Revealed: the Wikipedia vandals A scanner that traces online

IT is the world's largest encyclopedia, used by ordinary people to make changes to thousands of online biographies. But Wikipedia, which has been dogged by controversy over inaccurate postings, is fighting back with the help of a tool that exposes corporations and governments as culprits of web vandalism.

The Wikipedia Scanner has revealed how computers registered to organisations such as the Scottish parliament, British Energy and the Conservative Party were used to defile other people's online biographies.

More controversially, a machine traced to the Vatican was found to have changed the biography of leading Nazi Adolf Eichmann. The original entry stated the SS official, a Catholic, "knew exactly what he was doing" during the Holocaust, a detail that was taken out.

A Vatican computer, in a case that has already been widely reported, was also used to remove comments about Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.

Built by Virgil Griffith, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology, the scanner unmasks corporations and governments by matching their internet (IP) addresses with changes on Wikipedia.

High-profile cases include the Central Intelligence Agency making an unflattering edit to a biography of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the US Democrats inserting critical comments on the web entry of rightwing shock jock Rush Limbaugh.

But the Sunday Herald has established that the scanner, which was designed by Griffith to embarrass companies he dislikes, also reveals UK organisations either spinning their own entries or vandalising others.

A computer traced to the UK Department of Health, for instance, was used to deface the biography of former prime minister Tony Blair. The unnamed user claimed that Blair was Labour's first "homosexual leader".

Similarly, an IP address registered in the name of the Scottish Conservative Central Office was used to butcher the entry of Sheffield University researcher Ian Rickard.

The party's computer changed Rickard's BSc in Zoology to an "Access Level 1 certificate in Hairdressing", and inserted the claim that he was researching "new ways to cheat the benefits system".

The scanner also throws up several examples of Scottish politicians having their web entries changed. An Edinburgh City Council computer was used to describe SSP convener Colin Fox as a "renowned pseudo-socialist", while his colleague Rosie Kane was dismissed as a "leading light in the Scottish Schizophrenic Party".

Scottish parliament machines have been more commonly used to update or improve MSP biographies, but one Holyrood wag changed former Tory member Phil Gallie's web entry to read: "[He] is currently, at the ripe old age of 167, the world's oldest elected politician."

Other edits cannot be traced to a organisation but shed light on the black arts of political propaganda. The same computer used to deface SNP environment minister Mike Russell's online biography in 2005 was used to contribute to a sympathetic portrait of fellow Nationalist MSP Jim Mather.

In addition, the machine used to make allegations about Labour MSP Margaret Curran's time at Glasgow University was also used to take out controversial details of Labour peer George Foulkes' past.

It is not just the political world that is engaged in "wiki spin". A computer registered in the name of the Church of Scotland put a pro-nationalist slant on the 1707 Treaty of Union, while also taking out the following sentence that was in favour of Catholic schools: "Why many Scots seem to be out of step with international trends on this subject is a matter of ongoing speculation and research."

Other spinning includes a Glasgow City Council computer being used to make negative remarks about the city's university principal, Sir Muir Russell, while an IP address traced to the Scottish Courts Service was implicated in the insertion of libellous comments about former Rangers skipper Richard Gough.

Griffith's scanner is the latest chapter in the rise of Wikipedia, described as an "immense reference book in cyberspace" and which contains 1.6 million articles in English.

The online encyclopedia was founded in 2001 by US internet buffs Jimmy Wales and Langer Sanger, whose creation grows by 30 million words a day. But Wikipedia has been hit by several "vandal scandals", such as when an unnamed contributor claimed that John Seigenthaler Sr, an official in JFK's administration, was involved in the late president's death.

Wikipedia has backed the scanner on the grounds it exposes organisations for bad practice. A spokesman said: "We really value transparency and the scanner may prevent a organisation or individuals from editing articles that they're really not supposed to."

Griffith, when asked by the Sunday Herald why he created the scanner, said:

"To create a fireworks display of public relations disasters for all the world to sit back, and enjoy."

A spokesperson for the Scottish parliament said: "The parliament's IT network is primarily for business use but can be used for personal reasons during break times or outwith office hours.