A little over a year ago John Seigenthaler posted an editorial on USA Today complaining about false information on Wikipedia that connected him to the assassinations of both John and Robert Kennedy. His article stirred up the question over whether Wikipedia was safe from libel lawsuits. Apparently, from another article by CNET, Wikipedia is a service provider and therefore will not be to blame for any libel cases.

The first issue: So who IS to blame for the written slander? It is understandable that the beauty of Wikipedia is its ability to allow users to quickly contribute information, so quickly that they do not have to identify themselves. This is not to suggest that Wikipedia should change its policies in contributing – however, Wikipedia cannot neglect ethics and libel when it is dealing with a large electronic publication.

From Wikipedia's official policy, they say they will delete libelous information when they find it. This leads to another issue: If real information is spread, false information can also spread. In his editorial, Seigenthaler mentioned that his "assassination connection" reappeared on Reference.com and Answers.com. So from where can the people at Wikipedia find reliable information if false information can spread like a virus? Not all false information on Wikipedia can have trustworthy sources in order to void it.