Russian government edits Wikipedia on flight MH17

[Bosonic]

Source: The Telegraph

A political battle has broken out on Wikipedia over an entry relating to the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, with the Russian government reportedly removing sections which accuse it of providing "terrorists" with missiles that were used to down the civilian airliner.

A Twitter bot which monitors edits made to the online encyclopaedia from Russian government IP addresses (unique numbers relating to certain computers or networks) has spotted that changes are being made to a page relating to the crash.

It appears that an internet user from within the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) changed a Russian language version of a page listing civil aviation accidents to say that "The plane [flight MH17] was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers".

That edit replaced text – written just an hour earlier - which said MH17 had been shot down "by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation."

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10977082/Russian-government-edits-Wikipedia-on-flight-MH17.html

[eggplant]

1. And thus the war moves to cyberspace. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

2. Well technically I suppose they did supply them.

Ukraine bought 27 of those systems from Russia and only recently considered it to be expedient to move some the into rebel areas. One battery was then captured by the rebels. Apparently even more are being moved into the area by Kiev.

[geek tragedy]

5. Of course it wasn't the Ukrainian government

that shot the planes down. So your comment is odd.

[JackRiddler]

8. Don't pretend to misunderstand the obvious.

Ukraine military has its own BuKs, Russian made but purchased from Russia. At least one of these was seized by the Donetsk militias. Thus Kiev and Donetsk forces both have BuKs. This did not require Russia to supply BuKs to anyone (although they did SELL the BuKs to the prior Kiev governments). So there is no evidentiary basis for the assertion that Russia directly supplied BuKs to Donetsk.

[Igel]

9. That's what the Russian Ministry of Defense said.

According to their own sources.

RT reported on this claim.

The Russian military also said they identified RLS activation by the "right kind" of systems for use by a Buk to communicate among themselves to track planes (apparently they can network).

No confirmation, but only infidels and the faithless require it. But the gods have said it and their prophets have faithfully echoed the divine wisdom.

[dipsydoodle]

17. At present nobody knows exactly what happened - there are suspicions only.

The Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday it had picked up radar facility activity from a Ukrainian 'Buk' missile system on Thursday when a Malaysian passenger airliner was brought down over eastern Ukraine, RIA reported.

Russia's Itar-Tass agency quoted the ministry as saying the Ukrainian 'Buk' unit in question was located south of the provincial capital Donetsk.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/ukraine-crisis-crash-russia-ministry-idUSL6N0PT2NI20140718

[geek tragedy]

18. Suuuure. nt

[CreekDog]

14. i thought you were lecturing us not to jump to conclusions when separatists were suspected

but you seem fine with jumping to conclusions to say that the Ukranian government is responsible --with basically no evidence.

which doesn't really make sense unless for some reason, not exactly sure what that might be, unless for some reason you just don't want us blaming this on the separatists or the Russians.

now why would that be?

[Tarheel_Dem]

3. Gotta love "the Russian government", don't you? And besides, Putin is dreamy.

[maddezmom]

4. Hmmmm, interesting

[Roy Serohz]

6. What's that Bible verse? "The wicked flee where no man pursueth"?

Not a religious guy, but this reeks of an admission of guilt.

[JackRiddler]

7. Right-wing Telegraph full of bullshit.

I see you are relying on the notorious right-wing attack paper, the Telegraph.

1) Someone using a Russian government computer is not necessarily the "Russian government." How many of you right now are viewing this page from a work computer, or from a public library or other institution that isn't your own house?

2) Given the early state of the investigation, to say that MH17 was shot down "by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation" is a self-evident violation of Wikipedia rules on point of view and neutral language.

3) It also directly echoes the line and language laid down today by Yatsenyuk himself. "Terrorists" is the Kiev government's designation for its antagonists.

So here's the real lead: Kiev and Moscow government sympathizers are fighting over a Wikipedia page, which makes it like about 100,000 other Wikipedia pages that are the sites of such political fights.

.

[Bosonic]

10. It's not a massive deal in and of itself

Just one more data point on Putin's Russia.

Plus if someone from within the State Dept, or the BBC, or similar was caught editing Wikipedia to give an article a 'Western' slant, I'm sure you'd be running around like your fucking hair was on fire, so less of the attitude if you please.

[JackRiddler]

11. It would depend, honestly.

Agencies of Western governments sometimes produce good information. Don't project on me.

However, there is no way to defend the text that was deleted as something remotely appropriate to Wikipedia.

[reorg]

13. according to Wikipedia, there are about 1000 "data points" on the USofA

Biographical information on various politicians was edited by their own staff to remove undesirable information (including pejorative statements quoted, or broken campaign promises), add favorable information or "glowing" tributes, add negative information to opponents' biographies, or replace the article in part or whole by staff-authored biographies.

... investigation by Wikipedia editors discovered well over a thousand edits by IP addresses allocated to the US House of Representatives and Senate.

...

Edward Snowden

On August 2, 2013, an editor linked to the US senate with the IP 156.33.241.5 edited the Wikipedia page of whistleblower Edward Snowden to change his description from "dissident" to "traitor"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Congressional_staff_edits_to_Wikipedia

But I guess that's different.

[Bosonic]

15. Well that's bad as well then

The Snowden one especially is very similar to this case, so LBN worthy (at the time).

(update) http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023399160

Happy?

[JackRiddler]

19. What it boils down to here...

is that a) you don't know this is Russian government enacting policy (though it probably is!) and b) the text they changed was actually in clear violation of Wiki practice. Also, c) we're only talking about this because it's a chance to pile on the Putin hate (as if there weren't enough rational reasons).

[Cha]

12. Leave Putin, the fucking liar, Alone! From Huff Post..

Russian Government Edits Wikipedia To Say Ukrainian Military Shot Down MH17



http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/18/russian-government-edits-wikipedia-to-say-ukrainian-military-shot-down-mh17_n_5600720.html

[freshwest]

20. OMG I just stumbled upon this in a series of OPs. Thanks, Cha.

[Sunlei]

16. Russias propaganda Putin-TV reported the plane was a military plane a couple mins after they shot it

Putins military shouldn't be firing those Russian built, Russian owned missiles at any planes anyway.
Putin is the one ordering any planes flying over Ukraine shot down and claims he is at war with Ukraine. He is responsible for his military.

wiki can be changed back, the editors will change it back. flag the crap out of any of Putins lies, he can't control wiki.

The FREE world is not going to allow Putin to play his old soviet union crap he feeds his Russian citizens.

Besides all those Russian ground fighters are going to go home someday and tell everyone about the rain of body parts from the sky over the 10 mile area.