Some editors come from
the Vatican

Government agencies have been pinned as the origins of more than 11,000 changes to articles over Wikipedia.com, according to The Globe and Mail.

The information appeared after yesterday's news on the WikiScanner release. WikiScanner is a newly-developed tool that can track the IP addresses of Wikipedia editors straight to the source. The tool can also determine editing sources for entries that have existed since Wikipedia was launched.

Though many edits are simply fact corrections, a large number removed criticisms about politicians, added positive comments, and also inserted negative comments on political rivals.

And its not just politics they're editing. A government office in Ottawa added the following sentences to the entry "homosexuality": "Homosexuality is evil," "Homosexuality is wrong according to the Bible" and "Homosexuals need our help and counseling."

Sure to fuel conspiracy theories for the next dozen years, America's CIA has also edited a number of entries, ranging from military operations and presidential biographies, to Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" and information on singer Richard Marx, according to Australia's ABC.

While in some cases the information of a government official or agency may add value to an entry, some worry that WikiScanner all too clearly reveals a not-so-democratic edge to the democratic encyclopedia.