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CIA and FBI Go Online to Edit Wikipedia

The official refuse to confirm

By Bogdan Popa, Security and Search Engines Editor

17th of August 2007, 06:57 GMT

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WikiScanner, an advanced software solution, revealed that several CIA and FBI computers were connected to the open-source encyclopedia Wikipedia and edited some of the articles. Although the representatives of the two bureaus refuse to confirm it, the program created by Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico shows that CIA and FBI modified several articles such as the Iraq conflict and the
Guantanamo prison. According to Reuters, those changes might infringe the Wikipedia's guidelines as a site representative sustained.

Beside the modified articles, it seems like the CIA and the FBI edited several graphics and satellite imagery with an US prison for the terrorists captured from every corner of the world.

"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," Reuters reported. "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."

Although Wikipedia is an open-source platform that allows the users to modify the articles which are approved once another member checks them, CIA's and FBI's attempts to edit the pages are regarded as infringing the service's guidelines. However, WikiScanner discovered what it can be easily included in the censorship category.

The WikiScanner creator said that his technology was especially built to discover what the big companies are up to and observe what they are editing. "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," Reuters added.

If you want to access WikiScanner, you can do it by visiting the official page of the technology available here.

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cia | fbi | wikipedia
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