Why Are Defense Department Computers Being Used to Insult Michael Ignatieff?

There is a very strange story that takes government spying to a new level (low).

Defence Department computers in Ottawa have been used to vandalize information on a Wikipedia site critical of the Conservative government's decision to spend billions on a new stealth fighter.

Nine attempts have been made to alter the online encyclopedia's entry on the Joint Strike Fighter, including the removal of information critical of the Harper government's plan to spend at least $16 billion on the fighters. Defence Department computers were also used to insert insults, aimed at Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, into the Wikipedia Joint Strike Fighter page. Ignatieff has questioned the proposed purchase.

This is where our tax dollars are going?

You know I was thinking about that whole "Russian attack" thing, and while it made me angry, I also have realized something else. If this was a genuine threat, the military would have kept it secret until they were sure, so as not to alarm the populace.

Instead our defence minister (?) ran around screaming the "the sky is falling" and then issued a press release attacking Michael Ignatieff for wanting to cancel the planes.

This sounds more like the actions of a government in crisis. And they are handling this crisis the same way they handle every crisis. With childish attacks.

And they didn't stop at Michael Igantieff:

Quotes from news articles outlining opposition to the arms sale by University of B.C. professor Michael Byers, a former NDP candidate, were also removed. Wikipedia traced the alterations to three computers owned by Defence Research and Development Canada's Ottawa offices. The online site has labelled the July 20-21 alterations as vandalism. The attempts to change the web page, made during work hours, stopped when Wikipedia administrators locked down the entry on the JSF ...

Defence computers during working hours. No doubt they will put the blame on some low level employees and they'll be dismissed, hoping the whole thing just goes away. But this is part of a pattern that should be very alarming. This government does not allow dissent from anyone.