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American actor sues Wikipedia for libel
The openness of Wikipedia resulted in a lawsuit for its owners. American actor Ron Livingston sued the online encyclopedia for libel, invasion of privacy and use of his name without permission, writes Lenta.ru. The actor, known for his roles in the TV series Office Space, The Negotiators and Sex and the City, complains that someone constantly makes offensive edits to the Wikipedia article about him. According to the plaintiff, since May 2009, information constantly began to appear on this portal that he was supposedly in a homosexual relationship with a man named Lee Dennison. The unknown people were persistent - information appeared again as soon as the actor’s representatives edited the article. True, after filing the lawsuit, no mention of Mr. Livingston’s connection with a certain Mr. Dennison remained in the article. Nevertheless, the unfortunate actor, who, by the way, married actress Rosemary Devitt in November, is still entangled in slander on the social network. Spiteful critics have created fake pages about him and the notorious Dennison on Facebook.The owners of Wikipedia encounter such vandalism all the time. This problem is the result of the openness of the resource: anyone, even an unregistered user, can edit materials. The goals of invading the Internet's knowledge base vary. Some self-proclaimed editors, like Ron Livingston's detractors, are looking to ruin the star's reputation. Thus, in September of this year, an investigation by journalists from the Swedish television program Aschberg showed that offensive edits were made to Wikipedia articles about celebrities from the computers of the Swedish Parliament. In particular, someone from a parliamentary address wrote that the Swedish football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic has a “brash and arrogant” style of play. The same author later described the football player’s criminal past. A certain famous hockey player, whose name has not been released, was called an “amateur” by a user of the parliamentary computer and accused of rape. In addition, journalists suspected parliamentarians of attributing communist views to actor George Clooney.
Wikipedia is also used for political purposes. During a September investigation by Aschberg journalists, it also became clear that suspicious changes were made to articles about politics from the computers of various political movements. For example, users from the moderate party office repeatedly deleted information about drunken parties hosted by the party's youth wing.
“People's editors” invaded Wikipedia for the sake of hooliganism. In 2007, about 20 thousand articles were corrected through the efforts of a student from Kentucky posing as a theology professor. According to The Independent, working under the pseudonym Essjay, the fake professor became one of the resource's most prolific editors. He was even trusted to resolve controversial issues. However, it was later revealed that Essjay is actually 24-year-old Ryan Jordan. He, of course, did not have an academic degree, and he drew his knowledge from books such as Catholicism for Dummies.
Two years ago, Internet hooligans performed magic on the Russian Wikipedia. Unknown vandals corrected an article about the main building of the Moscow State University named after M.V. beyond recognition. Lomonosov. Unidentified persons supplemented the article with fables, such as the information that supposedly “opposite the State Library of Moscow State University there is a life-size model of the fundamental library of Moscow State University, in which the excavated library of Ivan the Terrible is hidden.” The hooligans described in detail the meal of Moscow State University rector Viktor Sadovnichy, and also mentioned that he “travels... all his possessions on a fiery chariot, which can take him to any place on Earth in the blink of an eye.” The edit was soon deleted, and the “editors” were never found.