Durham Officials Directed City Attorney to Try to Unmask Anonymous Wikipedia Editors
Durham Officials Directed City Attorney to Try to Unmask Anonymous Wikipedia Editors
The Mayor and two city council members pushed the city attorney to take formal action this summer to identify several Wikipedia users who were editing the elected officials’ pages.
Holsey-Hyman is being investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation following a developer’s allegation that she attempted to solicit a bribe in exchange for her vote on a rezoning proposal. She has also been accused of improperly attempting to enlist city staff to work on her reelection campaign.
Freeman made news in March when her defense of Holsey-Hyman during a contentious city council meeting led to a profane shouting match that reportedly turned physical.
On Wikipedia, the allegations and shouting match are summarized without any apparent factual error and with links to news articles as references. But Rehberg wrote in the letter that Holsey-Hyman “contends that the allegations are fabricated” and thus seeks to obtain the identity of user Willthacheerleader18, who created Holsey-Hyman’s page and wrote much of its content. Holsey-Hyman also requested the identity of user Mako001, who “insisted on preserving a link to Durham City Councilwoman Jillian Johnson” on her page after another user removed it.