Wikipedia Watch

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File:Wikipedia Hive Mind.png
Wikipedia Watch's "Hive Mind" page.

Wikipedia Watch is a web site launched by Daniel Brandt on October 13, 2005 [1] criticising Wikipedia and documenting Brandt's contentions that Wikipedia articles about himself and others constitute an invasion of privacy, and may violate Florida State statutes on privacy (the Wikimedia Foundation has its headquarters in Florida).

Contents

About

Brandt has emailed and faxed the Wikimedia Foundation and Jimmy Wales demanding that the article on him be deleted from Wikipedia; a copy of the faxed letter has been posted on his Wikipedia Watch site. [2] He argues that Wikipedia's openness raises the risk that articles may be manipulated by anyone without being accountable for it. He also argues that Wikipedia's prominence in search engine results gives those with a personal agenda a potential platform for making libelous statements with impunity. Brandt has stated:

The privacy issues interest me even more than the libel issue. Unfortunately, the laws on privacy are less clear, and discussions on privacy will not be as focused. In Florida, where Wikipedia is located, there is an invasion of privacy statute that might apply in this case, even assuming that everything in the article is true. At issue would be the public disclosure of truthful private information that a reasonable person would find objectionable. Would a reasonable person find Wikipedia's mention of facts about my 1960s activism objectionable? Not at the moment, hopefully, and yet it wouldn't take much for this situation to change. Another act of terrorism on U.S. soil, followed by a stronger version of the U.S. Patriot Act, and "reasonable" people might feel that I should, once again, be watched by the FBI, CIA, and local police the way I was in the 1960s. Does Wikipedia consider issues such as this? Of course not ? information wants to be free, and nothing must stand in its way. [3]

Identities of Wikipedia users

Starting 19 November 2005, Wikipedia Watch's "hivemind" page attempted to collect and document real names of editors of Wikipedia so that in the event he decided to sue for libel, he would be able to name individuals in the action. According to Brandt, "the editors and administrators feel that they are untouchable" and disclosing their identities would increase accountability for their writings. On 17 December 2005, the purportedly real identities were removed, but on 21 December 2005, this information again appeared on the page.

Wikipedia policy

Brandt has also criticized recent changes to Wikipedia policy taken as a result of the Seigenthaler controversy, saying that they are a step backwards because they will decrease the number of users whose IP address will be visible [4]. The new policy prevents users who are not logged-in (and who therefore can only be credited for their edits with an IP address) from creating articles. Such users are still permitted under the new policy to edit existing articles, and all such edits will still be credited to their IP addresses.

Editor of Wikipedia

Brandt was a Wikipedia editor under the user name Daniel Brandt from approximately October 15 to November 8, 2005, when his account was blocked from editing. This action was taken following a rancorous three week period during which Brandt engaged in conduct that many Wikipedia editors considered to be violations of Wikipedia policy or otherwise inappropriate, especially compiling personal information about Wikipedia editors on his website. [5]. His ban was overturned on December 17, 2005, but he was blocked indefinitely again in April 2006 for legal threats.

Role in the Seigenthaler controversy

Main article: John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy

In December 2005, Brandt became involved in the John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy. Seigenthaler's USA Today column criticizing Wikipedia over the affair had generated considerable publicity.

Brandt found that the IP address used by the poster of the allegedly defamatory information was also used to host a website, with the text, "Welcome to Rush Delivery." There was also a company in Nashville known by that name, and the IP address on the email they sent back to Brandt matched that in the edit history of the Seigenthaler article. He made this information known to the media. Within the week, Brian Chase, a manager at Rush Delivery, resigned and personally confessed to Seigenthaler.

Attacks on Wikipedia Watch

The website was victimized on two occasions:

  • A hoax sent by one user who claimed that he had the identity of one of the unknown editors, giving the name as Daniel Atta Benzona, which means "Daniel, you're a son of a whore" in Hebrew. This person then set up their own web site http://danielbrandtblog.blogspot.com/ to document the hoax.
  • Brandt provided evidence that the website was the victim of a denial of service attack. [6]

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales denounced both attacks, characterizing the first as "completely unacceptable behavior. Very disappointing" and saying about the second: "I condemn this sort of thing in the strongest possible terms. It is unacceptable."

See also

External links

References


References

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