Author confesses posting fake Wikipedia biography

Author confesses posting fake Wikipedia biography

Wikipedia, the reputed online encyclopedia, lost out on some credibility as a man in Nashville, Tenn.., acknowledged that he jokingly put up some fake information related to John Seigenthaler Sr., an ex editor with the Tennessean newspaper in Nashville into a Wikipedia entry.

The culprit Brian Chase, 38, admitted that he had written the fake stuff related to Seigenthaler which says the latter was involved in the killings of John and Robert Kennedy.

These false writings were discovered by Seigenthaler only sometime back following which he wrote an op-ed in USA Today expressing his frustration at not being able to trace the guilty party due to the strict Internet privacy laws.

Not only did the article raise some eyebrows regarding the integrity of Wikipedia but it yet again brought into light the often debated issue- the hindrances in holding web sites responsible for their defamatory acts.

In his defense, Chase wrote to Seigenthaler explaining that he was under the impression of Wikipedia only being a "gag" site and so decided to turn prankster by making up a story regarding Seigenthaler. Chase clarified he had no evil intentions and only wanted to shock one of his colleagues, who was familiar with the Seigenthaler family and its renowned history in Nashville.

During an interview, Chase commented that the prank did have the intended effect. However, he did reveal that once he became aware of the harm he had unintentionally caused to Seigenthaler, he was very conscious of a backlash.

And so, on Friday, Chase personally delivered a letter to Seigenthaler's office admitting his fault in the whole matter and also had a long conversation with Seigenthaler.

In his apology letter Chase declared, “I am truly sorry to have offended you, sir. Whatever fame comes to me from this will be ill-gotten indeed."

Accepting the confession, Seigenthaler replied that he was "was not after a pound of flesh" and hence had no intentions of carrying out any legal proceedings against Chase.

However the founder of First Amendment Center did state that while he is a firm believer of free speech, it should not be at cost of accountability.

Following the controversy, Chase resigned from his post as operations manager from his company citing he did not want to create any troubles for the organization. Seigenthaler made some efforts to convince Chase's boss to take him back but to no avail.

Wikipedia, the organization at the center of the storm, is a nonprofit organization housing the world's biggest online encyclopedia which is updated and edited by thousands of volunteers.