Over 5 million english articles are on wikipedia, with added daily. 1000 but theres a dark side to wikipedia you probably dont know about. The promise of accurate, neutral articles and privacy for contributors is often just a mirage, according to two insiders. They say theyve been left battlescarred after troubling personal encounters with the worlds most popular encyclopedia. We begin today with their story. Its billed as the just in the past four hours 500 ip addresses and users have been blocked from editing wikipedia. 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. Sharyl so wikipedia does censor users . Kohs absolutely. In a given day, wikipedia administrators typically are blocking about 1,000 different ip addresses. Sharyl when kohs ran afoul of 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. Sharyl most people dont know what . Kohs wikipedia is often edited by people who have an agenda. 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 sharyl wikipedias promise to volunteer editors is anonymity and privacy. Two readers, unbiased articles. 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 kohs says wikipedias inmates include some volunteer editors with an ax to grind or serious conflicts of interest. Kohs sometimes editors will have very aggressive attitudes about what they want to appear in a wikipedia article. Sharyl they can stop opposing opinions . Kohs exactly, exactly. Sharyl Even Opposing facts . Kohs often times, yes. Sharyl when volunteer editors disagree, and they often do it discussion pages. 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. He has violated npa which means no personal attacks by telling someone they are inferior and to accept their station in life. He wrote 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. 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. Longer youve been making them the more power youre going to have. Kohs yes. Sharyl but what happens when powerful editors improperly control content . 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 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. So im just going to make a when kohs adds a Research Footnote that differs with that narrative. Kohs they can just go to this link and you get the abstract of the study right there. Sharyl in less than an hour, kohs edit disappears. Kohs 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. 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 competitors pages and adding , promotional material to their own. 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. 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. Sharyl wikipedia editors that you didnt know at the time were tracking your movements and speculating that you went home for thanksgiving . Kohs thats absolutely correct. Sharyl he only discovered that he was being tracked because somebody leaked these internal wikipedia discussions about him. What and then somebody chimed in, looks like someone went home for thanksgiving to visit mom and dad so you think youre editing with some degree 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. Anotr 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. 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 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. 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 sharyl despite the controversies, wikipedia has many devoted followers. Forcier is with the Loudoun CountyPublic Library in virginia. She says wikipedia is a valuable Research Tool when used properly. 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. Visit the worlds most popular encyclopedia, you may want to consider some advice you wont find within its pages. 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. 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 when we return, these tropical islands may look pretty why are you checking your credit score . You dont want to live with mom and dad forever, do you . Boo laughs im making smoothies can i check my credit score . Credit karma. Dont worry, its free. Hmmmm. Credit karma. Give yourself some credit. Sharyl halfway around the world theres big interest over a group of small islands. China is refusing to recognize an International Court ruling against its sovereignty claims territory in the waterway including u. S. Ally the philippines. More than a third of worldwide maritime traffic flows thorough this region, making it a crucial passage for trillions of dollars in commerce annually. Scott thuman examines the dangers of the green lagoon. Only a few years ago, these little reefs and sand cays in the spratly islands, off the coast of t uninhabited, wanted only as fertile fishing grounds. Today, they are converted to military outposts equipped with runways and sophisticated radar towers. Chinas intent to militarize the South China Sea is as certain as a traffic jam in d. C. Admiral harry harris jr, is head of the us pacific command, he came to capitol hill, to raise concerns about chinas intent. Admiral harris in my opinion, china is clearly militarizing earth to think otherwise. Greg poling youre seeing an entirely new island, where nothing existed before. Scott greg poling runs the asia maritime transparency initiative, they Commission Satellite photos to monitor chinas activities. We have at least two radars under construction, a helipad. Scott these photos, as recent as february, show chinas construction continuing at a breakneck speed. Chinese president xi jingping on u. S. Tried to frame the photos differently, claiming china does not intend to pursue militarization. You build barracks, you build a harbor, you build an airstrip, all you have to do is fly in overnight and its, and you have a base. Scott rear admiral Mike Mcdevitt knows the South China Sea, and the spratly islands. Now retired, he did seven tours in the pacific, including at the command of a destroyer squadron and he said that china did not intend to pursue militarization. Is that a lie . Clearly his definition of militarization is different than for example admiral harriss definition of militarization. Scott the South China Sea is home to the busiest shipping corridor in the world. 5 trillion dollars worth of goods pass through every year. How alarming is it to you . Admiral mctt ways, that china has in so many different ways chosen to play fast and loose with the law of the sea. Is this a litmus test of the sea. Scott although the International Law of the sea permits free passage of ships and planes, the chinese are already beginning to push back. Last may, the u. S. Navys p8 poseidon patrolled the area. Quickly. Senator mccain chairman of the Armed Services committee. He said the obama administrations policies have failed when it comes to chinas militarization of the South China Sea. Do you agree with that . Admiral mcdevitt and so what would senator mccain have preferred we do . Shoot them up . Think those ships . Blow up those dredges . I mean, come on. Scott mcdevitt says the rise of chinas navy is inevitable, and right around the corner. Admiral mcdevitt so theyre going to have the range of capability just like the us will have except it will be smaller. But because the rest of worlds navies have gotten smaller, it will be the second most capable navy in the world. Scott last month, president obama called for china to stop the construction. President obama i reiterated the us will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever International Law allows, and we will support the right of all countries to do the same. Scott mcdevitt is confident that ongoing patrols of the area. Admiral mcdevitt theres only one way china can prevent us from doing that and thats if they try to use force and shoot at us and try to attack us. In short of that, we can go where we damn well please, but where International Law permits. Scott do you think thats a realistic scenario, that that would ever occur . Mcdevitt i dont think so. No. Chinas not stupid. Theyre not going to, why would they want to start a, a conflict with a Nuclear Armed united states. Sharyl that was scott thuman sharyl fallout continues over the april release of more than eleven million documents dubbed the Panama Papers. It was an unprecedented leak that exposed how wealthy individuals use anonymous offshore entities to hide their assets. A whistleblower obtained the documents from one of the the group that broke the story is the washington based International Consortium of investigative journalists. We talked to its director gerard ryle and started by asking what, exactly are the Panama Papers . Gerard ryle what they are, basically, is a daybyday, blowbyblow account of the offshore world. I mean were looking at everyone , from Prime Ministers, kings, emirs, president s around the world, but also drugs deer for various crimes, including pedophilia. So what they are, are basically people who use offshore accounts for secrecy. Sharyl what is the benefit to them of, as you say, using offshore accounts . Ryle well there are many benefits. It could be, for instance, tax evasion or it could be to hide their wealth. But often its actually sometimes its also to commit a crime. Sharyl but the offshore accounts in and of themselves world, the offshore world. Its, if you go offshore, its perfectly legal to do what youre doing, assuming youve told authorities. But where you have secrecy, you also have the potential for wrongdoing. What were seeing here is both secrecy and, and actual wrongdoing. Sharyl who are some of the World Leaders who have been implicated and whats been the fallout so far . Ryle well weve seen associates, very Close Associates of Vladimir Putin from russia. Weve got the Prime Minister of iceland. And we have president poroshenko in ukraine, um, so is, there is a range of different lrs arabia among others. Sharyl this could even shake up governments as it has in iceland already. Ryle yeah, we had fallout almost immediately from the story. I mean the Prime Minister of , iceland became under, came under an awful lot of pressure. Because we revealed that he had an offshore account when he entered parliament and he didnt declare that. And he has since had to resign resignations, for instance, the head of Transparency International in chile had to resign when it was revealed that he had five offshore accounts. Sharyl why would just the revelation of offshore accounts by these government officials be so controversial in those countries . Ryle well again, having an offshore account by itself is not illegal, but if you havent declared it and you are a parliamentarian, then of course its going to be an issue. And in iceland, it was a major issue because this offshore company had held millions of dollars in bank bonds. And this Prime Minister was elected to sort out the collapse of a fi sorting out the banks that had collapsed while he had owned bonds in those banks. Sharyl because there are no american politician names that have been found so far, does that mean american politicians dont use offshore accounts . Ryle i think what were seeing here is just a particular subset of information. Mossack fonseca is one of the biggest um, setter ups of offshore accounts in the world. But it is only one of about 800 other firms that do this around the world. So what were seeing here is just one subset of data. Saying, while we may have been the victim of a data breach, nothing in this illegally obtained cache of documents suggest weve done anything wrong or illegal. Are they correct . Ryle no, i think that they have done things wrong. You see actual evidence that theyre helping people avoid taxes around the world. But i think whats most surprising about this all, is that the law firm in panama did not know who the end customer was often. They, as far as they were concerned, their customers were the big banks and the big accountancy firms and big law firms. And they di any due diligence. Sharyl and in the big picture, what have we learned from this . Ryle i think what were learning from this is that the range of people that use offshore accounts. Theyre actually the worlds elite. And were also learning that every time governments crack down on this kind of wrongdoing, the offshore world finds a way of getting around it. These people are just finding more and more clever ways of getting around the law. Sharyl when asked about the growing scandal the founder of his business practices. He told the wall street journal, were not going to stop services and go plant bananas or whatcha doin . Just checking my free credit score at credit karma. What the . . . Youre welcome. I just helped you dodge a bullet. But i was just checking my. Shhh. Dont you know that checking your credit score lowers it just be cool. Actually, checking your credit score with credit karma doesnt affect it at all. Are you sure . Posi