Just as an addition to our last post, it looks like WikiScanner is already wreaking havoc.
In Australia, we are being inundated with reports of changes to Wikipedia being linked back to staff in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, from immature vandalism to making edits to entries about subjects such as children overboard and the Treasurer. However, if we were just starting to think this was just another political stone-throwing match in the lead up to the election, unfortunately this is not the case – it’s a world-wide slinging match.
Government employees in South Africa have been accused of editing entries on its HIV/Aids policies, in Ireland North’s civil service employees have made over 1,000 edits. Organisations as varied as SeaWorld theme parks, Amnesty International, Pepsi, Exxon Mobil, Disney and Apple don’t escape either…
Mind you, I think that the Sydney Morning Herald asks a pertinent question today when they inquire: “If the Central Intelligence Agency, the Vatican and the Australian Department of Defence can't get it right, what hope is there for the rest of us to adjust, clarify or improve a Wikipedia entry without fear of being branded a wiki vandal?”
This will be an interesting one to keep an eye on!
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