"I do not know anything about him."
Translation:Ich weiß nichts über ihn.
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"ich weiße" is actually a different verb. "weißen" is regular and it means "to paint white". It's not a very common word, though.
"Kennen" is used for expressing aquantience with something. "Wissen" is used for expressing knowledge of something. Since this sentence expresses lack of knowledge about a man rather than the man himself, "wissen" should be used.
E.g.: "Ich kenne ihn nicht" means I am not aquatinted with him. "Ich weiß über ihn nichts" means i don't know anything specifically about him
I try to associate "wissen" with wisdom to help me make this distinction.
http://www.livinglanguage.com/blog/2012/07/02/wissen-vs-kennen-to-know-in-german/
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I put "Ich weiß über ihn nichts" and was marked incorrect. Is this really incorrect? If so, what is the specific rule that explains why?
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They are used differently. I think of "nicht“ as meaning "not" and "nichts“ as meaning "nothing". Ich weiß nicht = I do not know. Ich weiß nichts = I know nothing.