Re: Wikipedia?

["Greg Tananbaum" <gtananbaum@gmail.com>]

A fundamental difference between Wikipedia and, say, the 
Encyclopedia Britannica is the level of gatekeeping that exists. 
I am not aware (though, of course, that does not mean there is 
not precedent) of a subject suing a "real" encyclopedia for an 
entry that is unflattering at best and libelous at worst (see 
below).

Of course, would Fuzzy Zoeller have an entry in Britannica?

Best, Greg

________________________
  Greg Tananbaum
gtananbaum@gmail.com
(510) 295-7504


http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197008201

Pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller filed an anonymous lawsuit against a 
Miami law firm for allegedly defamatory edits to his 
Wikipedia<http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=Wikipedia&x=&y=>page, 
hoping to prevent further injury to his reputation and to protect 
his family's privacy.

But Zoeller was quickly unmasked as the "John Doe" plaintiff by 
online news site The Smoking 
Gun<http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0222071fuzzy1.html>, 
which used a search 
engine<http://informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197006843>to 
find the source of the allegedly defamatory material cited in 
Zoeller's legal filing.

The lawsuit claims edits to Zoeller's Wikipedia profile last 
December came from a computer 
<http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=computer&x=&y=> 
with an IP 
<http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=IP&x=&y=> 
address registered by Miami-based law firm Josef Silny & 
Associates.

The altered profile <http://www.answers.com/topic/fuzzy-zoeller>, 
which Zoeller claims is false and libelous, remains online at 
Answers.com. The Zoeller entry at Wikipedia appears to have been 
purged of the objectionable passages.