Congressional Staffer's Edits Got Hill Computers Banned From Wikipedia
Congressional IP addresses just got blocked from Wikipedia for the third time in two months, all because somebody working in our government couldn't stop editing Laverne Cox's page on their work computer.
According to the AV Club, the edits made to the Orange is the New Black actress's page were less than tactful.
Shortly after 10 p.m. last night, somebody from within the House Of Representatives changed the Wikipedia entry for Laverne Cox, a transgender actress who plays transgender inmate Sophia Burset on Orange Is The New Black. The entry originally said that an article in The Advocate "touted thatOrange Is The New Black contains the first ever women-in-prison narrative to be played by a real transgender woman." But the anonymous elected representative (or someone from their staff) changed the line to the hateful "a real man pretending to be a woman." The elected official (or their staff member) also added a link to a National Review article published last month that claimed Cox is "not a real woman." The IP address was banned from making edits for one month.
The activity was first highlighted by a Twitter account that tracks edits made by Congressional IP addresses.
It's impossible to know whether the edits are coming from one or multiple users, but the changes come from an IP address, 143.231.249.138, that has repeatedly been linked to House of Representatives computers. In the "talk" discussion section of one article, an individual making the changes has also claimed to be a staffer on Capitol Hill.
[image via AP]