CIA and FBI being naughty on Wikipedia

Filed under: Business, Internet, Security

CIA and FBI being naughty on Wikipedia

by Peter White Aug 17th 2007

The Government is watching you. Maybe not all the time, but enough. Waiting for you to do something you're not supposed to. That's what makes it all the more sweet when someone develops a way to catch the Government doing something wrong, no matter how small it is. A few days ago we told you about a fun little tool called WikiScanner that lets you search for companies making anonymous changes to Wikipedia entries. And lo and behold, both CIA and FBI networks have been spotted editing entries. Which wouldn't be a big deal, if they were editing entries about club sandwiches or something else irrelevant to government activities. Then it would just be a waste of time. But they've been adding and changing information on things like Guantanamo Bay and a former CIA Chief.

Now, Wikipedia has some clearly stated conflict-of-interest guidelines that say that you shouldn't be writing about a topic if you're a tad biased. Which in this case, the editors clearly are. The FBI has yet to comment on this, and a CIA spokesperson said that he couldn't confirm that their computers were used to make the changes. Granted, it's nowhere near a big deal, but it's kind of funny. The bigger question is: shouldn't the CIA and FBI have better things to do with their time than edit Wikipedia entries? Guess not.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

srenehan said 2:51PM on 8-17-2007

all these new stories about who is editing wikipedia are really really stupid. Thanks to the at least general anonimity of wikipedia, you can't even prove that it was a member of the CIA / FBI and not, say one of their kids hopping on one of their PCs, or a media type hopping on the network to do some research...

or the head of the division or whatever.

We don't know...and it's more then a little pointless to speculate who used what IP thanks to the fact that Wikipedia is very easily spoofed in the first place.

Ian Zels said 4:45PM on 8-17-2007

All the information you need to know about the "CIApedia" you can find it here: http://www.uruguaydailynews.com/2007/08/17/ciapedia/

You are welcome...!
Cheers!

raj said 8:23PM on 8-17-2007

Yes but don't tell me you don't find it amusing ;)

Sean said 5:14PM on 8-18-2007

The CIA and FBI have every right to edit entries that contain erroneous information about them or their operations. There are plenty of tin-foil-hat-wearing moonbats out there who have nothing better to do with their time than smear those agencies (and others) with their own biased crackpot theories. Any intelligent reader can see that Wikipedia is full of bias on any subject that is more controversial than toast or lawn-mowing techniques.

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm neither American, nor an employee of either agency.

John McCall said 11:22PM on 8-18-2007

Hi,
The CIA and FBI have to keep they're image and reputation spotless.
That's why they change any derogatory remarks about
Guantanamo Bay or a former CIA Chief.
Wikipedia...Home of the Free and Brave.
John McCall
http://www.net-ebooks.com
http://www.ebooks-downloads.com

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