MARK ARBIB, AKA CIA AGENT 007

Megan Levy
December 9, 2010 - 7:17AM

Mark Arbib: otherwise known as CIA Agent 007.

Visitors to the senator's Wikipedia page this morning may have been surprised to learn his role as Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness, among other portfolios, had been usurped by some decidedly more colourful titles.

CIA agent, US Mole, Traitor, and US Embassy Hero were listed below the right-wing Labor powerbroker's photograph on the popular online encyclopedia following revelations by WikiLeaks today that Mr Arbib was as a confidential contact of the United States embassy in Canberra.

And the Wikipedia tinkering didn't stop there.

''Mark Victor Arbib (born 9 November 1971) is an Australian Traitor and spy for America,'' his Wikipedia page read just after 4am AEDT today.

''He will join Benedict Arnold and Judas in the afterlife. He is a public enemy and a villain to his people.''

Benedict Arnold, who was also listed on Mr Arbib's page as his predecessor, was a general during the American Revolutionary War who later defected to the British Army.

A short time later his page was also altered to read: ''On 8 December 2010 it was revealed by the Wikileaks cables that Arbib had traitorously met with US embassy officials on numerous occasions to inform them of internal party and parliamentary workings.''

In fact, Mr Arbib's page was altered 18 times over six hours this morning, before moderators reverted the page due to ''vandalism by multiple editors''.

Just before 7am, his page was listed as ''protected'' due to ''excessive violations of the biographies of living persons policy''.

Anyone may submit an entry to Wikipedia and anyone may either add to, or edit, any entry.

This has led to doubts about the accuracy of many entries, although the moderators on the site are known to do their best to keep everyone honest and objective.

In 2007 bureaucrat spin doctors in Canberra were "outed" for editing Wikipedia entries critical of their bosses.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/mark-arbib-aka-cia-agent-007-20101209-18q50.html