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Metadata

Article: Spreading Knowledge, The Wiki Way, 2004-09-09, page E01 (front page of section E?!)
Author: Leslie Walker, The Washington Post

Quotes

From the article:

Britannica's editors are among those who take a skeptical view, noting that Wikipedia publishes a disclaimer stating that it does not vouch for its own validity. "We very much take responsibility for all the content we include in any of our products," said Britannica editor in chief Dale Hoiberg.

He added that Britannica subjects its articles to an editorial review process with at least six stages and works to ensure the content is accurate, comprehensive, balanced, consistent and full of context.

From the Britannica website [1]:

/THE SITE AND ALL INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, AND OTHER CONTENT (INCLUDING THIRD-PARTY INFORMATION, PRODUCTS, AND CONTENT) INCLUDED IN OR ACCESSIBLE FROM THIS SITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND (EXPRESS, IMPLIED, AND STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF TITLE AND NONINFRINGEMENT AND THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE), ALL OF WHICH BRITANNICA EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW./

/*YOUR USE OF BRITANNICA.COM IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK.*/

Response

To the editors of the Washington Post,

In regards to Leslie Walker's September 9 article on Wikipedia, Spreading Knowledge, The Wiki Way, you quote Britannica's editor-in-chief Dale Hoiberg as saying that Britannica "take[s] responsibility for all the content we include in any of our products," while scoffing at Wikipedia's disclaimer.

We would like to bring to Mr. Hoiberg's attention the harsher, if less visible, disclaimer of warranties tucked away in Britannica Online's terms of use. Under 'Disclaimer of Warranties', emphasized in all capital letters, it reads in part 'ALL INFORMATION... INCLUDED IN OR ACCESSIBLE FROM THIS SITE [IS] PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND,' closing with 'YOUR USE OF BRITANNICA.COM IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK'.

Wikipedia takes great pride in all its content, and as much responsibility for it as is legally tenable. While Britannica may be more proud of their content, they appear to take no more responsibility for it.

Sincerely,     [1] Wikipedia editor.

Who to contact

Web editors : webnews@wpni.com

The Editorial department publishes the editorials, letters to the editor and opinion pages. So as not to compromise the objectivity of the news department, the editorial staff operates independently; its editor, Fred Hiatt, reports directly to The Post's chairman, Donald Graham.

Submit letters to the editor to: letters@washpost.com