Fake Wikipedia Biography

The mystery of who posted false and scandalous entries about a prominent journalist in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia — including suggestions that he was involved in assassinations — has been solved.

Brian Chase, 38, a manager at a small delivery service in Nashville, presented a letter of apology Friday explaining his role to the journalist, John Seigenthaler, a former editor of Nashville's Tennessean and a founder of the First Amendment Center there. Seigenthaler is a former editorial-page editor of USA TODAY.

Chase said the additions he made to Seigenthaler's biography were intended to be "a joke" on a co-worker on what he thought was "some sort of 'gag' encyclopedia." They had been discussing the Seigenthalers, a well-known local family.

"I didn't think twice about just leaving it there because I didn't think anyone would ever take it seriously for more than a few seconds," he wrote.

But the case has reverberated beyond the offices of Chase's employer, Rush Delivery. It has raised questions about the credibility of Wikipedia — a reference site used by 16.3 million people in October — and fueled a debate about freedom and accountability on the Internet.

"I'm glad this aspect of it is over," Seigenthaler, 78, said. But he expressed concern that "every biography on Wikipedia is going to be hit by this stuff — think what they'd do to Tom DeLay and Hillary Clinton, to mention two. My fear is that we're going to get government regulation of the Internet as a result."

The ersatz biographical information said Seigenthaler, a top adviser and close friend to Robert Kennedy, "was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John, and his brother, Bobby."

Wikipedia, which brags it is "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit," changed its rules last week so only registered users can post or revise an article. Identities still aren't verified, and the new system will make it more difficult to trace them, according to Daniel Brandt, a Wikipedia critic who started the website www.wikipedia-watch.org.

Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, didn't return telephone and e-mail messages Sunday. Chase didn't return phone messages left at his home.

Brandt began tracking Chase through his IP address, the unique number assigned to a computer that uses the Internet. He sent a phony business inquiry to the delivery company so he could confirm his findings when the firm e-mailed a response. After he and Seigenthaler telephoned Rush Delivery, Chase arrived at Seigenthaler's office with the letter of apology.

At the time, Seigenthaler was being interviewed on C-SPAN about the controversy. He sparked national debate after writing an op-ed article in USA TODAY last month about his experience.

On Wikipedia now: a biographical entry for Brian Chase, described as "an American businessman who posted a hoax on Wikipedia."