China allows access to Wikipedia – but nothing dodgy about Tibet allowed

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Chinese authorities seem to be gradually lessening their censorship rules to keep the IOC happy, with Wikipedia popping up for those stuck on the other side of the ‘Firewall of China’.

Select English-language pages now appear for vandalism, although try looking up ‘Tiananmen Square’ or ‘Tibet’ and you’ll still be greeted with an error message. Also, the Chinese-language pages are still blocked, so it’s either a temporary glitch in the awesome-sounding Golden Shield Project, or we’re seeing China start to appease foreign visitors…

Google takes on Wikipedia with Knol – "units of knowledge"

google_g_icon.pngWikipedia: often quoted, often defaced, often ridiculed, often found to be used as a credible source of information by major media organisations even though it contains erroneous information, and often to be found lurking at the top of Google’s search results for any given search phrase.

It seems that Google wants to dive into this world of collaboratively edited encyclopaedias with one of its own.

Currently being tested behind closed doors, with a selected group of people, “Knol” is a new service which sounds eerily like Wikipedia.

Korea/Japan Week: Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese Agriculture Ministry is not in charge of Gundam :(

wikipedia-gundam.pngLast night I thought Kim Jong-Il’s comment boasting that he was an ‘internet expert’ was one of the best quotes that’s come out of this Korea/Japan Week we’re having here at Tech Digest, but I’ve discovered something even better, courtesy of Tokyo Mango, Japanese expert.

It appears that Japanese government bureaucrats may be the most obsessed Gundam fans in the world, as an internal investigation in the agriculture ministry has uncovered six staff members spend most of their time editing Gundam entries on Wikipedia rather than working on farming issues. They…

Daily Tech Hotlinks for 03-July-2007: Prince, Wikipedia, AllOfMP3.com, John Edwards, Grand Theft Auto

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– Prince outrages the music industry by giving away his new album for free with the Mail on Sunday.
– The Wikipedia user who prophesised the Chris Benoit murders claims he was simply vandalising the site, and had no idea it would turn true just hours later. Ever thought he maybe gave Benoit the idea in the first place?
– AllOfMp3.com is finally shut down by the Russian authorities, who have no doubt objected over all those pirate TaTu albums escaping the country…