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Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

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Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#51

Post by pessimizer »

prox wrote: post #19
pastacacioepepe wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely lost trust in Wikipedia once I realized recent history is literally being rewritten by biased editors. For one, check the edit history of anything Russia/Ukraine war related, it's a complete shitshow.

History was always written by the victors, we only see it happen in real time now.

A simpler way to describe history that is happening in real time is things that are happening now. This is not a case of "history being written by the victors," this is an example of populations being propagandized by their governments and oligarchs about the things those governments and oligarchs are currently doing.

The sense of alienation is overwhelming here. We're not reading stories about something that once happened to someone, we're being sold stories about what is happening to us, and what we are doing, right now.

-----

edit: Walter Lippmann did this stuff for a living, and wrote a lot about it and the political implications of imbalances of information. I don't think it's such a huge difference that people 100 years ago only got two newspapers a day worth of information (early and late editions), and we now get our information rations in smaller portions.

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#52

Post by erie »

ailef wrote: post #2

One amusing edit: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diff/7d674d710c8d1328f0f74f6b351ff... IPs from the European Parliament editing out connections to Cambridge Analytica from Alex Phillips' (member of the European Parliament) page: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diff/584f4588ec12334300a448f39ae4c...

Virgil Griffith had earlier done a similar tool and paid dearly for it after exposing CIA and FBI edits" 16 Aug 2007 — CIA and FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits ... The program, WikiScanner, was developed by Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute https://www.reuters.com/article/oukin-uk-security-wikipedia-...

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#53

Post by the-printer »

bad416f1f5a2 wrote: post #47

The US Army has made six hundred contributions to a list of ethnic slurs: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/page/11014515 They appear as “PEO STAMIS” here, which appears to be an IT group?

When I think about it, a lot of ethnic slurs that were introduced to me were in a context that was militarily adjacent.

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#55

Post by 411111111111111 »

hardlianotion wrote: post #48
sheepz wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

s/Russia/Soviet Union/g. The huge role of Soviet Union was pushed by the Soviet Union as part of its Great Patriotic War narrative is continued to this day by Russia's propaganda. Without the US Lend-Lease, the situation could have turned out much differently for the soviets (as even Stalin himself admitted).

And the Royal Merchant Marine making huge efforts at resupply, and the UK's own material response.

I wasn't trying to claim that the USSR was the sole contributor to the defeat of the fascists, sorry if it sounded like that.

I just wanted to make a pretty strong example of the winners rewriting history and how this propaganda becomes fact for the society.

I'm sure everyone here agrees that it's good that the fascists lost the war and that the USA enabled Europe to stay democratic. It was a very brutal period of time in which human life was sadly undervalued.

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#56

Post by loxias »

erie wrote: post #52
ailef wrote: post #2

One amusing edit: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diff/7d674d710c8d1328f0f74f6b351ff... IPs from the European Parliament editing out connections to Cambridge Analytica from Alex Phillips' (member of the European Parliament) page: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diff/584f4588ec12334300a448f39ae4c...

Virgil Griffith had earlier done a similar tool and paid dearly for it after exposing CIA and FBI edits" 16 Aug 2007 — CIA and FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits ... The program, WikiScanner, was developed by Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute https://www.reuters.com/article/oukin-uk-security-wikipedia-...

Came here to mention Virgil, glad someone beat me to it. =)

It's truly amazing how much can be gleaned from a perusal of the edit history for a page from the beginning. I assume much goes undetected.

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#57

Post by ailef »

erie wrote: post #52
ailef wrote: post #2

One amusing edit: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diff/7d674d710c8d1328f0f74f6b351ff... IPs from the European Parliament editing out connections to Cambridge Analytica from Alex Phillips' (member of the European Parliament) page: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diff/584f4588ec12334300a448f39ae4c...

Virgil Griffith had earlier done a similar tool and paid dearly for it after exposing CIA and FBI edits" 16 Aug 2007 — CIA and FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits ... The program, WikiScanner, was developed by Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute https://www.reuters.com/article/oukin-uk-security-wikipedia-...

Yes, I've mentioned it also in my original blog post. What do you mean though by "paid dearly for it"? I was not aware of anything particular happening.

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#58

Post by Helmut10001 »

elgar1212 wrote: post #45

Some interesting ones: http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diffs/c5885fe11dbfd31923f7554cf41c... http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diffs/c5885fe11dbfd31923f7554cf41c... http://wikiwho.ailef.tech/diffs/ca44a9a42489ede43a5f58ccbd0d...

Crazy (your last link):

> The reality is that waterboarding is not a form of torture and is in fact used in the training of US forces. Much of the debate surrounding the use of torture stems from politically motivated individuals who do not understand the techniques themselves or the complex nature of military operations.

Re: Show HN: Explore Wikipedia edits made by institutions, companies and governments

#59

Post by whythre »

ailef wrote: post #57
erie wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virgil Griffith had earlier done a similar tool and paid dearly for it after exposing CIA and FBI edits" 16 Aug 2007 — CIA and FBI computers used for Wikipedia edits ... The program, WikiScanner, was developed by Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute https://www.reuters.com/article/oukin-uk-security-wikipedia-...

Yes, I've mentioned it also in my original blog post. What do you mean though by "paid dearly for it"? I was not aware of anything particular happening.

Maybe pertaining to persecution like this: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2020/12/11/virgil-griffith-s...
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