Wikimedia Sends Cease and Desist Letter To Firm Providing Paid Editing Services

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "For months, Wikipedia has been battling a company called 'Wiki-PR,' which purportedly sells paid editing services on Wikipedia and in October announced it had blocked or banned hundreds of Wiki-PR's sockpuppet accounts in response. Now Cyrus Farivar reports at Ars Technica that the Wikimedia Foundation (which runs Wikipedia) is escalating its game, issuing a cease and desist letter to Wiki-PR, demanding that the company immediately halt editing Wikipedia 'unless and until [Wiki-PR has] fully complied with the terms and conditions outlined by the Wikimedia Community.' The attorney representing the Wikimedia Foundation, Patrick Gunn, wrote that 'you admitted that Wiki-PR has continued to actively market paid advocacy editing services despite the ban — consistent with evidence that we have discovered independently. ... Should you fail to comply with the terms of this cease and desist letter, Wikimedia Foundation is prepared to take any necessary legal action to protect its rights.'"

Comments

Re:I wish them success...

[91degrees]

or if push comes to shove, seize via malware established Wikipedia accounts.

Slightly risky though. At the moment, this company is just breaching terms and conditions.

If you use stolen accounts, you're well into the territory of criminal hacking (unauthorised acces to computer systems).

Re:How the hell did they get their edits accepted?

[Anonymous Coward]

I've made a few dozen major edits to articles -- I mean edits that add or completely rewrite at least one section of an article. I don't think I've been reverted once.

I've had my contributions modified, of course -- usually for the better -- but that's the whole point.

I don't know what you're doing wrong, honestly.

Surprised

[benjfowler]

Every complex ecosystem has parasites and bottom-feeders. The internet and Wikipedia is no different.

I wish them luck in shutting these guys down.

Wikipedia is an MMORPG

[mythosaz]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_an_MMORPG

They're just banning griefers. It upsets the vocal high-level players who don't want to have their fun (squashing noobs) ruined.

Re:I wish them success...

[TheNastyInThePasty]

Better yet, place a banner at the top of each page found to be edited for pay. The banner can read "Company/Person X has been found to pay to edit this article to hide the truth from you. We have reverted those changes but here is a list of things that they don't want you to know: " I'd think that this behavior would end real quick when the dirt they're trying to hide becomes the highlight of the article.