Post by Raikou-Neko on Jul 29, 2008 7:04:40 GMT -5
One of the biggest problems with Wikipedia is the ease at which partisan users can anonymously make changes to entries: If the article about Acme Inc reports news that Acme Inc doesn't like, they can just go in and change it. Sure, the site records the IP address of tievery user (at least the ones who don't hide themselves). But most Wikipedia users don't look at page history, and even fewer would know or care how to figure out who is really commenng.
But now a new tool is shining light on the anonymous editing of Wikipedia, and illustrating how members of organizations from the CIA to Microsoft to the US Congress are manipulating the site. According to Wired, CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith has created WikiScanner, a search tool that traces IP addresses of those who make Wikipedia changes.
Using it, he's found egregious abuse of the site like changes made by someone at voting-machine company Diebold, who apparently deleted content regarding concerns over the integrity of their voting machines, and details of their CEO's Republican fund-raising.
The tool has only been up and running for a short period of time, and I suspect we've only scratched the surface: as more people play with this, they're going to find many more examples of Wikipedia abuse. Wired's Threat Level blog is already compiling a nice list.
As posted here: blogs.forbes.com/digitaldownload/2007/08/whos-editing-wi.html
But now a new tool is shining light on the anonymous editing of Wikipedia, and illustrating how members of organizations from the CIA to Microsoft to the US Congress are manipulating the site. According to Wired, CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith has created WikiScanner, a search tool that traces IP addresses of those who make Wikipedia changes.
Using it, he's found egregious abuse of the site like changes made by someone at voting-machine company Diebold, who apparently deleted content regarding concerns over the integrity of their voting machines, and details of their CEO's Republican fund-raising.
The tool has only been up and running for a short period of time, and I suspect we've only scratched the surface: as more people play with this, they're going to find many more examples of Wikipedia abuse. Wired's Threat Level blog is already compiling a nice list.
As posted here: blogs.forbes.com/digitaldownload/2007/08/whos-editing-wi.html
