Civil servants editing Wiki pages

One of the edits in evil was "evil Irish"

Northern Ireland civil servants have been editing pages on the online reference source Wikipedia, it has been revealed.

Computers registered to the Northern Ireland Civil Service have made 967 changes, the Belfast Telegraph reported.

Most are innocent, but some with an apparent NI civil service IP address have made malicious comments.

One uses the phrase "evil Irish" on the entry on evil.

Others include links to allegedly pornographic images of a celebrity singer and websites that sell the sex drug Viagra, the Wikipedia Scanner revealed.

Comments about actress Katie Holmes going topless were made from the network and an entry for the Koran was edited to say: "Christians and other faiths usually refer to it as the Devil's bible."

One entry on Warrenpoint was changed from the town at one point being a series of "mud huts used by fishermen" to "mud huts used by mud lovin' aliens".

Another puerile edit on Crossgar was changed to read that 0.3% of the people "were congenial".

An Executive spokesman said civil servants could use work computers for personal use during non-working hours.

"Under the Northern Ireland Civil Service Internet and E-Mail Usage policy, set out in the NICS Staff Handbook, Northern Ireland civil servants are permitted to use official computer facilities for personal use," the spokesman said.

"Use of official facilities by staff for personal use is restricted to an individual's own time during non-working hours at lunch or before and after work.

"Any member of staff found to be in breach of this policy or to be using official facilities inappropriately may be subject to disciplinary action under the NICS Disciplinary Procedure."

Earlier in the week the same new internet tool showed how a Vatican computer was used to edit a web entry about Sinn Fein President Gerry Adam.

It has also been pointed out that people inside the BBC have been making edits to Wikipedia pages.