Ha...tories start deleting speeches and removing them from archives

Graham_Devon

In a bid to "revamp their website" they say!

So, in order to revamp their website, they need to remove stuff on the web archive, while at the same time, editing the robot file to stop search engines searching the archives for what's left....

The key things they appear to be removing is economic speeches. Stuff which they stated they would do on the economy, which, having gained power, they have decided maybe they wouldn't do.

It's one thing to revamp your website. But to destroy from web archives all previous speeches is another thing entirely.

Though most amusing!

The Conservative Party has deleted speeches and press releases published on its website between 2000 and the 2010 general election.

The archive has also been hidden from search engines.

The move was spotted by Computer Weekly, a trade publication, which also said some records had been removed from the Internet Archive, which aims to make a permanent record of web content.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24924185

Generali

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/public-sector/2013/11/conservatives-erase-internet-h.html

It's a particularly mean spirited and nasty piece IMHO.

The erasure had the effect of hiding Conservative speeches in a secretive corner of the internet like those that shelter the military, secret services, gangsters and !!!!!philes.

Kiddie fiddlers? A little OTT perhaps.

Loughton_Monkey

Graham_Devon wrote: »

It's one thing to revamp your website. But to destroy from web archives all previous speeches is another thing entirely.

Though most amusing!

Mark my words, Graham. You are going to be famous.

Many years hence, probably around the year 2095, there is going to be a huge house price crash. In all the mayhem of apportioning blame, someone's going to trawl these archives, find your posts, and prove how right you were and the HTB scheme is going to be proven to have caused it. You will be famous.

Eat your heart out, Nostrodamus.

Kennyboy66

Generali wrote: »

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/public-sector/2013/11/conservatives-erase-internet-h.html

It's a particularly mean spirited and nasty piece IMHO.

Kiddie fiddlers? A little OTT perhaps.

Apart from the reference to kiddie fiddlers, what exactly is mean spirited and nasty about that piece ?

What the have done is vaguely Orwellian - how can you defend it ?

It is more likely to have the Streisand effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

michaels

Cross post with Kb

He who controls the present controls the past
He who controls the past controls the future

Double chocolate rations all round?

Generali

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

Apart from the reference to kiddie fiddlers, what exactly is mean spirited and nasty about that piece ?

What the have done is vaguely Orwellian - how can you defend it ?

It is more likely to have the Streisand effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect

I'm not defending it, just saying it's quite mean spirited. Actually I think that detracts from the message, especially as Computer Weekly is meant to be a serious publication.

My Dad wrote for it very occasionally back in the day.

Never heard of the Streisand Effect before though, very amusing.

vivatifosi

That's the great thing about the internet, once it's out there, it's out there, no matter how much you try and hide it.

The key is not to trust politicians of any shade, that way they have less capacity to disappoint through their actions.

I wonder if GB's famous 'no more boom and bust' speech is still available on the Labour site.

Rinoa

vivatifosi wrote: »

I wonder if GB's famous 'no more boom and bust' speech is still available on the Labour site.

Just looked. In their news archive they have 805 news releases. They start from when Ed was elected leader.

Mr Brown has been erased from Labour history.

Masomnia

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Are Labour trying to erase history because they have none of Attlee's speeches espousing the benefits of nationalisation on their website? Maybe the Tories should also have left in Peel's addresses to Parliament on the repeal of the corn laws? I'll suggest it.

I noticed Labour's website's archive only goes back as far as Miliband's first speech to the conference. I don't know why this is news.

vivatifosi

Why is it news when the Conservatives delete their news release archives, but not when Labour does the same? That's the question.

're Atlee and Peel. They existed in the age before politicians became so media obsessed. I wonder whether a disabled person like FDR or someone with a speech impediment, or with a shabby look (e.g. Michael Foot) would rise to the top of their party now, irrespective of how bright they are? It's all about PPEs from Oxbridge and media training now. Shame. Sorry, I digress.

Graham_Devon

vivatifosi wrote: »

Why is it news when the Conservatives delete their news release archives, but not when Labour does the same? That's the question..

I think it's because they are getting them deleted from the web archive also, and stopping search engines from being able to find them.

It's not just their website they are updating. It's going a bit further than that.

This is the web archive which take copies of websites and preserves them... if they can get the speeches removed from here too theres no way any journalist could hold them up on something they have said. http://archive.org/web/