More Diebold deception revealed

The anonymity the internet provides is a two-way street: though it allows complete freedom, it contributes to the wild west that is the web, more often than not.

Wikipedia Scanner hopes to alter that trend, at least a little.

Wikipedia Scanner traces IP addresses, revealing occasionally disturbing, though unsurprising, evidence on what kind of people are making changes on company wiki pages: oftentimes, the companies themselves.

For example, when an anonymous user deleted some 15 critical paragraphs on e-voting machine vendor Diebold, the search tool traced the address right back to the Diebold's corporate offices. This is one of millions of altered Wikipedia entries being traced to corporate sources.

According to Wired, CalTech grad student Virgil Griffith built the tool, which can reveal any change made on the site, past or present. This is possible because Wikipedia has been vigilant about cataloging the 2.6 million editors that have made over 34.4 million edits to date.

Griffith put the tool online so he could get users to help reveal deception on the site. Wired has also set up a WikiWatch, where users can post compelling findings on who's making the changes on Wikipedia.