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CIA, FBI computers used for Wikipedia
edits
Randall Mikkelsen
Reuters
Friday Aug 17, 2007
People
using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online
encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and the
Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program.
The changes may violate Wikipedia's conflict-of-interest
guidelines, a spokeswoman for the site said on Thursday.
The program, WikiScanner, was developed by Virgil
Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico and posted this
month on a Web site that was quickly overwhelmed with searches.
The program allows users to track the source of
computers used to make changes to the popular Internet encyclopedia
where anyone can submit and edit entries.
(Article continues below)
WikiScanner revealed that CIA computers were used
to edit an entry on the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. A graphic
on casualties was edited to add that many figures were estimated
and were not broken down by class.
Another entry on former CIA chief William Colby
was edited by CIA computers to expand his career history and discuss
the merits of a Vietnam War rural pacification program that he
headed.
Aerial and satellite images of the U.S. prison for
terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were removed using
a computer traced to the FBI, WikiScanner showed.
CIA spokesman George Little said he could not confirm
whether CIA computers were used in the changes, adding that "the
agency always expects its computer systems to be used responsibly."
The FBI did not have an immediate response.
Computers at numerous other organizations and companies
were found to have been involved in editing articles related to
them.
Griffith said he developed WikiScanner "to
create minor public relations disasters for companies and organizations
I dislike (and) to see what 'interesting organizations' (which
I am neutral towards) are up to."
It was not known whether changes were made by an
official representative of an agency or company, Griffith said,
but it was certain the change was made by someone with access
to the organization's network.
It violates Wikipedia's neutrality guidelines for
a person with close ties to an issue to contribute to an entry
about it, said spokeswoman Sandy Ordonez of the Wikimedia Foundation,
Wikipedia's parent organization.
However, she said, "Wikipedia is self-correcting,"
meaning misleading entries can be quickly revised by another editor.
She said Wikimedia welcomed the WikiScanner.
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