Senate Staffer Tries To Remove Reference To ‘Torture’ From Wikipedia

ILLUSTRATION - Durch eine Lupe ist am 21.06.2012 in Schwerin das Logo Wikipedia auf einem Computerbildschirm zu sehen. Die Stiftung hinter dem beliebten Online-Lexikon Wikipedia muss auf Führungssuche gehen. Die lan... ILLUSTRATION - Durch eine Lupe ist am 21.06.2012 in Schwerin das Logo Wikipedia auf einem Computerbildschirm zu sehen. Die Stiftung hinter dem beliebten Online-Lexikon Wikipedia muss auf Führungssuche gehen. Die langjährige Geschäftsführerin der Wikimedia-Stiftung will sich zurückziehen. Photo by: Jens Büttner/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

An anonymous user tried unsuccessfully to remove a reference to “torture” from a Wikipedia article on the Senate’s report on the CIA’s clandestine interrogation program from an IP address registered to the chamber.

The Twitter account @congressedits, which has been automatically tweeting edits to Wikipedia pages made from IP addresses in Congress since last summer, caught two attempts on Tuesday and Wednesday:

The user tried to remove a line describing so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” as a “euphemism for torture.”

Mashable pointed out that in both instances, the anonymous editor explained that the revision was intended to remove bias from the article. Both attempts to edit the article were blocked.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. Teatroll Rosetta Stone says: “Torture isn’t torture anymore because we redefined it, so it’s biased to call it torture.”

    Fucking conservatives truly do believe they can just rewrite reality when it disagrees with them.

  2. When Teabaggers are not trying to define problems out of existence, they are trying to get rid of any reference to them.

    Typical.

  3. The entry for “Powerpoint Presentation” should also be referenced as torture. Microsoft removed it.

  4. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    And these are the folks who will be running both houses of congress starting in January.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

25 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for paulw Avatar for slbinva Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for don Avatar for english Avatar for jw1 Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for asanders91360 Avatar for leftflank Avatar for fargo116 Avatar for vonq Avatar for callmeeric Avatar for chuckfeney Avatar for deewus Avatar for sniffit Avatar for jjrothery Avatar for korvu Avatar for herringbone Avatar for eric_jaffa Avatar for dnl Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for ryokyo Avatar for dday52

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: