Wikipedia Spin Doctors Revealed – Yahoo! News

Once again, people use the Internet in inappropriate ways assuming that they are anonymous. In this case, Virgil Griffith has created WikiScanner. The idea is really simple. Look through Wikipedia for the IP addresses of everyone who has submitted edits to Wikipedia. They also provide tools to make it easy to see what changes have been submitted by people within specific organizations.

It will come as no surprise that this turns up many blatant attempts to whitewash articles about that organization (or its leaders), or to turn the Wikipedia entry in to a veritable marketing vehicle. I am amazed that people who are net-savvy enough to think of altering Wikipedia entries like this, would simultaneously be unaware that they could easily be identified while doing so.

- Lance Cottrell