The Tories erase all speeches from the web. AIBU to think this us really sinister?

[aufaniae]

The Tories have erased their entire archive of speeches from the web.
I challenge anyone to defend this - how on earth could this be in the public interest?

Article here

It's not a space saving exercise - they are actually trying to censor them - the article says

"In a remarkable step the party has also blocked access to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, a US-based library that captures webpages for future generations, using a software robot that directs search engines not to access the pages."

Presumably it is to stop the other parties from being able to do a line by line analysis of 'what they said' and 'what they did'. Newspaper reports which quote selectively won't be quite adequate for that purpose.

I do think that they are generally regretting the whole 'openess' promise - Gove has a particularly poor record on this - trying to hide stuff from Freedom of Information Act requests by using personal email for example.

I also use government websites very frequently at work (not in politics) and I could swear that their new multidepartmental website is an attempt to make it more, not less, difficult to access information. Either that or they have just used the worst web designers ever.

On Guido Fawkes, it says that Labour deleted their pre-2010 archive.

order-order.com/2013/11/14/labour-delete-entire-history-pre-2010-from-website/

Don't know what it's really all about. They can delete their speeches, but until they can delete the public's memory, it won't change much.

'Presumably it is to stop the other parties from being able to do a line by line analysis of 'what they said' and 'what they did'.'

Yes that makes sense, but in reality if they are that desperate to have to do line by line analysis then they are missing the wood for the trees. It's the big stuff that counts with the public, not the details.

Yes, but it would stop them running a '202' broken promises campaign, or whatever number they arrive at.

I agree it's a bit pointless, as someone else said it's one of those 'Thick of It' decisions where the spinmeisters try to be clever but just end up digging a deeper hole.

If I am understanding it correctly, it seems that Labour did it first. That may have alerted the Tory spinners to what might happen i.e Matsikula's broken promise campaign by Labour, and therefore they pulled their material fearing what New Labour might be up to. They probably think that there are no depths to which New Labour cannot sink and therefore it is best not to give New Labour any opportunity to profit from spin.

Just in case :)
Videos are still uploading.
Feel free to give me links to material you think should be saved from archive deletion - the more copies, the better for 'democratisation of information'.

The directory's easier to read this way.

Claig, bet they are worried about UKIP too. They will be expecting the next election to be tight.

Yes, UKIP will cause them damage.

As has been pointed out, what Labour did is slightly different to what the Tories have done.

I would not believe a word.
I work in IT in a security position. You cannot just "erase" stuff, because it is archived somewhere.
Basically erasing means you cannot see it easily anywhere, but it will not have disappeared.

Yes, the whole point is "you cannot see it easily anywhere".

They're our bloody government, we pay them, we expect to be able to revisit promises they broke made.

Who cares. They've just managed to highlight in everyone's minds, yet again, that they're devious fuckers who want nothing better than to pull the wool over everobe's eyes.

Not saying Labour are any better mind (remember "good day to bury bad news"?) but in this particular matter the Tories have behaved worst.

Illegally invading iraq and murdering thousands of civilians is my idea of sinister.

I have to agree that the Labour Party have been no better. Whilst I didn't agree with Iraq, I don't think that was sinister. Dr. David Kelly. That's sinister.

I happen to agree with the OP. Removing files makes a 'bait and switch' technique much easier. I also find it interesting that this has happened at roughly the same time as Cameron has acknowledged.in a recent speech that he wants is a 'leaner' (meaner?) state permanently - a direct contradiction of previous speeches in which he claimed that austerity cuts were temporary, caused by the current economic emergency, and not ideological in any way. The tyres were screeching on the U turn on that one. Was Labour pure as the driven snow? Of course not. But they are two completely different questions.

Actually revise that - pure as the driven snow is a gross understatement. Kelly, the non existent WMD etc, all pretty damn sinister too. Didn't wish to be offensive. But ongoing austerity cuts can kill too because it involves repeatedly cutting support services for the most vulnerable in our society, and it is important we continue to call out politicians who lie and break their promises. My point is, erasing files makes it harder to do that. It is apathy-inducing to just say 'oh well they are all like that so let's not get too het up about it.'