The Independent: "The arms company, the oligarch and the ex-PM's sister-in-law: lobby firm's Wikipedia hit list"

Link to The Independent

"Wikipedia has now locked down ten user accounts that it believes are associated with computers owned by [PR company] Bell Pottinger, pending an investigation by the website's founder Jimmy Wales.

"When approached by the 'Bureau of Investigative Journalism', several companies denied having ever employed Bell Pottinger to manage their reputations, but did reveal that they had signed deals with other companies owned by its parent company Chime Communications.

"Standard Life, the pensions and insurance group, had its Wikipedia presence edited more than 12 times between November and December 2010. Barry Cameron, head of media at Standard Life, said it had hired Team Spirit, an advertising and marketing firm at Chime, and that the brief had included maintaining the company's Wikipedia profile.

"Lord Bell, chairman of Chime Communications, the owner of Bell Pottinger, said an internal review had been launched. On Wednesday the firm admitted it had used a number of accounts to change Wikipedia pages.

"Of the ten Wikipedia accounts suspended for being involved in suspected tampering by Bell Pottinger, two go to great lengths to give the impression of being real people.

" 'Biggleswiki' lists a number of personal details about himself on his user page. He claims that his name is David Biggles, and that he was born on 2 November 1979 in Hammersmith, London.

"He provides a selection of details, and claims that he met his girlfriend while living in Newcastle, but has since moved back to London. He writes:

"I currently work in engineering and really enjoy it. I get to travel around the world doing my job and have been to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia, China, New Zealand and Russia.

"My interests include art, music and photography and I'm rubbish at all of them."

The Bureau has been unable to identify a 'David Biggles' who matches the above description. Searches of the electoral register yielded no results for 'David Biggles' anywhere in the UK. Bell Pottinger has since admitted that it used the Biggleswiki account."