Naughty, Naughty Microsoft: Scheme to Alter Wikipedia Exposed

posted Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 by Andy Gore

It seems if you’re looking for reasons to hate Microsoft, you never have to look very far. Case in point: It was reported today on CNN.com that Microsoft paid a blogger to make changes to certain entries on Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that is maintained by volunteers. Typically, companies and their representatives are not allowed to update Wikipedia entries because of the risk of bias being introduced into what is supposed to be an objective repository of fact.

For their part, Microsoft admitted they were going to pay the blogger in question (no actual money changed hands, according to the CNN.com report) to rectify factual errors they claim were introduced by people at IBM Corp. The company went on to say they got nowhere with Wikipedia staff getting these facts corrected and so decided to have an “independent” source make the changes.

For our part, The Geek Beat is a heavy user (and referrer) to Wikipedia. Keeping it independent and free of bias is critical to keeping Wikipedia a trusted resource for all Internet users. If that means an occasional dispute goes unresolved, so be it. Certainly, using little back door schemes like this one to circumvent the vetting process is reprehensible, and we’re glad Microsoft got caught with their hand in the cookie jar – this time.

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3 Responses to “Naughty, Naughty Microsoft: Scheme to Alter Wikipedia Exposed”

  1. Evan Reiser Says:
    January 24th, 2007 at 2:34 pm

    Here’s an interesting article on the ongoing Microsoft/Wikipedia Neutral Point of View Debate

    http://microsoftisawesome.blogspot.com/2007/01/microsoft-pays-editors-to-improve.html

  2. Marc L. Rubinstein Says:
    February 19th, 2007 at 4:05 am

    How can you say it is biased? Just look at the site’s motto: “A Totally Unbiased Site Debating Why Microsoft Is So Awesome.” They wouldn’t LIE would they…after all, Microsoft never lies.

    Isn’t that like titling a site “An unbiased view of why my opinion is God’s law and yours doesn’t matter?” Unless, of course, it is a parody site…but from the content, I think not.

    With article titles like “Mac Fan Sites - The Fan is for Fanatic” or “Vista is Flawless” there is little hope for their sanity much less their sense of humor. I wonder how they’d treat an upload of an article like “Win Fan Sites - Win Is For WindozeWeenies, Dufuses!”? ;-)

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