[WikiEN-l] US Congress Staff Editing Wikipedia

[Philip Welch]

>> My reaction seems to be unique so far. I would think it much better
>> for the Wikipedia project that we do not publicise that we know
>> exactly who is doing this. It is fascinating to watch the congress
>> staffers at work. It is just a pity that shortly they will smarten up
>> and be doing this with proper accounts via different IPs.
>>
>> If there have only been a thousand changes so far, most of which were
>> positive, this does not seem to be a "major" problem. Certainly not
>> compared to the information we're gleaning from this. So, by all
>> means, let's continue to revert the particularly obnoxious changes,
>> but asking them to "stop it" will simply make it invisible.
>
> A little late for that since my phone is ringing off the hook with
> reporters interested in the story.

Any chance of, say, the chairs of the House and Senate Ethics  
Committees writing a response to our RfC? Or, even better, Speaker  
Hastert and Vice President Cheney?

Since the Foundation is a 503(c), I think this should be taken  
seriously. How much of a scandal would it be for Congressional  
staffers to interfere with, say, the work of Red Cross volunteers for  
crass political purposes? Wikipedia is Serious Business™.

-- 
Philip L. Welch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Philwelch