Comments

[Richard Witty]

Phil,
I would assume that there are many informal and maybe some formal networks of people inserting questionable assertions into wikipedia posts.

The structure of wikipedia includes opportunity to contest specific facts, and some peer review process (I don't know the specifics).

There have been citations from the left and the left/right that have appeared in wikipedia, that I regard also as propaganda.

The whole web is like that.

People routinely cite a URL and by virtue of it being "published", is presumed to be authoritative.

It illustrates a danger of the open-source style of editing (a wonderful idea), in contrast to the professional requirements to fact-check for example, guided by professional and ethical codes of conduct.

[Jim Haygood]

.

What a shame that Wikipedia isn't like the MSM, where the Lobby can just slot in its zionoid columnists, and let the Krauthammers and Kristols rant on, unimpeded and unedited.

The internet is our samizdat!

[nadahater]

I would bet a sizable amount of money that these same practices are carried out by the anti-israel groups. Does that make them a cabal too?

[americangoy]

"I would bet a sizable amount of money that these same practices are carried out by the anti-israel groups. Does that make them a cabal too?"

I'll take that bet.

Give me proof of pro Palestinians Megaphone software from GIYUS equivalent.

[Joshua]

Actions like these only testify that Israel's human rights violations are getting harder and harder to cover up.

[Montag]

Nadahater, if anti-Zionists do stuff like this they aren't stupid enough to get caught at it like CAMERA. The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was exposed because the plotters let one man too many in on their plan by warning him not to attend Parliament that day. CAMERA makes those blunderers look like professionals.

[Jeff]

No reading of the blatant propaganda control of the wikipedia cabal (if the word fits, use it!) is complete without digesting the awful truth at Robert Lindsay's blog:

http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2006/04/wikipedia-ziopedia-or-judeopedia.html

Phil, like you, he's of the independent Left that isn't going to back down in the face of spurious charges of "antisemitism". Sadly, the word is losing any meaning. What's even worse, is that that people that harbor a true hostility towards Jews are only proven "right" when such malfeasance comes to light.

[Joachim Martillo]

I put up some backstory on this attempt to manipulate Wikipedia at http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2008/04/thought-control-camera-and-wikipedia.html .

[Charles Keating]

Even the most ignorant goy suspects the truth. Looks like the Jews can't wait to inspire a new Mushroom Book.

[JD]

It's not just wiki.

Just to recap who's running the intel, police and money nerve centers of DC:

Negroponte (ODNI) - Jew
Chertoff (DHS) - Jew
Mukasey (DoJ) - Jew
Bernanke - (Fed) - Jew

(The entire Federal Reserve Board of Governors, five men, is composed of Jews)

And just so they stay in historical bounds as the oppressive tax collectors of old, we have Nathan Hochman (descended from ADL spy stock) taking over as the muscle for DoJ's Tax Division.

I'd have the exact same objections if these unelected offices were being held by a similar group of Fundie Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Bahai or whatever. No one group can have this much power and not abuse it.