Jimmy Wales To Become UK Government Adviser 95
judgecorp writes "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is to become a U.K. government adviser on open government. The unpaid post, announced at SXSW, will see him contributing ideas on issues including the single government portal open.gov.uk, among other things. Wales has been an outspoken critic of some government intiatives in the U.S., including the SOPA act on copyright — whose British counterpart, the DEA, is already law."
Fucking wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously.
This is about the most sensible government related news (especially from teh UK) I've heard in about a decade.
Some people may or may nhot have objections to Mr Wales personal politics and drives (I can't think of any right now, myself). Some people object to anything. But having a guy with a deep dedication to freedom of information in a place where he can at least get a point of view across to government, even if it's then ignored, is a huge step forwards.
Re:Fucking wow. (Score:5, Insightful)
even if it's then ignored, is a huge step forwards.
That depends on the purpose of putting him into that role. If the purpose is to get input from someone who is actually trying to make things better, then it is a good thing. If the purpose is merely to appease the masses by putting in someone and then not listening to a thing they say - just to have the appearance of trying to make things better, then it is worse than not putting him into that role at all.
Sorry for the half empty tone here, it's been a frustrating day for me.
Re:Fucking wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
What's he going to do, shout down some good idea from someone just because they haven't posted enough and aren't well known? Following rules are more important to Wikipedia than actually getting the facts in. Actually, I guess that makes wikipedia and normal governments pretty similar...
Re:Fucking wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
This is about the most sensible government related news I've heard in about a decade
This is so true. While I doubt about it, that would be even greater if it could have a bit of influence over the other European countries. E.g. France, a country that currently takes the exact opposite direction.
Re:Fucking wow. (Score:4, Insightful)
Humm, best thing since Gordon Brown's cabinet of "all the talents" maybe. That had plenty of notable advisers.
Also remember most of the House of Lords is made of people like Jimbo (not personality but success).
Re:Karma (Score:3, Insightful)
More likely, his input will be reverted for "inaccuracy", i.e. for diverging from the groupthink.
Re:Oh the irony. (Score:5, Insightful)
Rule of law is whst makes freedom possible. What you appear to be describing is an online version of that Randian dream, Somalia. Try building an online encyclopedia of this scale, without having rules and measures to deal with the guys who will devote alarming amounts of time to replacing all nouns with "shitcock".