Brian Chase (born circa 1967) is a United States citizen who posted false information on Wikipedia, which led to the John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy. [1]
Chase was the operations manager of Rush Delivery in Nashville, Tennessee when he anonymously posted to Wikipedia from his employer's IP address on May 26, 2005. His post stated that John Seigenthaler Sr., a former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville, was believed to have been involved in the assassinations of both John and Robert Kennedy and had lived in the Soviet Union for several years. The article remained unedited for several months until Seigenthaler was made aware of the article and subsequently criticized Wikipedia in several media outlets.
Chase learned of the effect of his post through the news. Meanwhile, the IP address he had used was traced back to his company by Daniel Brandt, a commentator regarding privacy issues and the World Wide Web and a critic of Wikipedia. Chase resigned from Rush Delivery on 9 December and delivered a handwritten apology that day to Seigenthaler. Chase said he had done it as a joke to shock a colleague, after he had found out anyone could edit Wikipedia; he thought that it was a "gag" web site. [1] Seigenthaler encouraged Chase's boss to not accept his resignation.
Notes
- ^ a b Seelye, Katharine Q (December 11, 2005). A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank. The New York Times.
Sources
- Page, Susan (December 11 2005). "Author apologizes for fake Wikipedia biography", USA Today. Retrieved December 12 2005.
- Mielczarek, Natalia (December 11 2005). Fake online biography created as 'joke' The Tennessean.
- Brandt, Daniel (December 5 2005). Reports of the incident and discovery of Brian Chase via wikipedia-watch.org. Retrieved December 11 2005.
- Terdiman, Daniel (December 15 2005). "Newsmaker: In search of the Wikipedia prankster" C|Net News.com. Retrieved December 15 2005.
- BBC, (December 12 2005) "Wikipedia joker eats humble pie".