p2pnet news | Freedom:- “Life’s got very entertaining since the development of technology allowing you to track who’s been making what edits to Wikipedia entries,” posts TechDigest, going on:

“Sony is the latest company to end up with egg on its face, after some negative edits to the Halo 3 page were traced back to its Sony Liverpool studio.”

It’s by no means alone. Holland’s royal family also admits tinkering with entries, as have multitudes of other individuals and entities, large and small.

Nor is it over. In fact, a Wikiscanner-type app may even become a permanent fixture on MediaWiki, Wikiscanner’s creator, Virgil Griffith, told me. So definitely stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I had a few words with Griffith, 24, who’s presently working at the Santa Fe Institute, “bastion of mad science”.

p2pnet: You say you wrote Wikiscanner to “create a fireworks display of public relations disasters in which everyone brings their own fireworks, and enjoys”. Is that all there was to it, or do you have a deeper, darker purpose?

Griffith: Nope. No deeper purpose. I did it for the lulz and Page Rank. What I can say, I’m shallow.

p2pnet: What are your personal favourite Top Five ‘finds’?

Griffith: I’ve already been sued once, and I’ve been very careful not to give anyone a legal foothold from my
judging the veracity of anyones edits. So no – no top five. However, earlier today saw I saw a list of top seven edits.

p2pnet: Did you expect WikiScanner to take off like this?

Griffith: I expected this many public relations disasters (and there are still more to be found!), but I didn’t expect the mainstream media to get all excited about it as they have.

p2pnet: Have you had any demands/requests to take it down?

Griffith: WikiScanner merely combines two existing databases, one of which is under GFDL and the other can be purchased from several companies. There’s no legal ground for anyone to make any demands. So, in short, no, I haven’t heard from anyone.

p2pnet: Have you heard from Wikipedia yet, and if you have, what did they have to say?

Griffith: I have heard from Wikpedia. I am pleased to say that Wikimedia Foundation’s response has been wholly positive. There’s even talk of incorporating something like WikiScanner into MediaWiki. I’d be delighted to see it happen.

p2pnet: Be that as it may, do you have any words of wisdom or advice for the folks over at Wikipedia?

Griffith: I think WikiScanner is a great example of how Wikipedia can effectively combat disinformation while still maintaining the low barrier to contributing that is fundamental to Wikipedia’s success. In the future, I hope to see more backend analyzers like WikiScanner used in countering surreptitious disinformation campaigns.

p2pnet: This month you started as graduate student studying theoretical neurobiology and artificial life under Christof Koch and Chris Adami. Looks interesting. Can you explain what that involves in words of one syllable?

Griffith: Yes I can. In verse:

I love great gray minds
One day they will slay us all
And I will build them.

p2pnet: And, “By night,” you say, “I have some other data-minery projects in the works also saying, “The best works are unleashed onto the world by surprise”. Aw, come on. Give us a hint.

p2pnet: My projects rarely have intended targets, they simply stir things up. Think of it like trolling-once-removed. I’m getting interested in mashups with data that aren’t free (as in beer). Much of the internet seems to believe that if data aren’t free, they don’t exist. This creates potential for the element of surprise. As a culture, we must impress on ourselves that lulz is worth shelling out small sums of cash.

[The pic of Griffith is by Henry Strickland.]

Jon Newton – p2pnet

Slashdot it!

Also See:
TechDigest – Sony staffer fingered for negative Halo 3 Wikipedia edits, September 5, 2007
tinkering with entries – Dutch royals edited Wikipedia entry, September 4, 2007

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 at 6:52 am and is filed under Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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