The Radio Audio of blogging civil servants, and Miss Wagstaff on Facebook

In case you missed the discussion on 'Good Evening Wales' about recent events in the Welsh blogosphere and Facebook, Matt Wardman has kindly placed the audio on his blog.

We were talking about the restrictions on blogging Civil Servants in Wales, in the light of Miss Wagstaff’s expulsion from Facebook.

I’m delighted that Peter Black AM was more controversial than I was. Welsh Assembly Government “stalinist” indeed - ouch!

The only missing point that perhaps needed to be made was a detailed one that the Christopher Glamorganshire sacking case happened before the “Principles for Participation Online” were officially adopted in England.

I also didn’t get the chance to suggest that the Welsh Assembly Government are perhaps having their internal culture inspired too much by the Torchwood programme episodes set in the 1940s. A problem of working too close to a film set, perhaps.

Peter Black’s final point about the need for consultation with employees is excellent, and it seems to me that - if the Welsh Assembly Government can adopt the Civil Service Code itself with virtually no changes - then it can’t be very difficult to adopt a 79-word set of principles (warning: pic of Government Minister at end of link !).

Live at 17:30 - Good Evening Wales: Welsh Blogging and Facebook

Unfortunately, I'm unavailable for comment, however, my old blogging friend Matt Wardman will be taking part in the radio programme, Good Evening Wales a little later today (just after 5:30) talking about Welsh Political Blogging by Civil Servants from the point of view of an “outsider”, as a result of the coverage he has been giving to the Christopher Glamorganshire case in Wales, and also the Civil Serf case before that.

Matt writes:

I expect to be talking about the difference in attitudes to political blogging by Civil Servants in England and Wales. I am told that Peter Black AM will be joining us.

I think this is the first time in my life that I will have been on the Radio with a real politician. Is that good or bad?

I wonder if I can get a statement from Tom Watson by 5:00pm that the Principles for Online Participation apply in Wales as well as England?

Farcebook
Good Evening Wales are doing this piece because a Welsh Political Blogger - Miss Wagstaff - has been thrown off Facebook because allegations had been made that she was running a “Fake Account”.

You can read the account here. The serious point was that they just swallowed the allegations hook, line and sinker and took action with even checking. That looks far too reminiscent of what many webhosts do in respond to letters alleging defamation for me to be comfortable with it.

As Miss W says, "Why not raise the question with me of the possibility of ‘real and fake names’ in the first instance - before deactivation."

Research Question
Anyway - do you know anyone else that this has happened to, since Facebook seem to be making more than a little of an arse of themselves on this one. The problem seems to be one of action taken on the basis of allegations with no fact checking. I’ve been digging for a few minutes and I have found:

Last December Facebook told Steve Webb MP that he was an imposter and deleted his account. That may be true of the new Lib Dem satellite tracking policy pretending not to be Big Brother, but I think I believe that Steve Webb MP is himself.

Valleys Mam has also had problems.

Does anybody know of any others that are interesting or amusing?

I note that Genghis Kahn has an account. Presumably he is impersonating Alistair Campbell.

Any more for any more?