Encyclopedia. We begin today with their story. Its billed as the encyclopedia anyone can edit. But for many, its the opposite. Greg just in the past four hours, 500 ip addresses and users have been blocked from editing wikipedia. Sharyl greg kohs is among the blocked. Banned, he says, for challenging wikipedia policies. More on that in a moment. In 2012, kohs helped start an opposing website called wikipediocracy to expose what he calls wikipedias misinformation, defamation, and general nonsense. So wikipedia does censor users . Greg absolutely. In a given day, wikipedia administrators typically are blocking about 1000 different ip addresses. Sharyl 1000 a day . Greg 1000 a day, yes. Sharyl when kohs raaf wikipedia, he was drawn into an unseen cyberworld. One where he says volunteer editors dole out punishment and retaliation, privacy is violated, and special interests control information. Most people dont know what . Greg wikipedia is often edited by people who have an agenda. Sharyl to understand how, it helps to start with the wikipedia most know and love. Cofounded in 2001 by jimmy wales and larry sanger, wikipedia boasts 37 millionplus articles in 291 languages. Research experts like Mary Frances Forcier count on wikipedia. Mary i think its user friendly. I think its easy to use. It has a very appealing visual interface, and i do think that having the sources at the bottom of the page is really important. Sharyl wikipedias promise to volunteer editors anonymity and privacy. But there were conflicts in this encycutopia from the start. Cofounder sanger quickly broke away. He later told a reporter, people that i would say are trolls sort of took over. The inmates started running the asylum. Kohs says wikipedias inmates include some volunteer editors with an ax to grind or serious conflicts of interest. Greg sometimes editors will have very aggressive attitudes about what they want to appear in a wikipedia article. Sharyl they can stop opposing opinions . Greg exactly, exactly. Sharyl Even Opposing facts . Greg often times, yes sharyl when volunteer editors disagree, and they often do, it leads to edit wars fought out on wikipedias talk and discussion pages. Greg theres drama on wikipedia just about every day. You just need to know where to go and look for it. Sharyl edit wars fill thousands of pages deep inside wikipedia with dialogue that ranges from civil to childish and hostile, like this argument that kohs reads us. Greg he has violated npa, which means no personal attacks, by telling someone they are inferior and to accept their station in life. He wrote, i refuse to be blocked. I am not blocked. You can pretend that you block me all you like, but someone who is right can never be blocked. It is impossible. [laughter] sharyl in wikipedias world, the ruling authorities are the hundreds of volunteer editors whove reached the most powerful editing status. Theyre called administrators, known only by their pseudonyms or user names. They always win the edit wars. The more edits you make, the longer youve been making them, the more power youre going to have. Greg yes. Sharyl but what happens when powerful editors improperly control content . Greg youll have different people with a particular scientific point of view and theyll edit and modify wikipedia articles so that its articles kind of reflect that point of view. Sharyl wikipedia has given names to bad behavior. Malicious editing is vandalism. Editing for personal or financial gain is paid or covert editing. Wikipedia discourages both, but they happen all the time. Two trusted wikipedia officials were exposed running businesses that covertly edited wikipedia for pr clients. Interests for sony, the cia, the vatican, barack obama, and john mccain all reportedly have been caught secretly editing their own Wikipedia Pages to their advantage. And anonymous wikipedia editors maintain a stranglehold on selected topics. Kohs demonstrates with the case of morgellons. The mayo clinic calls it an unexplained skin disorder characterized by sores. But the Wikipedia Page dismisses morgellons as a delusional belief. Greg so im just going to make a little comment here. Sharyl lets see what happens when kohs adds a Research Footnote that differs with that narrative. Greg they can just go to this link and you get the abstract of sharyl in less than an hour, kohs edit disappears. Greg i see that our edit to morgellons was reverted after about 38 minutes or so. Sharyl it was reverted by an administrator who is anonymous, but for his user name. If you know where to look, its possible to see the many wikipedia topics the same editor worked hard to control. Greg it seems to me that this is someone who is either involved with the medical profession or the pharmaceutical profession. They probably have an agenda to discredit or to suppress alternative medicines, things of that nature. Sharyl one study found mistakes in nine out of ten wikipedia medical entries. Millions of dollars can depend on how an idea or product is portrayed within these computer pages. That may be why wikipedia editors reportedly linked to the Pharmaceutical Company astrazeneca got caught posting negative material on competitors pages and adding promotional mate kohs sees himself as an equalizer. His business helps clients, including supposed victims of unfair edits, navigate wikipedias unbridled landscape. Wikipedia banned him for violating the policy against paid editing. And when kohs criticized the policy and continued under a borrowed account, wikipedia editors targeted him. They went to Great Lengths to track him, using inside information and computer addresses. They researched where kohs grew up and traced his movements all the way to orlando, florida, where he was making edits while on vacation. Wikipedia editors that you didnt know at the time were tracking your movements speculating that you went home for thanksgiving . Greg thats absolutely correct. Sharyl he only discovered that he was being tracked because somebody leaked these internal wikipedia discussions about him. Greg and then somebody chimed in, looks like someone went home for thanksgiving to visit mom and dad, so you think of privacy, but if they want to, they can really start to investigate. Sharyl wales has publicly feuded with kohs over the paid editing policy, but declined our interview requests. Wikimedia foundation, the nonprofit that runs wikipedia, and the wikipedia editors we asked also offered no comment for this report. Another paid editor, mike wood, says his confrontation with wikipedia was life changing. Like kohs, wood publicly criticized wikipedias policies on editing for pay, which he did while on breaks as a casino inspector. Until one day when his boss called him in for a meeting. Mike he says, we received an email and a phone call from the Wikimedia Foundation, telling us that you are using our servers to edit wikipedia. He said wikipedia, meaning the Wikimedia Foundation, put a hard block on our servers, so now no one is allowed to access wikipedia from our job site. Sharyl that was enough to get wood fired. Mike it was a huge violation of privacy. They put so much pressure on my employer by blocking access to wikipedia, by telling them what was going on, just the embarrassment, the potential embarrassment alone of what the Wikimedia Foundation pressured my employer with was enough for the employer to terminate me. Sharyl despite the controversies, wikipedia has many devoted followers. Forcier is with the Loudoun County Public Library in virginia. She says wikipedia is a valuable Research Tool when used properly. Mary its accessible. Its in language everyone understands and it does provide you the kind of Source Information that can lead you to scholarly works, encyclopedias, reference works, and primary sources that can really help you out. Sharyl but the next time you visit the worlds most popular consider some advice you wont find within its pages. Greg when you read wikipedia, you have to be aware that the people who are writing it who dont identify themselves, who dont necessarily have any credentials to be writing in the subject matter that theyve chosen to write in, are very often pushing an agenda. Mike there is no privacy. If they want to know who you are, where you are editing from, they have that, and they can check it, and they will. Do not step in front of the train, because they will run you over. Sharyl kohs and wood still edit wikipedia for paid clients. And heres an inside tip. On any Wikipedia Page, if you want to see what an editor has removed, you can click the tab that says, view history and see for yourself. Sometimes, the most interesting material is whats been deleted by those guarding the page. Wikimedia has indicated it makes an effort to prevent biased articles and, when a page is disputed, sometimes editors insert warning notices to alert readers. And it has some people talking about the tax code, like the 2016 president ial candidates. So, what would your tax bill look like under the next president . Scott thuman breaks it down, next. Sharyl tomorrow is tax day, the day your tax returns to uncle sam must get postmarked. Lost in much of the horse race coverage of the campaigns is what the candidates tax plans whole. Scott thuman sat down with two experts to dissect the candidates plans. There will be a major tax reduction. We will pass a simple flat tax and abolish the irs. I do believe that the wealthiest people in the country and the largest corporations are going to have to start paying their fair share of taxes. This is a remarkable election cycle. What makes it so interesting is the gap between the president ial campaign plans is enormous. Scott Howard Gleckman is a Senior Analyst at the tax policy center, a nonpartisan washington think tank. A professional number cruncher , his economic reports are not usually page turning. This year is different. Donald trump and ted cruz have proposed huge tax cuts. Tax cuts on a scale we have never seen before. Bernie sanders is proposing a tax increase on a scale we have not seen since world war ii. Scott on the republican side, he says that the size of the ted cruz and donald trump tax cuts make the controversial bush tax cuts of 2001 look tiny. Candidates make tremendous promises and hope that the public does not pay enough attention to know that there are costs to the promises. Scott on the democratic side, he says, hang on to your wallets. Bernie sanders has the opposite idea from ted cruz and donald trump. Where they are cutting taxes, or mostly cutting taxes for high income people, Bernie Sanders goes way over to the other side. What he is doing is he is raising taxes by everybody. He is proposing raising taxes by 15 trillion over 10 years. Tott jaw dropping gulf between the candidates, they teamed up with vox news to create a calculator to let people see for themselves the impact on their bottom line. Lets take a family with no kids earning 60,000. Scott a middle income family making 60,000 would reap a bonanza under donald trump and ted cruz. It sounds great. Overall, trump is proposing to cut taxes by almost 10 trillion over 10 years. Scott but he says the costs of that 10 trillion tax cut are staggering. Those tax cuts are so enormous that he would essentially have to eliminate huge numbers of federal programs. He would have to eliminate most of the defense department. He would have to eliminate programs like the National Institutes of health or Homeland Security or national parks. It is hard to imagine that you could come up with enough money to pay for tax cuts of this scott under Bernie Sanders, this household would have to fork over an additional 6,480. They would get free health care, free college tuition, more generous family leave, if they were sick or had a baby or taking care of aging parents. They would get the benefits, but have to pay higher taxes. Right now, everybody is running away from the issue. This is a fiscally reckless campaign. Scott Maya Mcginnis is the director of a fiscally responsible budget. The issue is how the wildly different tax approaches would affect the ballooning national debt. Cannot believe that in a time of record debt levels, we are sitting here talking about cutting taxes by 10 trillion. This is no small tax cut. This would take away so much of the revenue from the government and i dont care what do you whether you think the government should be bigger or smaller. Cu going to pay the bills. Scott she does not spare Bernie Sanders either because his tax hikes will not pay for all of the Government Spending he envisions. His numbers fall short. He would add 2 trillion to 15 trillion to the debt depending on how the cost of his Health Care Plan paid out. Scott both experts say voters need to be skeptical of the plans. Beware of people peddling false promises and things that sound too good to be true. When it comes from fiscal and budget policy, things that sound too good to be true always are. We need politicians who will level with the voters. It is an old cliche, but it is true there is no free lunch. Sharyl the candidates have counterpoints to those opinions. Did not say much about clinton and john kasich. Scott john kasich is the only candidate that the experts could not analyze. The have been requesting specifics to lay out his tax plan in more detail and have not heard back. Sharyl what about Hillary Clinton . Scott h proposing anything that would be a drastic overhaul. She is a proponent of the buffet rule, that would raise taxes on people making over 1 million. But they say that is one of the only ones that stand out. A lot of the status quo, otherwise. Sharyl ok. Scott thuman, thank you. Ahead on full measure Congress Wants to help loosen the governments grip on public records. But guess whos been standing in the way . We hear from a member of congress pushing for reform, sharyl a bill designed to make it easier for the public to gain access to government documents and other information is working its way through congress. Its an update of the freedom of information act, commonly referred to as foia. You might be surprised to hear whats standing in the way. We recently talked about it with a key advocate, republican congressman darrell issa. Rep. Issa the primary changes in this 50yearold law are based on abuse. Individuals, nonprofits, all seek this information including the members of congress and find themselves paying to be delayed, paying to have highly redacted documents sometimes redacted, based on the highest level of security, you can have in washington, which is unclassified, but embarrassing. They routinely simply redact the embarrassing. Pres. Obama the freedom of information act is perhaps the document we have to keep our government accountable. Sharyl president obama said when he came into office that was to be the standard. The presumption in terms of giving the information to the public. Rep. Issa this administration from the beginning said that they were gonna be the most transparent in history and in many, many ways theyve failed. But one of them they failed more than any other way is that they work behind the scene to thwart congress. Sharyl issa is talking about a 2014 foia improvement bill he cosponsored with democrat elijah cummings. Internal government documents recently revealed the Obama Administration, the same one that pushed for unprecedented openness, actually worked behind the scenes to kill the bill. Now, congress is trying again in 2016. Rep. Issa so, the reforms both the house and the senate seek to move the bias from, well find one of these excuses to not give it to you, to where the bias is you shall give unless you meet certain high standards. Sharyl a new Associated Press analysis of 100 federal agencies in 2015 found the Obama Administration set new records for secrecy. It censored material or rejected foia requests 77 of the time. Thats up 12 over obamas first year in office. Rep. Issa and thats very much at the root of why you want a foia reform, is that your government will always put out one part of the information, the part they want to. You need to be able to get the part they didnt want to give you. Sharyl critics also point to the skyrocketing use of the socalled b5 exemption. It lets the government keep secret material thats part of a deliberate process. Its so widely used, its been nicknamed withhold it because you want to. In a current foia case, im suing the government for long overdue healthcare. Gov information. Documents slowly being turned over after two years look like this. Thats a result of the b5 exemption. We know there are many instances where government bodies dont provide information under the law in the time when they are supposed to. Why arent they held accountable for that . Rep. Issa well, this is one of the challenges in foia, is, currently, there is no penalty for essentially ignoring, delaying foia production. Theres not even a recognition of Financial Impact to the entity asking for it. Thats gotta change. Sharyl the current foia reform bill lacks criminal penalties and has been watered down substantially from earlier versions. But it writes into law that presumption of openness president obama called for back in 2009. A lead democrat has said the president will sign it on his way out the door, if it reaches the white house exactly as the senate recently passed it. Its that time of year, with spring comes the release of the annual report of wasteful Government Spending. Coming up, we follow the money and highlight some of the areas where lawmakers are still having trouble trimming the fat. Sharyl in this weeks follow the money it turns out republicans Running Congress are pretty darn good at pork barrel spending. Thats according to the 2016 pig book by citizens against government waste. It found 123 earmarks worth 5 billion in this years budget. Thats up 21 in cost over last year. Some notables 60 million outside the normal budget slipped to the National Institute of standards and technology, or nist, to renovate unsafe radiation physics infrastructure. We reported an explosion at nist last year. A federal Police Officer was caught running a meth lab inside the agency. 255 million for two f35 joint Strike Fighter aircraft. The program is four years behind schedule and 170 billion over budget. And more than 84 million extra for congressional offices. Thats than the Obama Administration said was actually necessary. Since 1991, congress has approved more than 110,000 earmarks outside the normal budget process, costing taxpayers 323 billion. Coming up on the next full measure senator Lindsey Graham is just back from africa and the middle east, where he and bono, the lead singer of u2, toured camps filled with desperate syrian refugees. Bono then appeared on capitol hill to testify at a hearing chaired by the senator. Graham sits down to tell us what he saw and why he is pushing for an urgent plan to send more money overseas quickly. He calls it a Marshall Plan for the 21st century. That is all for this week. Thanks for joining us. Im sharyl attkisson. Until next time, well be searching for more stories that hold powers accountable. Starting right now on this week with george stephanopoulos. War of words. The system is all rigged. With the convention fight looming, donald trump taking on his own Party Like Never before. The system is a bad, bad system. They gotta do something about it. Ted cruz punching back. We shouldnt be intimidating delegates. This shouldnt be controversial. Were asking team trump how far they would go to change the system. And team cruz about the charges theyre perfecting the art of the steal. Plus, empire state showdown. Days before the new york primary, can clinton shake off sanders and clear the path to the nomination . We dont need another diagnosis of the problem. We need solutions. Or will bernie score his
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