• Reuters, Friday, August 17, 2007 11:15 AM

A new tracing program that reveals where Wikipedia entries come from is stirring up controversy. People using FBI and CIA computers edited entries on such topics as the "Iraq war" and the prison at "Guantanamo Bay," presenting a conflict of interest for the nonprofit online encyclopedia, according to a company spokesperson.

The so-called Wikiscanner was developed "to create minor public relations disasters for companies and organizations I dislike (and) to see what 'interesting organizations' (which I am neutral toward) are up to," said the program's creator, Virgil Griffith of the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. It reveals the origin of the computer that made changes to a Wikipedia listing. However, in the case of the FBI or CIA, changes could have been made by someone with access to the organizations' network.

Wikipedia spokesperson Sandy Ordonez condoned the new program for helping to guard against people close to a matter or organization editing its Wikipedia entry, which is a violation of the sites terms of use. And while Ordonez was concerned that the changes made from FBI and CIA computers represented a conflict of interest, "Wikipedia is self-correcting." Another editor could always revise mistaken or misleading entries.

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