Posted by Iranian on August 30, 2007, 9:52 pm, in reply to "Wikipedia 'shows CIA page edits'" --Previous Message--
66.209.102.5
Now this is funny.
: Wikipedia 'shows CIA page edits'
: By Jonathan Fildes
: Science and technology reporter, BBC
: News
:
: An online tool that claims to reveal
: the identity of organisations that
: edit Wikipedia pages has revealed
: that the CIA was involved in editing
: entries.
: Wikipedia Scanner allegedly shows
: that workers on the agency's
: computers made edits to the page of
: Iran's president.
:
: It also purportedly shows that the
: Vatican has edited entries about
: Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.
:
: The tool, developed by US
: researchers, trawls a list of 5.3m
: edits and matches them to the net
: address of the editor.
:
: Wikipedia is a free online
: encyclopaedia that can be created
: and edited by anyone.
:
: Most of the edits detected by the
: scanner correct spelling mistakes or
: factual inaccuracies in profiles.
: However, others have been used to
: remove potentially damaging material
: or to deface sites.
:
: Mistaken identity
:
: On the profile of Iranian President
: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the tool
: indicates that a worker on the CIA
: network reportedly added the
: exclamation "Wahhhhhh!"
: before a section on the leader's
: plans for his presidency.
:
: A warning on the profile of the
: anonymous editor reads: "You
: have recently vandalised a Wikipedia
: article, and you are now being asked
: to stop this type of
: behaviour."
:
: Other changes that have been made
: are more innocuous, and include
: tweaks to the profile of former CIA
: chief Porter Goss and celebrities
: such as Oprah Winfrey.
:
: When asked whether it could confirm
: whether the changes had been made by
: a person using a CIA computer, an
: agency spokesperson responded:
: "I cannot confirm that the
: traffic you cite came from agency
: computers.
:
: "I'd like in any case to
: underscore a far larger and more
: significant point that no one should
: doubt or forget: The CIA has a vital
: mission in protecting the United
: States, and the focus of this agency
: is there, on that decisive
: work."
:
: Radio change
:
: The site also indicates that a
: computer owned by the US Democratic
: Party was used to make changes to
: the site of right-wing talk show
: host Rush Limbaugh.
:
: The changes brand Mr Limbaugh as
: "idiotic," a
: "racist", and a
: "bigot". An entry about
: his audience now reads: "Most
: of them are legally retarded."
:
: The IP address is registered in the
: name of the Democratic National
: Headquarters.
:
: A spokesperson for the Democratic
: Party said that the changes had not
: been made on its computers. Instead,
: they said that the "IP address
: is the same as the DCCC".
:
: The DCCC, or Democratic
: Congressional Campaign Committee, is
: the "official campaign arm of
: the Democrats" in the House of
: Representatives and shares a
: building with the party.
:
: "We don't condone these sorts
: of activities and we take every
: precaution to ensure that our
: network is used in a responsible
: manner," Doug Thornell of the
: DCCC told the BBC News website.
:
: Mr Thornell pointed out that the
: edit had been made "close to
: two years ago" and it was
: "impossible to know" who
: had done it.
:
: Voting issue
:
: The site also indicates that Vatican
: computers were used to remove
: content from a page about the leader
: of the Irish republican party Sinn
: Fein, Gerry Adams.
:
: The edit removed links to newspaper
: stories written in 2006 that alleged
: that Mr Adams' fingerprints and
: handprints were found on a car used
: during a double murder in 1971.
:
: The section, titled "Fresh
: murder question raised" is no
: longer part of the main online
: encyclopaedia entries.
:
: Wikipedia Scanner also points the
: finger at commercial organisations
: that have modified entries about the
: pages.
:
: One in particular is Diebold, a
: company which supplies electronic
: voting machines in the US.
:
: In October 2005, a person using a
: Diebold computer removed paragraphs
: about Walden O'Dell, chief executive
: of the company, which revealed that
: he had been "a top
: fund-raiser" for George Bush.
:
: A month later, other paragraphs and
: links to stories about the alleged
: rigging of the 2000 election were
: also removed.
:
: The paragraphs and links have since
: been reinstated.
:
: Diebold officials have not responded
: to requests by the BBC for
: information about the changes.
:
: Web history
:
: The Wikipedia Scanner results are
: not the first time that people have
: been uncovered editing their own
: Wikipedia entries.
:
: Earlier this year, Microsoft was
: revealed to have offered money to
: trawl through entries about document
: standards it and other companies
: employ.
:
: Staff at the US Congress have also
: previously been exposed for editing
: and removing sensitive information
: about politicians.
:
: An inquiry was launched after staff
: for Democratic representative Marty
: Meehan admitted polishing his
: biography
:
: The new tool was built by Virgil
: Griffith of the California Institute
: of Technology.
:
: It exploits the open nature of
: Wikipedia, which already collects
: the net address or username of
: editors and tracks all changes to a
: page. The information can be
: accessed in the "history"
: tab at the top of a Wikipedia page.
:
: By merging this information with a
: database of IP address owners,
: Wikipedia Scanner is able to put a
: name to the organisation and firms
: from which edits are made.
:
: The scanner cannot identify the
: individuals editing articles, admits
: Mr Griffith.
:
: "Technically, we don't know
: whether it came from an agent of
: that company, however, we do know
: that edit came from someone with
: access to their network," he
: wrote on the Wikipedia Scanner site.
:
: A spokesperson for Wikipedia said
: the tool helped prevent conflicts of
: interest.
:
: "We really value transparency
: and the scanner really takes this to
: another level," they said.
:
: "Wikipedia Scanner may prevent
: an organisation or individuals from
: editing articles that they're really
: not supposed to."
:
: BBC News website users contacted the
: corporation to point out that the
: tool also revealed that people
: inside the BBC had made edits to
: Wikipedia pages.
:
:
: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6947532.stm
:
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