Changing Reality With A Mouse Click
Somebody using a National Rifle Association computer altered the Wikipedia article on the Sept. 11 terror attacks to strengthen the suggestion that Saddam Hussein's Iraq many have been involved in the planning and execution of the attacks.
Church of Scientology computers have been used to excise criticism of the church from Wikipedia.
A CBS computer was used to falsely claim that CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer's real name is Irving Federman. This "fact" was added to Blitzer's Wikipedia biography.
And folks from The New York Times, Fox News, the FBI, the CIA and many other groups and organizations have also been busy cutting and pasting their version of Wikipedia history.
As the Web encyclopedia that anyone can edit, Wikipedia encourages participants to adopt online user names, but it also lets contributors be identified simply by their computers' numeric Internet addresses.
Often that does not provide much of a cloak, such as when PCs in congressional offices were discovered to have been involved in Wikipedia entries trashing political rivals.
In a recent incident, the press secretary for Rep. David Davis, R-Tenn., said he deleted unflattering information about his boss and his brother, a state representative, from their biographies on the Internet encyclopedia.
Timothy Hill used a congressional office computer to edit their
Wikipedia entries. "My job is to make sure statements about my boss are truthful and, sometimes, as positive as possible," he said.
Episodes like this inspired Virgil Griffith, a computer scientist about to enter grad school at CalTech, to automate the process with WikiScanner, a new online tool.
The free scanner grabs the Internet Protocol addresses used in anonymous Wikipedia edits in the past five years. By combining that with public information about which IP addresses belong to whom, the Scanner reveals Wikipedia changes made from computers assigned to many organizations.
Many of the edits are predictably self-interested: PCs in Scientology officialdom were used to remove criticism in the church's Wikipedia entry. But others hint at procrastinating office workers, such as the tweaks to Wikipedia articles on TV shows being made from CIA computers.
Many examples are being tallied at a page run by Wired News, which reported earlier on WikiScanner.
Griffith wrote on his site that he hopes "to create minor public relations disasters for companies and organizations I dislike."
Whatever comes of it, WikiScanner has a fan in Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. "It is fabulous and I strongly support it," Wales said.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Church of Scientology computers have been used to excise criticism of the church from Wikipedia.
A CBS computer was used to falsely claim that CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer's real name is Irving Federman. This "fact" was added to Blitzer's Wikipedia biography.
And folks from The New York Times, Fox News, the FBI, the CIA and many other groups and organizations have also been busy cutting and pasting their version of Wikipedia history.
As the Web encyclopedia that anyone can edit, Wikipedia encourages participants to adopt online user names, but it also lets contributors be identified simply by their computers' numeric Internet addresses.
Often that does not provide much of a cloak, such as when PCs in congressional offices were discovered to have been involved in Wikipedia entries trashing political rivals.
In a recent incident, the press secretary for Rep. David Davis, R-Tenn., said he deleted unflattering information about his boss and his brother, a state representative, from their biographies on the Internet encyclopedia.
Timothy Hill used a congressional office computer to edit their
Wikipedia entries. "My job is to make sure statements about my boss are truthful and, sometimes, as positive as possible," he said.
Episodes like this inspired Virgil Griffith, a computer scientist about to enter grad school at CalTech, to automate the process with WikiScanner, a new online tool.
The free scanner grabs the Internet Protocol addresses used in anonymous Wikipedia edits in the past five years. By combining that with public information about which IP addresses belong to whom, the Scanner reveals Wikipedia changes made from computers assigned to many organizations.
Many of the edits are predictably self-interested: PCs in Scientology officialdom were used to remove criticism in the church's Wikipedia entry. But others hint at procrastinating office workers, such as the tweaks to Wikipedia articles on TV shows being made from CIA computers.
Many examples are being tallied at a page run by Wired News, which reported earlier on WikiScanner.
Griffith wrote on his site that he hopes "to create minor public relations disasters for companies and organizations I dislike."
Whatever comes of it, WikiScanner has a fan in Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. "It is fabulous and I strongly support it," Wales said.
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My question is, whose ''truth''.
Histories have always been written by the victors - right or wrong. And history has been amended many times as the truth - the real truth - has been accepted and acknowledged.
It must be also be accepted that Wiki''s very strength is also its greatest weakness - that it can be amended by anyone, even, or especially, those with a specific agenda.
As has been proven...
To be honest and ''truthful'' even the least savory facts must be included, without supposition and labels, and let the reader decide for themselves.
So, for example, an entry about Scientology, could mention that some people believe that Scientology is a cult. Does that mean that it is - no,it simply means that some people believe it is so.
As another example, it is not necessary to label Fox a ''conservative'' news station, any more than it is to label CBS a ''liberal'' station. However, a mention that some consider it so would be an accurate description that would also illustrate the increasing polarization of our society.
Sadly, for myself I see this as only more evidence of that polarization.
It seems as though we now honor the freedoms and liberties envisioned by our forefathers more in the breech than in the observance, and then only when convenient.
Scientology is orwellian.
Re: "And folks from The New York Times, Fox News, the FBI, the CIA and many other groups and organizations have also been busy cutting and pasting their version of Wikipedia history."
Gee, what a surprise! The terrorists at the FBI and the CIA will do anything for a laugh!
At least CBS Nooz has the decency to foist their unsubstantiated, pro-fascist, poopaganda on us from their own site, or should I say "SITE"?!
Wikipedia is no different than CBS or any other "commercial" outlet. Except Wikipedia has a lot more "editors" and "reporters."
Here is a clue about how to arrive at the "truth":
Read or listen to what the opponents say with as much interest as what the proponents claim.
Wikipedia is no better or worse than any other outlet and the information must be read with a very critical (skeptical) view. Which is also true of CBS or any other source.