Wikipedia is a great resource. But the problem is that anyone can post an entry: and although many useful and scholarly entries have been posted, practical jokers also love to post absurd and/or misleading information. One such prankster was Brian Chase, 38, of Nashville, who admitted
he created the fake online biography of veteran journalist John Seigenthaler in May.
The fake bio linked Seigenthaler to the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. Seigenthaler was outraged and took his story of defamation to the newspapers. Now Chase admitted what he did saying he didn't know that the Wikipedia was used as a serious reference tool. He has apologized profusely to Seigenthaler and in various statements to the press.
Because Wikipedia allows anyone to add onto existing postings or create new ones, Chase's original note on Seigenthaler had been changed several times since May, adding vulgar epithets, Seigenthaler said yesterday. He said there may be Web sites that still post the original Wikipedia profile of him.
Seigenthaler said he doesn't plan on pursuing legal action against Chase but said the experience has left him hurt.
"I was a close friend of Robert Kennedy, and I worked closely with the president. I had lived with Robert Kennedy and helped edit his first book. We were close friends until his death, and the most painful thing was to have them suggest that I was suspected of their assassination," Seigenthaler said.
"I do not favor more regulations of the Internet, but I fear that Wikipedia is inviting it by its allowing irresponsible vandals to write anything they want about anybody."
The incident has raised questions about the reliability of information on Wikipedia, a popular research tool, and the Internet, and how those wrongly portrayed can hold Web sites accountable, especially when access is unrestricted.
Jimmy Wales, who founded Wikipedia, told The New York Times that the site would make more information about users available to make it easier to lodge complaints. He said the episode does not indicate a systemic problem. "We have to continually evaluate whether our controls are enough," he said, the newspaper reported.
There's always some idiot who has to mess up a good thing. Look for Wikipedia to have much stricter controls on posting in the future.
