[nukkad] CNET INSIDER: An Opinionated Take on Tech

["Sameer@GEAE" <sameer.upadhye@ae.ge.com>]

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HI,

	This is a online editorial of Cnet. I must admit makes terrific 
reading material. I usually receive it 3 times a week. But this one is 
particularly Important because of the subject it addresses to. 

-- 
Cheers

Sameer
mailto:sameer.upadhye@ae.ge.com
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Everything bows to success, even grammar.




------------------------------------------------------- 
CNET INSIDER: An Opinionated Take on Tech
------------------------------------------------------- 
This Week: Email Hoaxes Just Won't Go Away
By Steve Fox, Editor, CNET Online
------------------------------------------------------- 

Thank you, my friends. You care. You really care. You must,
because every week many of you--perfect strangers who've seen my
name in this column or in CNET's Digital Dispatch--feel compelled
to send me emails warning of impending personal, environmental,
or political catastrophe. Others, with a more entrepreneurial
bent, send email touting incredible get-rich-quick schemes
and marketing opportunities available to me if I'll simply
forward the email to a dozen friends. I have just one request:
Please stop.

These emails are hoaxes, perpetrated by anonymous tricksters and
unwittingly perpetuated by well-meaning folks who figure,
"Well, it might not be true, but just in case, I'll forward it
to everyone I know."

Just two days ago, I received a ghastly email message warning
that mean-spirited fiends are attaching HIV-contaminated
hypodermic needles to the undersides of gas pump handles,
infecting unsuspecting motorists when they fill up. Although the
oil companies seem to be sticking it to customers at the pump
these days, this rumor is unequivocally false.

Another email, basically a poorly disguised pyramid scheme, asked
me to send a five-dollar bill to three names atop a list. Uh...I
don't think so.

A third message, received a month or so back, pulled out an old
chestnut of an urban legend. Apparently designer Liz Claiborne
had announced on "Oprah" that she "doesn't design for Black
women" because "their hips are too big." Ms. Claiborne never said
it. In fact, she never even appeared on "Oprah."

One particularly inventive in-box scare came in two flavors. The
one I received last week, overrun with capital letters, urged men
to warn their "SISTERS, DAUGHTERS, AND WIVES" about villains in
parking lots who will ask them to "SNIFF PERFUME that they are
selling at a cheap price! THIS REALLY IS NOT PERFUME IT IS
'ETHER'! YOU WILL PASS OUT, AND THEY WILL TAKE YOUR WALLET AND
ALL OF YOUR VALUABLES." My wife received the same email, but hers
began "TO ALL MY WOMEN FRIENDS. PASS IT ALONG TO YOUR WOMEN
FRIENDS!!!" Great, a gender-specific false alarm.

How do I know these emails are hoaxes? Well, first off, I've
never seen one of these seemingly fantastic letters that has
turned out to be for real (though I've heard of some that might
be). Here's a rule of thumb for you: No one is stealing people's
kidneys, the government isn't taxing modem use, and reading an
email with the subject heading Good Times won't erase your hard
drive. Of course, if you're in doubt, you can head straight to
the Web and check out any of the sites devoted to debunking urban
legends. I'm partial to the Urban Legends Reference Pages
( http://2.digital.cnet.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=epD0oUrN010CgR2 ) 
and the AFU & Urban Legends Archive
( http://2.digital.cnet.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=epD0oUrN010CgS3 ), 
both of which render true or false
verdicts. For virus-related emails, I usually turn to the highly
opinionated Computer Virus Myths Home Page
( http://2.digital.cnet.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=epD0oUrN010CgT4 ) 
for the skinny.

You can also use a little common sense. No one will pay you,
donate money, or give you a free phone for forwarding an email.
No, not even Bill Gates. Similarly, multilevel marketing and
pyramid schemes should be easy to spot, no matter what guise they
come in. As for online petitions, don't waste your time. Most of
them are hoaxes (certainly you've gotten the one decrying the
government's plan to pull the plug on Sesame Street funding). And
even if the petition were real, it would be virtually worthless.
Because most online petitions get forwarded to multiple people
every step of the way, the list duplicates most names several
times, critically undermining its credibility. And, as the Urban
Legends Reference Pages point out, there's little chance the
person at the end of the chain will end up forwarding the
petition to the White House, AOL, or another intended recipient.
Might as well give your mouse a rest.

As for fantastic medical claims and preposterously lurid tales,
apply the same skepticism you would in the real, nonvirtual
world. As a guide, it's safe to assume that the more complex the
story, the more elaborate the detail, the more quotes and
first-person accounts included, the less likely the email is to
be true. Like any good magician, a skilled hoaxer will use color
and misdirection to bolster the deception. So look for odd
details, bizarre tangents, and flawed logic as tip-offs. If you
still think you've received a legitimate email message, and none
of the appropriate Web sites raise any red flags, then forward it
to your heart's content.

Just not to me.
 
By Steve Fox, Editor, CNET Online



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