Author of Wikipedia character assassination takes responsibility
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Brian Chase, 38, of Nashville, Tennessee, hand-delivered a letter to the offices of John Seigenthaler Sr. in which he admits responsibility for false information he anonymously posted in a Wikipedia article. Initially a prank played on a friend, the false story claimed that Seigenthaler was a suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy. The fake biography made rounds in the media after Seigenthaler discovered and denounced it in a USA Today op-ed article titled "A false Wikipedia 'biography'". A known free speech advocate, Seigenthale
Brian Chase, 38, of Nashville, Tennessee, hand-delivered a letter to the offices of John Seigenthaler Sr. in which he admits responsibility for false information he anonymously posted in a Wikipedia article. Initially a prank played on a friend, the false story claimed that Seigenthaler was a suspect in the assassination of President Kennedy.
The fake biography made rounds in the media after Seigenthaler discovered and denounced it in a USA Today op-ed article titled "A false Wikipedia 'biography'". A known free speech advocate, Seigenthaler refused to press charges. He recommended that Chase be re-hired for the job he was forced to quit when reporters, following leads from ad-hoc cyber detective Daniel Brandt, 57, of San Antonio, Texas, started calling the offices of his employer.
Sources & reporting note
Licensed archive reporting by Wikinews contributors. Text: CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/). Original source date retained. 411 has not independently verified this archive report.
Read the source: Wikinews ↗Source published 11 Dec 2005, 05:30 am IST
