(READ): End Of The Wiki Dream? Wikipedia To Be Edited …

Source: Sky News

Wikipedia is to introduce editors to approve changes to articles, ending the principle that they can be altered by anyone.

The online encyclopaedia was founded on the principle the community could maintain and update it without much interference.

Until now, registered volunteers were able to make instant edits. Around 13 million articles have so far been created and maintained, in more than 260 languages.

But a spate of hoaxes has damaged its credibility and Wikipedia has decided experienced editors must approve changes before they are published.

The change is expected to affect all articles on living people, if a test period is judged a success.

Slowing down the speed of updates may discourage volunteers from maintaining pages or render the site less responsive to news events, such as deaths or announcements.

The pages of high-profile celebrities such as Michael Jackson have had changes blocked as they can attract so much fake information.

 

READ: U.S. tests system to break foreign Web censorship

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China andIran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet.

The “feed over email” (FOE) system delivers news, podcasts and data via technology that evades web-screening protocols of restrictive regimes, said Ken Berman, head of IT at the U.S. government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is testing the system.

The news feeds are sent through email accounts including those operated by Google Inc, Microsoft Corp’s Hotmail and Yahoo Inc.

“We have people testing it in China and Iran,” said Berman, whose agency runs Voice of America. He provided few details on the new system, which is in the early stages of testing. He said some secrecy was important to avoid detection by the two governments. Read More

READ: China Bans Online Video Games

Source: youthradio.org

China has done it again. This year, China banned Twitter. The block came just days before the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement, a series of demonstrations in Beijing in 1989 that culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre. Now, China’s government has banned online games that glamorize gang life and violence. Read More

CNN Prez Tells Staff to Stop Booking Talk Radio Hosts – ‘They Just Add to the Noise.’

Source: Crooks And Liars: Although we didn’t get rid of Lou Dobbs, it looks like the stink we raised is having an impact. From today’s Mediabistro.com:

Exclusive: TVNewser has learned, and a CNN spokesperson confirms, that in his morning editorial meeting today, CNN/U.S. president Jon Klein asked his show producers to avoid booking talk radio hosts. “Complex issues require world class reporting,” Klein is quoted as saying, adding that talk radio hosts too often add to the noise, and that what they say is “all too predictable.” Read More