Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Much here on the Lockerbie Pan Am 103 scandal and the conviction
of the Libyan Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.
For much more, see Wikipedia-Watch at
http://www.wikipedia-watch.org .
See also these recent articles among others in our archives
- -NYTransfer]
Media Conspiracy: Vatican Mucked with Gerry Adams Wikipedia Entry
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070813/066877.htmlMedia Conspiracy: Wikipedia being edited by CIA, Diebold, politicians?
http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20070813/066812.html *
sent by Daniel Brandt - Oct 23, 2007
Wikipedia-Watch
http://www.wikipedia-watch.org/russmag.htmlSpies in Wikipedia
by Kiwi Bird
Translated from Russian
Published Sep 26, 2007 by Computerra magazine
Original Russian
http://www.computerra.ru/magazine/333677/In September of this year, the milestone of two million articles on the
English-language version of Wikipedia represents an impressive success
for the global Internet community. This is a grand and, most
importantly, freely-available source of information about almost
everything in the world.
However, if Wikipedia reflects the real world as it is, and given that
modern society includes a high level of activity on the part of secret
agents, it would be surprising if such agents ignored the ever-popular
"People's Encyclopedia." And they have not ignored Wikipedia, but have
tried to spin articles for particular purposes. This ranges from
varnishing the image of political leaders, to the use of disinformation
and cover for covert operations.
The interest of special agents and agencies in influencing Wikipedia
should not surprise anyone; it is simply a daily part of their official
duties. The scale and efficiency of their efforts on Wikipedia are not
surprising, but they stun untrained observers. At the same time, they
reveal to the mass media how international policy is pursued, and what
stands behind the war against global terrorism.
Google and other search engines have given Wikipedia articles high
rankings, often placing them at the top of the listings. It should be
remembered that the contents of these articles have already influenced
those who are not adept at pursuing objectivity.
Identifying SlimVirgin
American professor Ludwig De Braeckeleer is a nuclear physicist by
profession, who also researches government abuses of power and human
rights issues. He has been interested in the Lockerbie disaster for a
long time.
Curious details still surface today about the bombing in 1988 of a
Boeing 747 over Scotland, which killed 270 people. As more evidence
emerged, those who were following the case noticed that the
intelligence services of several nations were implicated.
De Braeckeleer also stumbled across something strange while searching
the web to prepare an article about Lockerbie. He wanted a source for
information about the infiltration of PFLP by the Israeli security
agency Shin Bet. (The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine -
General Command was an early suspect in the Lockerbie case.) He
consulted Wikipedia, where he knew the Shin Bet connection had once
been noted, but there was no longer any trace of that information in
Wikipedia. The article itself (on Operation Entebbe) had been blocked
from editing. It is not unusual for disputed articles to be protected
from editing for certain periods. But normally this still allows access
to previous versions of the article, as is the case when vandalism is
reverted, for example. However, this time it was impossible to recover
the information. [De Braeckeleer reads better in the original English
- -ed]
For someone seeking the truth as meticulously as De Braeckeleer, this
was a red flag signaling that something was not right. The scientist
began to analyze Wikipedia and its articles on the Lockerbie case and
the tragic flight of Pan Am 103. This included the unjust, to say the
least, trial of Libyan Megrahi, who categorically denied his guilt and
was sentenced to life imprisonment. Despite Wikipedia's professed
"neutral point of view," all of its articles on the subject were
clearly biased toward the official viewpoint of the authorities. In
trying to determine who could be manipulating the facts, De Braeckeleer
came across a Wikipedia editor who used the pseudonym "SlimVirgin."
Many Wikipedia editors and administrators prefer to hide behind screen
names, and sometimes it is not difficult to discover their real names.
But this was not the case with SlimVirgin. This woman (her gender has
not been questioned) first appeared in Wikipedia in the Fall of 2004,
and since then has skillfully concealed her identity and whereabouts.
But she is not famous for that. She quickly understood the methods of
successful Wikipedia combat (learn the formal rules, and loudly accuse
opponents of violating the rules, so that an administrator can ban the
opponent from the debate). SlimVirgin began vigorously editing articles
within the scope of her interests. Among the first, it must be
emphasized, were articles about Pan Am 103 and ABC News journalist
Pierre Salinger, who had investigated the case. SlimVirgin's editorial
work progressed so well, and she observed the rules so perfectly, that
she gained the rank of administrator. This gave her the right to remove
users from the debate and from editing.
Of course, this created enemies and detractors for SlimVirgin,
including those who had been banned by her from participating in the
establishment of a "People's Encyclopedia." For example, a poll in the
famous forum Wikipedia Review awarded SlimVirgin the dubious title of
"most abusive administrator." At the same time, the numbers increased
among those who wanted to know the real identity of this cool and
mysterious woman who was hiding behind the guise of a "lean virgin."
===== LOCKERBIE ======
"A spectacular miscarriage of justice"
Many found the verdict of the Scottish judges, who decided that
Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi had intentionally caused the death of
270 people, to be unconvincing and unfair. The international observer
appointed by the United Nations, professor Hans Koechler, called the
decision a "spectacular miscarriage of justice." He elaborated on the
inconsistencies and questionable evidence against Megrahi.
The "Libyan connection" had been questioned from the beginning, and
many demanded a new, independent investigation. However, all British
prime ministers, including Thatcher, Major, and Blair, spared no effort
to block such an investigation. Nevertheless, in 2005 a Scottish
appeals court began a procedure for reviewing the case, and so far
there is substantial information suggesting that U.S. and British
intelligence agencies forged evidence against Libya in order to isolate
that country. In particular, one of the key pieces of evidence in the
case against Libya -- a fragment from a printed circuit board of a
timer fuse -- was planted by CIA employees, according to the testimony
of a Scottish policeman. And engineer Ulrich Lumpert, from the Swiss
firm Mebo that produced timers ordered by the Libyan army, recently
admitted that he secretly provided a counterfeit board at the request
of American intelligence.
But if evidence of Libya's guilt was fabricated, then who blew up the
plane? Immediately after the disaster, Pan American Airlines hired the
detective firm Interfor, headed by Juval Aviv, a former
Israeli-intelligence Mossad operative. Aviv quickly discovered that Pan
Am flight 103 from Europe to America regularly carried heroin. This
channel for Syrian traffickers was covered up by the CIA in exchange
for intelligence on Palestinian militant groups in Syria. On the day of
the disaster, everything went wrong: terrorists who knew about the
channel replaced the suitcase containing drugs, which avoided security
screening, with a suitcase containing explosives. This version of
events was confirmed in 1990 by former Defense Intelligence Agency
operative Lester Coleman, who described Syrian cooperation with U.S.
intelligence services. After writing his book Trail of the Octopus,
Coleman was under severe legal pressure from U.S. security services. He
had to go into hiding and request asylum in Sweden, and became the
first American political refugee since the Vietnam War.
=====================
Next came a massive Internet hunt for bits of information that could
shed light on the mystery of SlimVirgin. The key role in her
identification was played by American researcher Daniel Brandt, known
for his site Wikipedia-Watch.org. He is also known for revelations
about misinformation published in Wikipedia about the Kennedy
assassination (the Seigenthaler case), as well as the identification of
another administrator. This was a professor of theology with two
doctorates named Essjay, who turned out to be an ambitious young
imposter named Ryan Jordan. The story of the painstaking investigation
of the SlimVirgin case would make a good chapter in a spy novel, but we
will go to the end because it is more interesting.
The consistency and credibility of the collected evidence leaves no
doubt that SlimVirgin is the screen name chosen by Linda Mack, now
living in Canada under the name Sarah McEwan. In the 1980s she was a
student in the philosophy department at Cambridge University. She
participated as a journalist in the investigation of the Lockerbie
attack, while playing an active role as an organizer of some close
relatives of the victims. Due to a series of events, strong suspicions
arose concerning Linda Mack's close links to the British security
service MI5, causing her to disappear from sight for a long time. Years
later she surfaced in the Canadian province of Alberta under the name
Sarah McEwan. Her email address (
slimvirgin1@yahoo.com) was the same
address that Cambridge showed for Linda Mack in its list of alumni.
The most important evidence was an involuntary confession by SlimVirgin
that she was Linda Mack. In the early 1990s, American journalist John K.
Cooley worked with Pierre Salinger at the London bureau of ABC News,
and was involved with the investigation of Lockerbie. In his email to
Brandt, he described how they hired an impressive and energetic Linda
Mack, who was eager to investigate the bombing. But after a while it
became clear that Linda was trying to push journalists toward the
official version of the story that accused Libya. It wasn't long before
a special unit of Scotland Yard raided ABC News and seized certain
materials. Because only a few people knew about the seized material,
Salinger realized that this was the work of Linda Mack, and he locked
her out of her office. ABC's efforts to fight the seizure were
unsuccessful in court. Daniel Brandt had already announced the
identification of SlimVirgin as Linda Mack publicly, and she knew that
he was about to ask John Cooley for information. She called Cooley as a
former colleague and asked him not to speak to Brandt. But her request
was late -- an email from Cooley to Brandt had already been sent.
These events occurred in Fall 2006. At that time almost no one was
interested in the identification of SlimVirgin, except for regular
visitors to the web forum Wikipedia Review [1]. But at the end of July
2007, the above-mentioned professor Ludwig De Braeckeleer published his
article "Wikipedia and the Intelligence Services" at the South Korean
"civic journalism" site OhmyNews [2]. He briefly recapped the key
points about the "People's Encyclopedia." This article was picked up by
the very popular forum Slashdot[3]. Because of that, the OhmyNews
article was read by 50,000 people in three days.
Reaction to leaks
Whenever the work of intelligence services is punctured, the most
important information for analysis appears in the first days and hours
after the event. Those who know something inadvertently reveal
superfluous information, while those who are directly involved are
either keeping silent, or refute everything through quick and flagrant
misinformation. In the case of Linda Mack, it is impossible to
determine who knew what in the upper echelon of Wikipedia, but their
reaction fits all the characteristics of espionage leaks.
SlimVirgin slipped into a state of unconsciousness and has not shown
any signs of life for thirty hours. This is very unusual, because she
is known as an administrator with inhuman capacity for work. Over the
past year, she edited nearly 35,000 articles (about 100 every day,
without holidays and weekends). The same SlimVirgin also holds a record
of continuous editorial work lasting 26 hours, with the longest break
in editing not exceeding 40 minutes. These statistics from Wikipedia's
editing records suggests either a supernatural ability, or more likely
that SlimVirgin is a convenient smoke screen for an entire team of
specialists editing Wikipedia articles on behalf of intelligence
services.
The "god-king" of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, rushed to protect the honor
and dignity of SlimVirgin, declaring the article by De Braeckeleer as
"really spectacular nonsense." A bit later in a special message to
readers of Slashdot, he stated:
"This story is demented and broken on so many levels, it is quite
difficult to know where to begin, even. Here we have an excellent
Wikipedia administrator who has been victimized by lunatic conspiracy
theorists, a private person who has absolutely no relation to the wild
stories that this article promulgates. Slashdot, you have been trolled."
But participants in the discussion were able to prove from the records
of Wikipedia that certain administrators, contrary to their own rules,
had completely removed editing evidence. Jimmy Wales had to admit that
yes, this is sometimes done, but only to protect the identity of
administrators or editors, who are often threatened with physical
violence.
======== Wikipedia and its rules ========
Like any online community, Wikipedia follows certain rules of conduct.
But because Wikipedia is a rather contradictory combination of normal
encyclopedia, panel discussions, and role-fantasy games, the rules are
intricate and ambiguous. For example, everyone knows the famous motto,
"The encyclopedia that anyone can edit." But in fact, anyone who wants
to fix or add something has to be liked by the administrator who is in
charge of that topic.
According to basic rules of Wikipedia, the articles should reflect the
"neutral point of view." However, some points of view are always more
neutral than others. One's point of view (POV) should be supported by
sources that are "verifiable" and "reliable" -- although "reliable" is
a constant subject of fierce disputes. But there is a clear taboo
against "original research," which are opinions that are not supported
by recognized authority.
Editing and overall policy in Wikipedia is conducted on the basis of
"consensus." In practice this means approximately the following: there
can be only one successful editor who is able, through flattery or
threats, to persuade the others. If someone wants to simply edit the
encyclopedia, he or she will quickly come into conflict with more
aggressive editors. That will end first with a temporary, and then a
total ban on participation.
The highest level of the Wikipedia hierarchy is called The Cabal, or
Clique. Becoming a member of the Clique means that one has
unprecedented authority, including the right to ignore the rules. But
to achieve such power, a person has to sell one's soul to the devil by
renouncing one's own views, and accepting the viewpoint of the Clique.
According to the head of Wikipedia, Jimbo Wales, The Cabal represents
the power of "some shadowy mysterious elite group of us to do things
that might not be possible for newbies."
- -from a satirical essay
http://www.geocities.com/Berlet_archive/virgin.htm ======================
The most curious reaction to the news of SlimVirgin's identity was
demonstrated by the English-language media: apart from personal blogs
and web forums, not a single word appeared in any of the major media!
Previous scandals such the Seigenthaler case, exposing Essjay, and the
WikiScanner program by Virgil Griffith, received wide coverage. But
there was silence about SlimVirgin, comparable to the silence on
classic themes such as UFOs and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
This year such themes have been completely ignored by major media, even
when new light is shed on these twentieth-century mysteries. First the
famous E. Howard Hunt, who personally participated in many covert
operations during the 1950s and 1960s, admitted before he died that the
assassination of President Kennedy was organized by U.S. intelligence,
in conjunction with the Mafia and top administration officials, headed
by Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. Several months later a notarized
deathbed confession by Walter Haut was published. In 1947 he was the
public relations officer at the 509th Bomb Group based in Roswell, New
Mexico. First he composed a press release about the crash of a flying
disc, and soon followed with a new release about a weather balloon. For
the rest of his life he gave evasive explanations of what was really
found, but just before he died he dared to tell the truth.
In the document he left behind, Walter Haut states that he not only saw
the wrecked spacecraft, but also the bodies of aliens recovered from
it. They had unusually large heads, and bodies the size of a
ten-year-old child. It is clear that the deathbed confessions of people
who participated in these extraordinary events deserve serious
attention. But the major media ignored both of them.
Moreover, the sensational confession of E. Howard Hunt did not even get
any space in Wikipedia's article on the assassination of John F.
Kennedy (at least it is mentioned in the article on E. Howard Hunt).
The confession of Walter Haut is reflected in the article about the
Roswell incident, but it lacks a direct reference to the document
published on the web. Thus, the conclusion: for important Wikipedia
articles, the content is gradually approaching the official information
available from traditional sources. It is more or less understandable
who is behind this. Everyone must decide for himself or herself whether
this is acceptable.
End Notes:
[1]
http://wikipediareview.com/[2]http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=424653
[3]
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/27/1943254
