Corrections department probing Wiki edits

Website changes traced back to federal department’s own computer system

Correctional Service Canada is deciding whether to punish employees who used work computers to make inappropriate edits on Wikipedia.

Among the changes was a Jan. 26, 2014, entry about Fenbrook Institution, a medium-security prison in Gravenhurst, Ont., that Correctional Service Canada manages.

The current Wikipedia entry about the facility is benign, with straightforward descriptions such as the number of inmates, when it was built and the fact that it has merged with Beaver Creek Institution.

But in the January 2014 Wikipedia edit — which is traceable to an Internet protocol address registered to Corrections — Fenbrook was described as having the “largest concentration of homosexual inmates in the entire Ontario Region.”

Another Wikipedia edit from 2011 described Peter North, a Canadianborn adult film actor, producer and director as a “big queer.”

The edits have been corrected but are still accessible online since Wikipedia keeps track of changes.

The story about the edits was first reported in the Ottawa Citizen and based on a Twitter account that flags anonymous Wikipedia edits from government computers.

“CSC is actively reviewing this matter and will determine disciplinary measures as appropriate,” said spokeswoman Véronique Rioux, adding that the department did not remove or request the deletion of the edits.

Rioux said the comments made on the website by those CSC staff involved are “their own and do not represent the values or opinions of CSC” in any way.

“As per policy, limited personal use of CSC’s electronic resources is permitted. At all time, employees must abide by the laws, government policies, directives and any other instructions published by CSC when using electronic resources,” Rioux added.

She added that routine monitoring of electronic resources is done to ensure that federal government policy is complied with.

“If there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an employee is misusing CSC electronic resources, monitoring without notice, including viewing the content of individual email records or files” can occur, she said.

“CSC investigates all suspected or actual IT security violations and incidents affecting its IT systems, services or electronic information,” she added.

Citing privacy issues, Rioux did not specify how many Corrections staff were involved, or what positions they hold.