The ominous sounding ArbCom, Wikipedia’s arbitration committee – a sort of geek court – has stripped the Wikipedia administrator who alleged to the Guardian that Grant Shapps had a sockpuppet account, of all his Wikipedia editor privileges.  A geek death sentence…

ArbCom ruled that Richard Symonds, the administrator in question, had abused his CheckUser privileges, an app which allows Wikipedia administrators to check the IP address and thus physical location associated with a specific Wikipedia account. By not sharing his findings with the Wikipedia community and running straight to the press, Symonds created the “appearance” that he was using his the CheckUser tool to “exert political or social control“.

The committee also found that “no evidence” turned up by Symonds or by them definitively connected the supposed ‘Grant Shapps sockpuppet account’ with Grant Shapps himself or anyone else. Shapps may feel justice has come too late..