Posted by
CowboyNeal
on from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dept.
ziggy_az writes "A local TV station aired an ominous story about some "Hacker group" attacking AOL. You can catch the whole story here. "
Yes, I absolutely hate getting a chain letter, but at least this time it made more people look stupid than just those forwarding it around.
93 comments
Re:Watch the newsreel.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Could you give that Real video link again... it seems to be busted...
Re:Users....
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
I'm not sure Linux will *ever* get that easy.
Although, Caldera 2.2 comes close...
John Waalkes jwaalkes@edge.net
Re:Gullibility...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Or, one could slap together some pseudo-science about poor computer security, manipulation of video cards, changing frequencies beyond their normal limits and so forth, and come up with a Dilbertesque chain-letter threatening to drive one's monitor to cause (pick one)
a) high risk of brain cancer b) seizures c) sore eyes d) tension headaches
and then see whether it turns into a Health Alert... >;->
Re:If it is a computer
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Mostly a variation on Brunner's ideas, after all, and he had 'em a long time ago. I'm mostly figuring that now, it might actually be possible, because private citizens do likely have things like card numbers, etc lying around in files...
For a more evil focus, something like that, made known right before an important event (say, stockholder meeting, general election, foo bar baz), might drive attendance _down_ as people panic and start cancelling cards and so forth. That definitely has its possible uses for Evil; unfortunate, eh? Question being, how to stave off such without causing not-terribly-informed (read: non-geek) citizens/reporters to panic. Hmmmmm.
Scary part is gov't knows nothing about internet.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
>Perhaps then people will realize that the media doesn't really have any >idea what's going on with the Internet
Goof ups in the media over the internet are just funny. When the gov't does it, it's law and punishable by cops siezing all your computing hardware, financial assetts, property and locking you in jail. Recall numerous small ISPs that were shut down in this manner because "child porn was found stored on their servers" So what if it was in the news spool. It was stored on your machine right? Gov't also doesn't like internet gaming so they're going to "pass legislation" to outlaw it. But, but, the servers are in the Guyana or in Tonga, how will your legislation affect this?...*silence*...
Re:Make Chain Mail Fun Again!!!
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
That's good stuff...:) It highlights all the best outlandish variations of urban legend emails. Keep up the good work (and proofread the page a bit...:).
Re:Well, I'm not surprised...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
my grandmother does. We bought her a microwave about four years ago, and all she does is keep bread in it. She's afraid that if she turns it on, it'll irradiate her and/or her food. Nothing we tell her or show her can change her mind.
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Undoubtedly you have never cut cross country...roads are not required. And some people live in cars...sad but true. And some people just sit in a dead car and listen to the radio....hmm, whats a road got to do with a car?
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
no other use for a car?... two words: back seat.
Anyone remember the Michelangelo virus?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
That was quite a while ago- I think I had a 8086 with DOS 4. Huge, nationwide coverage. Everyone was told to shut off their computers for Mikey's birthday.
Anyways, that was even worse in terms of media stupidity. One of the national TV networks (NBC I think) went and interviewed a salesman from a computer chain (was it CompUSA or Fry's?). Not a virus specialist, not a security expert, not even a network administrator, but one of those clueless clerks who know more about stereos than computers. And what did this young man's tell the world to do about the impending virus attack?
"Panic"
Re:Anyone remember the Michelangelo virus?
by
eyeball
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· Score: 1
Hah. From one of those ex-fry-flippers I would've expected "Uh, like buy a new computer that doesn't have a virus on it, and turn it on after Michelangelo day"
--
_______ 2B1ASK1
Re:Diary of an AOL Luser
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Well I hope and pray that you intentionally spelled 'loser' wrong. It'd be a riot if you didn't... ROFL!
Convictions
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
"Why is it that its easier to write a huge comment here, but I still can't write the first paragraph of that english story I have to turn in tomorow?"
Which do you believe more in, todays topic, or the english paper?
Re:Users....??
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
That would be an idiot. As opposed to a newbie. And to think some people want to cater linux to the former. Let them[1] do tech support for awhile, put an end to that desire.
[1]people who cater.
Re:Well, I'm not surprised...[education]
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Er, no.. this is an argument for some education. You can give a man a fish [fool-proof gui] You can teach a man to fish [educate him/her ] The later rather than the former will reap the greater benefits for the oss movement and society in general.
BTW there's no such thing as "fool-proof", more like idiot-resistant.
Japanese torpedoed San Diego...
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
That was reported back in World War II. Obviously, the media hasn't learned its lesson.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Re:"We have the technology!"
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
Assume I steal your car, burn down your house and break your nose than all this will be a very painful lesson for you to buy a tank, change places every day and to rent some bodyguards.
In other words... your arguments are the total shit I do read again and again and again. A cracker is not Robin Hood, the Y2K edition.
No-one ever cracked my machine and I am not running Winblows but just that someone wants to gives no-one the right to break into it and if someone does he or she might as well pay for it, full stop.
Congratulations...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
You're paying how much for tuition, room and board to go into a profession which is second only to lawyers for overcrowding and the amount of contempt you'll recieve from the public. At the same time you're likely to still be making minimum wage after 15 years of service, assuming you haven't decided that journalism sucks and moved on to web page design.
How do I know about journalists? Well the SPCA people were coming down on our lab about how mean we were being to those poor cute mice and we couldn't experiment on Lawyers because they'd sue us. No one complains if you use journalists in medical experiments. The best thing about it is if your supply starts to run low, you call up the local TV station or Newspaper and tell them about the inhumane experiments going on down at the medical lab.
Give her a score of -1 already........
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 0
For such a lame generalization, and for being ignorant in her spelling of the word ignorant.
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep
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Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1
Perhaps it was meant to be $quote =~ s/please/fool/g; ?
Lincoln comes to mind, but perhaps a P.T.Barnum quote is more apropos -- "There's a sucker born every minute."
What was that user name again
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1
This is what we need more of. We need more people taking advantage of gullable media types in order to get more completely ludicrous stories on the news and in papers. Perhaps then people will realize that the media doesn't really have any idea what's going on with the Internet and perhaps then they will take the assorted negative stories showing up in recent times with a grain of salt.
You have to realize that your average journalist
1) Is stupid. You think not? Given that your average Journalist could make more money flipping burgers, it's a fair bet that your average journalist is stupid.
2) Is greedy. Odd, given what they make, but true.
3) Is looking for A Scoop. The only way the average journalist can hope to make a buck or get ahead these days is to scoop a story. A really hot one. Given the inherent greed of your average journalist and the average IQ of your average journalist, what you have here is a recipe for disaster. This story describes what can happen all to well.
Now that you've been briefed on the psycological engineering factors, you have everything you need to ply a gullible journalist into reporting on a completely non-sensical topic. Have fun.
That's a good idea, but...
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2
That could inflict a *lot* of damage, in a very, very painful lesson to the masses.
That sounds like a good idea, and I'm sure we've all thought about it at one point or another. But I'm apt to believe that it would only give the general populace yet another reason to hate the evil hackers (like it or not, they use 'hackers' in a negative sense). If we learned something from Melissa 'virus', we learned that most people will never, ever fault Microsoft or an insecure computer. People don't see their computers as being insecure; they only see hackers (the malicious people) as people who have some sort of supernatural power in cyberspace and therefore must be legislated against. [rant off]
"We have the technology!"
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3
Out of curiousity, given that there are systems with...
a) _stored passwords_, sometimes with weak crypto b) rather powerful macro languages c) a highly homogeneous (sp?), insecure computing environment among home users d) users that forward mail... e) users that rely on hordes of tiny, shareware downloaded utils f) "smart" mail programs that automatically look at attachments
Couldn't one do some damage here? As in a trojan or worm that waits a _long_ time (say, 6 mo.) before doing anything particularly suspicious? Or, more fun:
a worm that simply a) collects information from say, the registry on Win9x; cookie files; history lists; default document directories... b) attaches it to itself c) propagates, perhaps through mail-forwarding, perhaps more subtly.
so that by the time it was detected, private info would already be in many, many different places... That could inflict a *lot* of damage, in a very, very painful lesson to the masses.
Re:"We have the technology!"
by
Zoltar
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· Score: 1
Yep... I found the comment by the AOL guy a little too over the top. Something along the lines that it would be *impossible* to access the passwords and user info...etc... Unless this box is locked in a closet with no modem and no network card then nothing is impossible. Even then if the right person was a skillfull enough social engineer he/she could get at it.
I feel sorry for some AOL users. They really get a bad rap sometimes. I know people who use it because they live in the sticks and it's the only way to get a local dialup number. Other people may be very intelligent but really have no interest in learning anything beyond how to point and click. I see no shame in that. It seems that techy type poeple seem to be very judgmental sometimes. (my self included)
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3
Rombuu,
Sounds like you have your own knee-jerk reactions to deal with.
Making the generalization that "stupid people use AOL" is on the same level as saying that "teens in black use bombs".
AOL presents itself as easy to use, so, sure it's going to attract folks who are not the computer genius that you are. That doesn't make them stupid.
Same for Local TV news. Sure, they're not Peter Jennnings, but I sometimes like to hear stories that relate to my hometown. Does that make me stupid?
A very wise man once said: "Pick the board out of your own eye before you point to a splinter in someone else's"
Anonymous Kevin
>Stupid people use AOL >Stupid people watch Local TV News
Good Times!
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST! It contains a dangerous virus that will re-format your hard disk! Please pass this on to your on-line friends to help them avoid this problem. Remember, if you see a "Good Times" post, just score it -1, do not respond.
Oh common you don't really expect us to------ asdawjkzxkh*&%^**(FN ahsdkjfabASDGBX*(^$%^*^#*&^(@*&&# jkahsdf&(*&IJAEKG(798980(8098hiutgaskhiaughlagsd bf
Oh look at me i'm soooo scared of the Plain Text.. "Windows 98 Second Edition works and players better than ever." -Microsoft's Home page on Win98SE.
-- I ate my tag line.
-=Ellis (D)25=-
Same Old Virus
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 5
Seems like the post off the cypherpunks list from fall of '98 needs to be aired again.:-)
************************************************ ****************** WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE! Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet! ************************************************ ******************
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.
"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet.
"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."
Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read," she says.
Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the following:
The willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking. The urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others. A lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story is true.
T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter, "I read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo." When told about the Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he would stop reading email, so that he would not become infected.
Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community.
Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is online help from many sources, including
Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.html
Dr. Solomons Hoax Page at http://www.drsolomons.com/vircen/hoax.html
The Urban Legends Web Site at http://www.urbanlegends.com
Urban Legends Reference Pages at http://www.snopes.com
Datafellows Hoax Warnings at http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating sources, such as
Evaluating Internet Research Sources at http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm
Evaluation of Information Sources at http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm
Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources at http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/libinst/critTHINK.HTM
Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards them a hoax.
************************************************ ****************** This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of exclamation points! Lots!! For every message you forward to some unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten cents to itself. (If you wonder how the Home will know you are forwarding these messages all over creation, you're obviously thinking too much.) ************************************************ ******************
ACT NOW! DON'T DELAY! LIMITED TIME ONLY! NOT SOLD IN ANY STORE!
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven
by
Trepidity
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· Score: 0
While we're on the topic of ignorant stereotyping, only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot.
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep
by
Trepidity
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· Score: 1
Murphy, of Murphy's Law ("If anything can go wrong, it will") fame, states:
You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that's sufficient.
I searched for some info on the one I was recalling ("You can please all of the people some of the time, or some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time"). It's apparently an extremely old cliché, and thus it's likely that it was around during Murphy's time, and Murphy made a pun by changing some of the words around.
Geez, people, I was not saying "only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot." I was merely stating that saying "AOL users and local TV watchers are idiots" is as stupid as saying "only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot."
Both are stereotypes, and neither is true. There are non-nerd slashdot readers, and there are intelligent AOL users.
Geez, people, I was not saying "only palefaced "only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot."
but you should have. That is what we all are aren't we?
-- - Kill Yourself, spare us all! -
Make Chain Mail Fun Again!!!
by
Suydam
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· Score: 3
Hey...speaking of chain mail... check out the Urban Legends Generator. It lets you build your own chain letters/urban legends and then email them to the ignorant masses.
Yes, it's my own page Yes, that's shameless self-promotion Yes, the ethics behind letting people generate their own chain-letters is questionable and yes, i still think it's pretty funny :-)
--
Werd.
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep
by
soren.harward
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· Score: 2
The original quote is from Abe Lincoln, 16th president of the USA:
"It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Mass media too gullible.
by
red_dragon
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· Score: 2
It's interesting to see this kind of events happen in an industry that prides itself in accurate information and thorough research. They actually take responsibility in being the primary source of information for the great majority of the population. If all this were true (plausible), then they should make sure that they have a set of standards to follow while doing their work, in the hopes of filtering out false information. One would think that the journalists and editors working for news outfits are smart enough to see a chain letter and tell it apart from the "real stuff". That they managed to have it aired as news not only makes us think whether they're good enough for their assigned task, it also makes us wonder whether most of the information they feed us is correct or not.
-- In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Re:Mass media too gullible.
by
aprentic
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· Score: 1
I was in Germany during the end of the Gulf War with friends of the family. At one point the mother got really agitated (this was very common for her) because she read a US news report that conflicted with a German news report. This reinforced her opinions that the US media had the American people completely fooled and that we should wise up and not trust them. A days ago we start getting reports that NATO bomb the Chinese embassy in Belgrad. They go on to say that the Chinese media has been covering up our apologies to China. So basically we are to believe our media when they tell us that the Chinese media is untrustworty. I think we should all wise up and not blindly trust any of them. Hell, I've been reading/. since before I graduated, but I'll be damned if I'm going to take Rob's word without checking his sources. I mean it's not like he ever misquotes anyone or makes any mistakes...
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven
by
Rick_T
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· Score: 1
|You are right, here is my revised comment..
|Ignorent people use AOL |People who are involved in Local TV news are |pretty ignorent...
So, am I the only one who finds Rombuu's latest comment absolutely hilarious? (I've got to assume that this is Rombuu's way of admitting that he uses AOL and is involved in local TV news...;) )
That aside, the people I see get taken in the most by the chain letters are our department secretaries, who dutifully forward the chain letter hoaxes to the rest of us.
This, of course, doesn't excuse the TV station for its inability to do a little fact checking. It must've been a slow news day.
Speaking of Health Alerts, anybody remember the plastic cutting board scam?
Apparently someone decided wooden cutting boards might harbor nasty bacteria, so he published the result without any peer review whatsoever. The plastic people picked up on the factoid and started telling everyone to buy plastic.
I got in late on this deal, but I think the end result was that someone did a study and found that wood actually kills bacteria (how many trees do you see dying of salmonella), while plastic forms lots of little cut grooves which hold moisture for bacteria to thrive in.
In any case, it doesn't matter because the factoid had already imprinted itself in the public mind. One charity home I know of spent $2000 replacing their wooden cutting boards. Oh well...
-- ----
"If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
Hit the link to the article. There's a link to it there.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
--
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.:P)
I've got 2 words for you......
by
Accipiter
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· Score: 2
"Quality Journalism"
Whatever happened to a media outlet checking in to a story before blurting it out to the general public? And considering that the majority of late-night news viewers are adults age 35 and older, a lot of people could have been *snicker* fooled by this. Personally, I feel that anyone using AOL deserves to get e-mails like this (Look who you signed up with), I DON'T think people deserve to be slammed by a local news station with a story this absurd.
She used the word "frantically" again later in her report, suggesting she had a telepathic grasp of happenings inside AOL's headquarters...
Considering that the AOL HQ was closed, this was an amazing assumption. And typical of news media, "if there is the Slightest degree of believablilty to a story, RUN WITH IT. Gaps? Just make something up."
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
--
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.:P)
I like tech, I have a tan, I'm married (and "got some" just last night), and I despise AOL. I don't watch local TV news, either. I can tell you from personal experience -- having worked in local broadcast journalism for eight years -- that it sucks from both ends (the mediocre are the ones who advance, because they appeal to the suits and marketing noids who live only to suck up to sponsors -- the good ones invariably grow weary of trying to put out a quality product in the face of opposition from the aforementioned suckups). Come to think of it, I don't watch national TV news, either.
a slow news night. Gotta be a nervous program director to have a 1/2 hr to fill and nothing interesting to keep ratings up. It's amazing the blather that fills up channel space.
Not just Texas, either... sweeps week sweeps not only the airwaves, but the nation, too.
Up here in DC, everyone's up in arms over "the rave scene exposed", about the raves a local club had, where cops or some otherwise 'upstanding citizens' were found to be partying as well.
Threw everyone into a fit, and the club announced the next day that they were shutting down the raves.
I have to feel for the reporters, a little bit. I wrote for the student paper one year, and know all too well how hard it can be to report on things that aren't actually news. So when a real story comes along, the adrenaline starts pumping and disbelief is suspended. I almost got sucked in by a rumor of hidden cameras on campus, but luckily I went to the trouble of doing a little research. What I don't understand is how come the reporter didn't pick up on the fact that the email was obviously written by 14 year olds. In addition to the horrid grammar, there was the sentence "Everytime you sign on AOL your account will be messed around with." That just screams pre-teenager who's run out of threats. Granted, script-kiddies can do some damage, but if they'd really cracked The Password and had access to all those credit cards, would they send a threatening email or go shopping? It is sometimes necessary to speak.
Re:Poor, smalltown reporter
by
ziggy_az
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· Score: 1
Hate to say it, but while Tucson is not a major city, with a permanent population of more than 500,000 and a transient population of another 250,000 (we are a favorite winter hangout for the 55+ set), Tucson can hardly be called a small town.
Guess we need to get some new talent in the local TV stations:-)
-- "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Re:Windows 2000, the real Y2K bug
by
Shadarr
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· Score: 1
Re:from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dep
by
Christopher+Thomas
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· Score: 2
"You can please some of the people all of the time, or [...]
The variant that I heard had "fool" instead of "please". I've seen this in many places, so it seems to be in fairly widespread use.
Good Site for Foolish People (Or Fooled People)
by
Zanthor
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· Score: 1
I actually get so many of this sort of SPAM I can useually just PASTE this link because it was still in my clipboard...
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Any time I get one of these messages I hit REPLY ALL and send that link... amazingly enough the quantity has started to go down... slowly but some people read it =)
--
Zanthor
Re:Watch the newsreel with this corrected link.
by
jerodd
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· Score: 0
Could you give that Real video link again... it seems to be busted...
/me ncurses Netscape
Netscape is too dumb to understand pnm:// URLs. Grr.
For those of you haven't already gone to the trouble to watch the RealVideo of the newscast, go see it now. It's hilarious--I love reporting that acts so seriously.
I'm just glad I'm not an AOL user getting barraged with copies of this.
-- --jon. Postel is dead. May we all mourn his, and our, loss.
I love the last part. The guy doesn't use AOL, so it hasn't affected his AOL program. Gee, that makes a lot of sense. Sorta like this whole report! : )
Well, actually, "you got mail" sounds perfectly grammatical to my ear --- though past tense. "You got mail yesterday" "You have mail now"
---Jason
Local TV News Makes False Claim -- Film at 11
by
Royster
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· Score: 2
Considering the quality of "Journalism" at local TV stations these days, it was just a matter of time before a hoax was reported as news. I can't imagine a professional news outfit going with a story like this without an official comment from an AOL spokesman.
-- I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
The ever-present lack of common sense from reporters, when it come to the internet (and computer's in general) has, once more, given us all something to laugh about.
Gullibility Virus Warning Posted as a Public Service by Robert Harris Southern California College Version Date: February 27, 1998
___________________________________ Forwarded Message Subj.: Virus Warning! From: HOONOZE To: All@msn.com To: Jake5551212@aol.com To: President@whitehouse.gov To: Pope@vatican.va To: 007@MI5.com To: Flounder@fish.net To: Etal@etc.com
************************************************** **************** WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE! Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet! ************************************************** ****************
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.
"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet.
"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."
Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read," she says.
Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the following:
the willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking
the urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others
a lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story is true
T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter, "I read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo." When told about the Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he would stop reading email, so that he would not become infected.
Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community.
Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is online help from many sources, including
Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating sources, such as
Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards them a hoax.
************************************************** **************** This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of exclamation points! For every message you forward to some unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten cents to itself. (If you wonder how the Home will know you are forwarding these messages all over creation, you're obviously thinking too much.) ************************************************** ****************
ACT NOW! DON'T DELAY! LIMITED TIME! NOT SOLD IN ANY STORE!
-- Those who open their minds too far often let their brains fall out.
Re:Good Times! -- A Bad Day...
by
Mr.+Competence
·
· Score: 5
I know this guy whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
So anyway, one day he went to sleep and when he awoke he was in his bathtub and it was full of ice and he was sore all over. When he got out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN, and he saw a note on his mirror that said "Call 911!"
But he was afraid to use his phone because it was connected to his computer, and there was a virus on his computer that would destroy his hard drive if he opened an e-mail entitled "Join the crew!" He knew it wasn't a hoax, because he himself was a computer programmer who was working on software to save us from Armageddon when the year 2000 rolls around. His program will prevent a global disaster in which all the computers get together & distribute the $600 Neiman Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates. (It's true --I read it all last week in a mass e-mail from BILL GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disney World vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the e-mail to everyone I know.)
The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his missing kidneys, but reaching into the coin-return slot he got jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped a note that said, "Welcome to the world of AIDS."
Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital-the one, actually, where that little boy who is dying of cancer is, the one whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send him an e-mail and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a nickel for every e-mail he receives.
I sent him two e-mails and one of them was a bunch of x's and o's in the shape of an angel (if you get it and forward it to twenty people you will have good luck, but ten people you will only have ok luck, and if you send it to less than ten people you will have BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS).
So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but on the way he noticed another car driving along without his lights on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly shot as part of a gang initiation.
And it's a little-known fact that the Y1K problem caused the Dark Ages.
Mercifully, this is the end....
-- Those who open their minds too far often let their brains fall out.
heres the file you asked for
by
Chocboy
·
· Score: 1
hehe, i can't say i have had a day started off as amused as this one. thanks for the link.
if only there was a tv broadcast channel run by us geeks, and aimed at the non literate... we would not have amusing casts as these...nevermind, these are more enjoyable.
Also, i wonder how much the viewership of slashdot is going to go down in the next few days:P
Re:Sounds like a match made in heaven
by
scheme
·
· Score: 1
Unfortunately AOL doesn't endear themselves to the technically inclined when they repeatedly run a commercial where the actor says: "Why would I need America Online? I've already got a computer!" Which is analogous to the statement: "Why would I need a road? I've already got a car!"
The two statements are not analogous. A computer can be used quite productively without AOL or even an internet connection. It may be hard to imagine but people get along just fine without one. A car doesn't really have much of a purpose without roads to drive it on.
-- "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
Well, I'm not surprised...
by
JohnnyCannuk
·
· Score: 1
I'd like to say that I am, but I'm not. My wife works in advertising at a major Canadian Store (more than just tires) and they have many bizarre things happening...University educated people thinking a pyramid scheme is a good way to get rich and that a plain text message will erase their hard drive. One of my wife's friends even forwarded a message to us about Bill Gates and Walt Disney Jr. giving away a trip with an e-mail tracking program. I calmly explained to her that that was just not possible with a plain text message. You must remember, they know all about marketing, or ad-mats or film houses (or cutting lumber or laying pipe), and not about computers. The majority of the people who don't read/. see the computer as amajic box information comes out of, and beleive what ever they are told about it. But I guess they could tell me anything about Advertising and I'd believe them... Now if this isn't an arguement for having a fool proof GUI to go on top of Linux power, I don't know what is. By the way, before we get to hard on people , give them some time to get used to the internet and computing ingeneral. Remember...people used to believe nuclear radiation came out of the microwave oven when they first came out. Now Now one still believes that do they?
-- Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
Re:Well, I'm not surprised...[education]
by
JohnnyCannuk
·
· Score: 1
Well this goes down that same old road we've heard here before. What if your man (sic) only wants to eat the fish [use the GUI] after 'buying' it rather than do the fishing [programming, in depth sys admin stuff] him/herself? Extend the same judgment you hold on everyone needing to know how to use a CLI to other things in life to see how ridiculous it is. I don't need to know how to build or repair a car in order to drive one, I don't need to know how to raise cattle in order to eat a steak (or how to be a butcher for that matter), I don't need to know how to wire my house in order to turn on a light. Now remember that word 'need'. If I 'wanted' to learn all those things, I could. But not knowing it doesn't preclude me from using these tools or doing these activities. Why should I 'have' to learn shell scripting and obscure *nix commands in order to surf the internet or write a letter or play a game? If someday I 'want' to learn these things I can, but I certainly shouldn't have to. My whole point is that most people use the tools with out this knowledge. If you then allow them to access complicated, dangerous aspects of the tools without the knowledge, your asking for trouble. Education yeas, if they want to learn more, but there still needs to be an easy baseline so that the tools can be used easily and effectively with out danger by anyone. Otherwise Linux (and motor cars and telephones) will never be used by the masses
-- Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
I am a palefaced nerd who HAS a girlfriend (still working on porting her to linux, though)
Re:Good Times! -- A Bad Day...
by
jonathanclark
·
· Score: 1
Great story! I seem to remember that the day before all this occured, he was out golfing with his buddies and one of them was eaten by the gator. The proof was discovered after cutting open the gator.
Finally! Local news does a service
by
SendBot
·
· Score: 1
By reporting something in such a horribly lame way that the average local news watcher can realize they screwed up is exactly the kind of thing we need. Many people like the "source" of this story aren't exactly sure what to think. For them, it seems as though common sense might not hold up in the realm of computers. Things like this are a very assuring way of telling people "it's okay, now click dammit!" People just need to get their feet wetted so they can teach these things to their kids, and not restrict them so much because they can't keep up with reality.
Well, it's that time of the year and all the stations are trying to out do themselves trying to get ratings. They thought they had the next Monica Lewinsky and ran with it without verifying their sources (Breaking a cardnial rule in Journalism). It is amazing what some "news" stations will do to get you to watch Here in Texas, A few things:
Win $X dollars on Watch2Win (Other station followed suit in a week) Sex on the Internet: A Special Report What to do when your car is on fire
And I haven't even been watching the news!
It is sad that the only reliable source of news is your own two eyes.
You can do anything you want to it pretty much. Worms, trojans, viruses. It is sad that I can think of 6 different ways to do each and every one of your items and have them work.
Fortunatly, I do not subscribe to AOHell, and KOLD is my least favorite local station. So I fortunatly missed this little fiasco. (I've already passed this little factoid to my friends at ANOTHER local station KVOA and let them play with it.)
The thing is, Tucson news is pretty lame, overall. There is no weather here to speak of. So we are the city where Meteorologists go to die. Traffic is slower then the weather. And news, is just hard to find. So it only makes sense that reporters and news anchors get excited over something like this.
But still, this is pretty bad, even for the press. *Carlos: Exit Stage Right*
"Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
-- *Carlos: Exit Stage Right*
"Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
"Got Linux?"
Suggestion for the world...
by
47Ronin
·
· Score: 1
Somehow (in a future world) mail servers should detect e-mail that has been forwarded a certain amount of times or that is being forwarded to certain numbers of recipients and add a prefix to the subject such as CHAIN: or CHM:
That way people can catch on and set their filters to intercept a majority of chain mail. If anyone finds this concept useful please tell someone or fwd it to 20 of your friends hehehe
-- Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
Re:Suggestion for the world...
by
Steve+B
·
· Score: 1
Just today, I stumbled across a recurrence of the "Internet tax" rumor. Despite the obviousness bogosity of the "alert" (for example, it cites a "Bill 602P" allegedly pending in Congress, which is not even the correct format -- real US bills are S[number] for Senate bills or H[number] for House bills), I'm sure lots of people will fall for it and send nastygrams to their reps, thus diluting the credibility of Internet activism on real issues. Feh.
-- /.
If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
Anybody feel like calling up their local news station with an indignant story about how Neiman-Marcus screwed them over? Maybe we could get the recipie spammed over the airwaves, too.
Re:My, this could be fun
by
Criterion
·
· Score: 1
This has actually happened on a local radio station here. Its pretty sad.
-- We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
Someone should send them a link to the greatest news source on the net, The Onion. I can only imagine what news stories they would come out with then (well, I wouldn't have to imagine, now would I?).
And what, pray tell, do YOU know about journalism?
by
fable2112
·
· Score: 1
I was a journalism major in college (yes, this stuff does take education), and what you are saying is simply not the case. In my experience, the average journalist is:
1. Under incredible amounts of time pressure. If a newscast is coming up and you need news, it is a bit too easy to take a story and just run with it. Not that this should happen, but sometimes it does.
2. Constrained by being allowed "X" amount of space (in print media) or time (in a radio or TV newscast) for a story.
3. Under increasing pressure to conform to the ethics of the mega-media-corps, like Gannet and its chain of McPapers.
Not to mention, even the best journalists there are still make mistakes. The entity known as "Woodstein" screwed up and ran with a story or two that it shouldn't have, but overall it's a damn good thing those guys were there to do what they did.
Actually, there's a point:
4. This generation's newbie journalists all want to be the next "Woodstein." Hell, I know I did. But after things like the Monica Lewinsky scandal, I don't have the stomach for it.:P
[And if you don't know who and what I mean by "Woodstein," you are really off base in trying to criticize journalists at all!]
Incidentally, the word is gullIble.
-- "Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today... but it wasn't anybody I knew" -The Moody Blues, "Dear Diar
And what makes you think that people go INTO journalism to make money in the first place? There's something called idealism, and it tends to drive us in the beginning.
Unfortunately, it's the same thing that does seem to kill off the good ones in the end....:/
Judging by YOUR logic, though, we should all be Web designers and let the world fall apart around us as there are suddenly no teachers/reporters/lawyers/whatever. Well, if everyone was a Web designer, it'd stop being worth so much money NOW WOULDN'T IT?
-- "Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today... but it wasn't anybody I knew" -The Moody Blues, "Dear Diar
Sad part is, people really ARE this ill-informed
by
fable2112
·
· Score: 3
I used to work for a bank, and the Budweiser Frogs Virus Alert showed up there.
I patiently explained to the rest of my department that this was a hoax, and there was no way in hell that all this scary stuff could actually happen. I also e-mailed a friend who goes to my alma mater, whose fiance is a sysadmin there, for further backup on this.
The response of one of my co-workers? "Well, I'll take the word of the president of Company XYZ [I forget what it was exactly] over a bunch of snotty college kids any day!"
Pity she didn't realize that said "snotty college kids" actually KNOW SOMETHING about the 'net.
*chuckles* Was her face ever red a few days later when the "This is a hoax!" e-mail was sent from Information Security. *smirk*
-- "Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today... but it wasn't anybody I knew" -The Moody Blues, "Dear Diar
Hahahahahahah That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever read. And I just know that some guy would actually fit that diary. It's probally based off a true story! Here's another tech joke site, TechTales
Y'know, I've seen this, and I got a good laugh out of it. I thought (at the time) that it was a joke, that there could not be anyone that stupid out there. Well, serves me right for assuming...
:p
--
censorship is a form of noise,
which actively seeks to drown out
content with silence - Crash Culligan
See this is the kind of stuff I do for fun (bogus news) purposely. It's a crying shame reporters nowadays throw anything on without having a clue about the true situation... Somebody start paying me for this!@!$#@ I mean if I do it with intent it's only fair that I make some money for my stupidity.
Slashdot Mirror
Could you give that Real video link again... it seems to be busted...
I'm not sure Linux will *ever* get that easy.
Although, Caldera 2.2 comes close...
John Waalkes
jwaalkes@edge.net
Or, one could slap together some pseudo-science about poor computer security, manipulation of video cards, changing frequencies beyond their normal limits and so forth, and come up with a Dilbertesque chain-letter threatening
to drive one's monitor to cause (pick one)
a) high risk of brain cancer
b) seizures
c) sore eyes
d) tension headaches
and then see whether it turns into a Health Alert... >;->
Mostly a variation on Brunner's ideas, after all, and he had 'em a long time ago. I'm mostly figuring that now, it might actually be possible, because private citizens do likely have things like card numbers, etc lying around in files...
For a more evil focus, something like that, made known right before an important event (say, stockholder meeting, general election, foo bar baz), might drive attendance _down_ as people panic and start cancelling cards and so forth. That definitely has its possible uses for Evil; unfortunate, eh? Question being, how to stave off such without causing not-terribly-informed (read: non-geek) citizens/reporters to panic. Hmmmmm.
>Perhaps then people will realize that the media doesn't really have any
...*silence*...
>idea what's going on with the Internet
Goof ups in the media over the internet are just funny. When the gov't does it, it's law and punishable by cops siezing all your computing hardware, financial assetts, property and locking you in jail. Recall numerous small ISPs that were shut down in this manner because "child porn was found stored on their servers" So what if it was in the news spool. It was stored on your machine right? Gov't also doesn't like internet gaming so they're going to "pass legislation" to outlaw it. But, but, the servers are in the Guyana or in Tonga, how will your legislation affect this?
That's good stuff...:) It highlights all the best outlandish variations of urban legend emails. Keep up the good work (and proofread the page a bit...:).
my grandmother does. We bought her a microwave about four years ago, and all she does is keep bread in it. She's afraid that if she turns it on, it'll irradiate her and/or her food. Nothing we tell her or show her can change her mind.
Undoubtedly you have never cut cross country...roads are not required. And some people live in cars...sad but true. And some people just sit in a dead car and listen to the radio....hmm, whats a road got to do with a car?
no other use for a car?...
two words:
back seat.
Anyways, that was even worse in terms of media stupidity. One of the national TV networks (NBC I think) went and interviewed a salesman from a computer chain (was it CompUSA or Fry's?). Not a virus specialist, not a security expert, not even a network administrator, but one of those clueless clerks who know more about stereos than computers. And what did this young man's tell the world to do about the impending virus attack?
"Panic"
Well I hope and pray that you intentionally spelled 'loser' wrong. It'd be a riot if you didn't ... ROFL!
"Why is it that its easier to write a huge comment here, but I still can't write the first paragraph of that english story I have to turn in tomorow?"
Which do you believe more in, todays topic, or the english paper?
That would be an idiot. As opposed to a newbie.
And to think some people want to cater linux to the former. Let them[1] do tech support for awhile, put an end to that desire.
[1]people who cater.
Er, no.. this is an argument for some education.
You can give a man a fish [fool-proof gui]
You can teach a man to fish [educate him/her ]
The later rather than the former will reap the greater benefits for the oss movement and society in general.
BTW there's no such thing as "fool-proof", more like idiot-resistant.
That was reported back in World War II. Obviously, the media hasn't learned its lesson.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Assume I steal your car, burn down your house and break your nose than all this will be a very painful lesson for you to buy a tank, change places every day and to rent some bodyguards.
... your arguments are the total shit I do read again and again and again. A cracker is not Robin Hood, the Y2K edition.
In other words
No-one ever cracked my machine and I am not running Winblows but just that someone wants to gives no-one the right to break into it and if someone does he or she might as well pay for it, full stop.
You're paying how much for tuition, room and board to go into a profession which is second only to lawyers for overcrowding and the amount of contempt you'll recieve from the public. At the same time you're likely to still be making minimum wage after 15 years of service, assuming you haven't decided that journalism sucks and moved on to web page design.
How do I know about journalists? Well the SPCA people were coming down on our lab about how mean we were being to those poor cute mice and we couldn't experiment on Lawyers because they'd sue us. No one complains if you use journalists in medical experiments. The best thing about it is if your supply starts to run low, you call up the local TV station or Newspaper and tell them about the inhumane experiments going on down at the medical lab.
For such a lame generalization, and for being ignorant in her spelling of the word ignorant.
Perhaps it was meant to be
$quote =~ s/please/fool/g;
?
Lincoln comes to mind, but perhaps a P.T.Barnum
quote is more apropos -- "There's a sucker born every minute."
This is what we need more of. We need more people taking advantage of gullable media types in order to get more completely ludicrous stories on the news and in papers. Perhaps then people will realize that the media doesn't really have any idea what's going on with the Internet and perhaps then they will take the assorted negative stories showing up in recent times with a grain of salt.
You have to realize that your average journalist
1) Is stupid. You think not? Given that your average Journalist could make more money flipping burgers, it's a fair bet that your average journalist is stupid.
2) Is greedy. Odd, given what they make, but true.
3) Is looking for A Scoop. The only way the average journalist can hope to make a buck or get ahead these days is to scoop a story. A really hot one. Given the inherent greed of your average journalist and the average IQ of your average journalist, what you have here is a recipe for disaster. This story describes what can happen all to well.
Now that you've been briefed on the psycological engineering factors, you have everything you need to ply a gullible journalist into reporting on a completely non-sensical topic. Have fun.
That sounds like a good idea, and I'm sure we've all thought about it at one point or another. But I'm apt to believe that it would only give the general populace yet another reason to hate the evil hackers (like it or not, they use 'hackers' in a negative sense). If we learned something from Melissa 'virus', we learned that most people will never, ever fault Microsoft or an insecure computer. People don't see their computers as being insecure; they only see hackers (the malicious people) as people who have some sort of supernatural power in cyberspace and therefore must be legislated against. [rant off]
Out of curiousity, given that there are systems with...
a) _stored passwords_, sometimes with weak crypto
b) rather powerful macro languages
c) a highly homogeneous (sp?), insecure computing
environment among home users
d) users that forward mail...
e) users that rely on hordes of tiny, shareware
downloaded utils
f) "smart" mail programs that automatically look
at attachments
Couldn't one do some damage here? As in a trojan or worm that waits a _long_ time (say, 6 mo.) before doing anything particularly suspicious? Or, more fun:
a worm that simply
a) collects information from say, the registry on
Win9x; cookie files; history lists; default
document directories...
b) attaches it to itself
c) propagates, perhaps through mail-forwarding,
perhaps more subtly.
so that by the time it was detected, private info
would already be in many, many different places...
That could inflict a *lot* of damage, in a very,
very painful lesson to the masses.
Rombuu,
Sounds like you have your own knee-jerk reactions to deal with.
Making the generalization that "stupid people use AOL" is on the same level as saying that "teens in black use bombs".
AOL presents itself as easy to use, so, sure it's going to attract folks who are not the computer genius that you are. That doesn't make them stupid.
Same for Local TV news. Sure, they're not Peter Jennnings, but I sometimes like to hear stories that relate to my hometown. Does that make me stupid?
A very wise man once said: "Pick the board out of your own eye before you point to a splinter in someone else's"
Anonymous Kevin
>Stupid people use AOL
>Stupid people watch Local TV News
DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS POST! It contains a dangerous virus that will re-format your hard disk! Please pass this on to your on-line friends to help them avoid this problem. Remember, if you see a "Good Times" post, just score it -1, do not respond.
Seems like the post off the cypherpunks list from fall of '98 needs to be aired again. :-)
* ****************** * ******************
* ****************** * ******************
***********************************************
WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE!
Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet!
***********************************************
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet
Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by
a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless
story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their
browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people
believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes,
email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.
"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets
based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise
normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a
stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become
infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on
the Internet.
"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one
weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my
friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."
Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good
Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of
other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true."
It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees
Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now,
however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read,"
she says.
Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus,
which include the following:
The willingness to believe improbable stories without thinking.
The urge to forward multiple copies of such stories to others.
A lack of desire to take three minutes to check to see if a story
is true.
T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter, "I
read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your
hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo." When told about the
Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he would stop reading email, so that he would
not become infected.
Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts
recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to
their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to
thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely
discussed and exposed by the Internet community.
Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is
online help from many sources, including
Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at
http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.html
Dr. Solomons Hoax Page at
http://www.drsolomons.com/vircen/hoax.html
The Urban Legends Web Site at
http://www.urbanlegends.com
Urban Legends Reference Pages at
http://www.snopes.com
Datafellows Hoax Warnings at
http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves
against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating
sources, such as
Evaluating Internet Research Sources at
http://www.sccu.edu/faculty/R_Harris/evalu8it.htm
Evaluation of Information Sources at
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/~agsmith/evaln/evaln.htm
Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources at
http://refserver.lib.vt.edu/libinst/critTHINK.HTM
Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the
Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards
them a hoax.
***********************************************
This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to
all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain
letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely,
there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of
exclamation points! Lots!! For every message you forward to some
unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten
cents to itself. (If you wonder how the Home will know you are forwarding
these messages all over creation, you're obviously thinking too much.)
***********************************************
ACT NOW! DON'T DELAY! LIMITED TIME ONLY! NOT SOLD IN ANY STORE!
While we're on the topic of ignorant stereotyping, only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
from the some-of-the-people-all-of-the-time dept.
That doesn't really have anything to do with this story. The full quote (I can't recall who said it) is,
"You can please some of the people all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time."
It refers to the impossibility of a "perfect" solution to anything, and has absolutely nothing to do with stupid people.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
The actual AOL soundbyte is "You've Got Mail." Still not good grammar, but at least somewhat better.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Murphy, of Murphy's Law ("If anything can go wrong, it will") fame, states:
You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, and that's sufficient.
I searched for some info on the one I was recalling ("You can please all of the people some of the time, or some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time"). It's apparently an extremely old cliché, and thus it's likely that it was around during Murphy's time, and Murphy made a pun by changing some of the words around.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Geez, people, I was not saying "only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot." I was merely stating that saying "AOL users and local TV watchers are idiots" is as stupid as saying "only palefaced nerds with no girlfriends read slashdot."
Both are stereotypes, and neither is true. There are non-nerd slashdot readers, and there are intelligent AOL users.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Yes, it's my own page
Yes, that's shameless self-promotion
Yes, the ethics behind letting people generate their own chain-letters is questionable
and yes, i still think it's pretty funny
:-)
Werd.
The original quote is from Abe Lincoln, 16th president of the USA:
"It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
It's interesting to see this kind of events happen in an industry that prides itself in accurate information and thorough research. They actually take responsibility in being the primary source of information for the great majority of the population. If all this were true (plausible), then they should make sure that they have a set of standards to follow while doing their work, in the hopes of filtering out false information. One would think that the journalists and editors working for news outfits are smart enough to see a chain letter and tell it apart from the "real stuff". That they managed to have it aired as news not only makes us think whether they're good enough for their assigned task, it also makes us wonder whether most of the information they feed us is correct or not.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
|You are right, here is my revised comment..
;) )
|Ignorent people use AOL
|People who are involved in Local TV news are
|pretty ignorent...
So, am I the only one who finds Rombuu's latest comment absolutely hilarious? (I've got to assume that this is Rombuu's way of admitting that he uses AOL and is involved in local TV news...
That aside, the people I see get taken in the most by the chain letters are our department secretaries, who dutifully forward the chain letter hoaxes to the rest of us.
This, of course, doesn't excuse the TV station for its inability to do a little fact checking. It must've been a slow news day.
-- Rick
Speaking of Health Alerts, anybody remember the plastic cutting board scam?
Apparently someone decided wooden cutting boards might harbor nasty bacteria, so he published the result without any peer review whatsoever. The plastic people picked up on the factoid and started telling everyone to buy plastic.
I got in late on this deal, but I think the end result was that someone did a study and found that wood actually kills bacteria (how many trees do you see dying of salmonella), while plastic forms lots of little cut grooves which hold moisture for bacteria to thrive in.
In any case, it doesn't matter because the factoid had already imprinted itself in the public mind. One charity home I know of spent $2000 replacing their wooden cutting boards. Oh well...
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
Haw haw!
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Whatever happened to a media outlet checking in to a story before blurting it out to the general public? And considering that the majority of late-night news viewers are adults age 35 and older, a lot of people could have been *snicker* fooled by this. Personally, I feel that anyone using AOL deserves to get e-mails like this (Look who you signed up with), I DON'T think people deserve to be slammed by a local news station with a story this absurd.
She used the word "frantically" again later in her report, suggesting she had a telepathic grasp of happenings inside AOL's headquarters...
Considering that the AOL HQ was closed, this was an amazing assumption. And typical of news media, "if there is the Slightest degree of believablilty to a story, RUN WITH IT. Gaps? Just make something up."
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon? :P)
(If you can't figure out how to E-Mail me, Don't.
Have you ever thougth that when we talk about a user friendly Linux, we have to deal with this kind of people?
God! There's so much work to do...
Oh yeah, I read /. (obviously).
--Z.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
a slow news night. Gotta be a nervous program director to have a 1/2 hr to fill and nothing interesting to keep ratings up. It's amazing the blather that fills up channel space.
Chuck
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Not just Texas, either... sweeps week sweeps not only the airwaves, but the nation, too.
Up here in DC, everyone's up in arms over "the rave scene exposed", about the raves a local club had, where cops or some otherwise 'upstanding citizens' were found to be partying as well.
Threw everyone into a fit, and the club announced the next day that they were shutting down the raves.
I have to feel for the reporters, a little bit. I wrote for the student paper one year, and know all too well how hard it can be to report on things that aren't actually news. So when a real story comes along, the adrenaline starts pumping and disbelief is suspended. I almost got sucked in by a rumor of hidden cameras on campus, but luckily I went to the trouble of doing a little research.
What I don't understand is how come the reporter didn't pick up on the fact that the email was obviously written by 14 year olds. In addition to the horrid grammar, there was the sentence "Everytime you sign on AOL your account will be messed around with." That just screams pre-teenager who's run out of threats. Granted, script-kiddies can do some damage, but if they'd really cracked The Password and had access to all those credit cards, would they send a threatening email or go shopping?
It is sometimes necessary to speak.
Bite the hand.
It is sometimes necessary to speak.
Bite the hand.
"You can please some of the people all of the time, or [...]
The variant that I heard had "fool" instead of "please". I've seen this in many places, so it seems to be in fairly widespread use.
I actually get so many of this sort of SPAM I can useually just PASTE this link because it was still in my clipboard...
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Any time I get one of these messages I hit REPLY ALL and send that link... amazingly enough the quantity has started to go down... slowly but some people read it =)
Zanthor
/me ncurses Netscape
Netscape is too dumb to understand pnm:// URLs. Grr.
Try .
Cheers.
--jon. Postel is dead. May we all mourn his, and our, loss.
/me ncurses Netscape
Netscape is too dumb to understand pnm:// URLs. Grr.
Try this corrected link.
Cheers.
--jon. Postel is dead. May we all mourn his, and our, loss.
I'm just glad I'm not an AOL user getting barraged with copies of this.
--jon. Postel is dead. May we all mourn his, and our, loss.
Well, actually, "you got mail" sounds perfectly grammatical to my ear --- though past tense.
"You got mail yesterday"
"You have mail now"
---Jason
Considering the quality of "Journalism" at local TV stations these days, it was just a matter of time before a hoax was reported as news. I can't imagine a professional news outfit going with a story like this without an official comment from an AOL spokesman.
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i
The ever-present lack of common sense from reporters, when it come to the internet (and computer's in general) has, once more, given us all something to laugh about.
Southern California College
Version Date: February 27, 1998
___________________________________
Forwarded Message
Subj.: Virus Warning!
From: HOONOZE
To: All@msn.com
To: Jake5551212@aol.com
To: President@whitehouse.gov
To: Pope@vatican.va
To: 007@MI5.com
To: Flounder@fish.net
To: Etal@etc.com
************************************************** **************** * ****************
WARNING, CAUTION, DANGER, AND BEWARE!
Gullibility Virus Spreading over the Internet!
*************************************************
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Institute for the Investigation of Irregular Internet Phenomena announced today that many Internet users are becoming infected by a new virus that causes them to believe without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning that shows up in their inbox or on their browser. The Gullibility Virus, as it is called, apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems, and get-rich-quick schemes.
"These are not just readers of tabloids or people who buy lottery tickets based on fortune cookie numbers," a spokesman said. "Most are otherwise normal people, who would laugh at the same stories if told to them by a stranger on a street corner." However, once these same people become infected with the Gullibility Virus, they believe anything they read on the Internet.
"My immunity to tall tales and bizarre claims is all gone," reported one weeping victim. "I believe every warning message and sick child story my friends forward to me, even though most of the messages are anonymous."
Another victim, now in remission, added, "When I first heard about Good Times, I just accepted it without question. After all, there were dozens of other recipients on the mail header, so I thought the virus must be true." It was a long time, the victim said, before she could stand up at a Hoaxees Anonymous meeting and state, "My name is Jane, and I've been hoaxed." Now, however, she is spreading the word. "Challenge and check whatever you read," she says.
Internet users are urged to examine themselves for symptoms of the virus, which include the following:
T. C. is an example of someone recently infected. He told one reporter, "I read on the Net that the major ingredient in almost all shampoos makes your hair fall out, so I've stopped using shampoo." When told about the Gullibility Virus, T. C. said he would stop reading email, so that he would not become infected.
Anyone with symptoms like these is urged to seek help immediately. Experts recommend that at the first feelings of gullibility, Internet users rush to their favorite search engine and look up the item tempting them to thoughtless credence. Most hoaxes, legends, and tall tales have been widely discussed and exposed by the Internet community.
Courses in critical thinking are also widely available, and there is online help from many sources, including
Those people who are still symptom free can help inoculate themselves against the Gullibility Virus by reading some good material on evaluating sources, such as
Lastly, as a public service, Internet users can help stamp out the Gullibility Virus by sending copies of this message to anyone who forwards them a hoax.
************************************************** **************** * ****************
This message is so important, we're sending it anonymously! Forward it to all your friends right away! Don't think about it! This is not a chain letter! This story is true! Don't check it out! This story is so timely, there is no date on it! This story is so important, we're using lots of exclamation points! For every message you forward to some unsuspecting person, the Home for the Hopelessly Gullible will donate ten cents to itself. (If you wonder how the Home will know you are forwarding these messages all over creation, you're obviously thinking too much.)
*************************************************
ACT NOW! DON'T DELAY! LIMITED TIME! NOT SOLD IN ANY STORE!
Home Page of Robert Harris | SCC Home Page
Robert Harris is Professor of English at Southern California College. RHarris@sccu.edu
I keep it around for just this purpose
Mark
Those who open their minds too far often let their brains fall out.
I know this guy whose neighbor, a young man, was home recovering
from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried
Chicken.
So anyway, one day he went to sleep and when he awoke he was in his
bathtub and it was full of ice and he was sore all over. When he
got out of the tub he realized that HIS KIDNEYS HAD BEEN STOLEN,
and he saw a note on his mirror that said "Call 911!"
But he was afraid to use his phone because it was connected to his
computer, and there was a virus on his computer that would destroy
his hard drive if he opened an e-mail entitled "Join the crew!" He
knew it wasn't a hoax, because he himself was a computer programmer
who was working on software to save us from Armageddon when the
year 2000 rolls around. His program will prevent a global disaster
in which all the computers get together & distribute the $600
Neiman Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates.
(It's true --I read it all last week in a mass e-mail from BILL
GATES HIMSELF, who was also promising me a free Disney World
vacation and $5,000 if I would forward the e-mail to everyone I
know.)
The poor man then tried to call 911 from a pay phone to report his
missing kidneys, but reaching into the coin-return slot he got
jabbed with an HIV-infected needle around which was wrapped a note
that said, "Welcome to the world of AIDS."
Luckily he was only a few blocks from the hospital-the one,
actually, where that little boy who is dying of cancer is, the one
whose last wish is for everyone in the world to send him an e-mail
and the American Cancer Society has agreed to pay him a nickel for
every e-mail he receives.
I sent him two e-mails and one of them was a bunch of x's and o's
in the shape of an angel (if you get it and forward it to twenty
people you will have good luck, but ten people you will only have
ok luck, and if you send it to less than ten people you will have
BAD LUCK FOR SEVEN YEARS).
So anyway the poor guy tried to drive himself to the hospital, but
on the way he noticed another car driving along without his lights
on. To be helpful, he flashed his lights at him and was promptly
shot as part of a gang initiation.
And it's a little-known fact that the Y1K problem caused the Dark Ages.
Mercifully, this is the end....
Those who open their minds too far often let their brains fall out.
hehe, i can't say i have had a day started off as amused as this one. thanks for the link.
:P
if only there was a tv broadcast channel run by us geeks, and aimed at the non literate... we would not have amusing casts as these...nevermind, these are more enjoyable.
Also, i wonder how much the viewership of slashdot is going to go down in the next few days
Unfortunately AOL doesn't endear themselves to the technically inclined when they repeatedly run a commercial where the actor says:
"Why would I need America Online? I've already got a computer!"
Which is analogous to the statement: "Why would I need a road? I've already got a car!"
The two statements are not analogous. A computer can be used quite productively without AOL or even an internet connection. It may be hard to imagine but people get along just fine without one. A car doesn't really have much of a purpose without roads to drive it on.
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
I'd like to say that I am, but I'm not. My wife works in advertising at a major Canadian Store (more than just tires) and they have many bizarre things happening...University educated people thinking a pyramid scheme is a good way to get rich and that a plain text message will erase their hard drive. One of my wife's friends even forwarded a message to us about Bill Gates and Walt Disney Jr. giving away a trip with an e-mail tracking program. I calmly explained to her that that was just not possible with a plain text message. You must remember, they know all about marketing, or ad-mats or film houses (or cutting lumber or laying pipe), and not about computers. The majority of the people who don't read /. see the computer as amajic box information comes out of, and beleive what ever they are told about it. But I guess they could tell me anything about Advertising and I'd believe them...
Now if this isn't an arguement for having a fool proof GUI to go on top of Linux power, I don't know what is.
By the way, before we get to hard on people , give them some time to get used to the internet and computing ingeneral. Remember...people used to believe nuclear radiation came out of the microwave oven when they first came out. Now Now one still believes that do they?
Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
Well this goes down that same old road we've heard here before. What if your man (sic) only wants to eat the fish [use the GUI] after 'buying' it rather than do the fishing [programming, in depth sys admin stuff] him/herself? Extend the same judgment you hold on everyone needing to know how to use a CLI to other things in life to see how ridiculous it is. I don't need to know how to build or repair a car in order to drive one, I don't need to know how to raise cattle in order to eat a steak (or how to be a butcher for that matter), I don't need to know how to wire my house in order to turn on a light. Now remember that word 'need'. If I 'wanted' to learn all those things, I could. But not knowing it doesn't preclude me from using these tools or doing these activities. Why should I 'have' to learn shell scripting and obscure *nix commands in order to surf the internet or write a letter or play a game? If someday I 'want' to learn these things I can, but I certainly shouldn't have to.
My whole point is that most people use the tools with out this knowledge. If you then allow them to access complicated, dangerous aspects of the tools without the knowledge, your asking for trouble. Education yeas, if they want to learn more, but there still needs to be an easy baseline so that the tools can be used easily and effectively with out danger by anyone. Otherwise Linux (and motor cars and telephones) will never be used by the masses
Never by hatred has hatred been appeased, only by kindness - the Buddha
How about an e-mail report exposing TV hoaxes?
-- Improve Windows - Buy a Mac!
Okay, that hit a little too close to home.
... pant]
[pant
[pauses to sip a "shasta" and chew a penguin mint]
All right, I'm better now.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
Stupid people use AOL
Stupid people watch Local TV News
Therefore if you want to fool a bunch of stupid people...
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
You got mail?
Check out the RealVideo broadcast, and the headline is "You Got Mail"
I guess that "Them Needs Grammar"
I am a palefaced nerd who HAS a girlfriend (still working on porting her to linux, though)
Great story! I seem to remember that the day before all this occured, he was out golfing with his buddies and one of them was eaten by the gator. The proof was discovered after cutting open the gator.
Poor chap.
-- Virtual Windows Project
By reporting something in such a horribly lame way that the average local news watcher can realize they screwed up is exactly the kind of thing we need. Many people like the "source" of this story aren't exactly sure what to think. For them, it seems as though common sense might not hold up in the realm of computers. Things like this are a very assuring way of telling people "it's okay, now click dammit!" People just need to get their feet wetted so they can teach these things to their kids, and not restrict them so much because they can't keep up with reality.
This just goes to prove how gullible some people can get. Wouldn't it be nice if someone would do a TV report exposing e-mail hoaxes?
Well, it's that time of the year and all the stations are trying to out do themselves trying to get ratings. They thought they had the next Monica Lewinsky and ran with it without verifying their sources (Breaking a cardnial rule in Journalism). It is amazing what some "news" stations will do to get you to watch
Here in Texas, A few things:
Win $X dollars on Watch2Win (Other station followed suit in a week)
Sex on the Internet: A Special Report
What to do when your car is on fire
And I haven't even been watching the news!
It is sad that the only reliable source of news is your own two eyes.
RB
You can do anything you want to it pretty much. Worms, trojans, viruses.
It is sad that I can think of 6 different ways to do each and every one of your items and have them work.
Who knows... One maybe out there now.
RB
All I can say, is that sometimes i need a good laugh like this one!! Good going /.
The thing is, Tucson news is pretty lame, overall.
There is no weather here to speak of. So we are the city where Meteorologists go to die.
Traffic is slower then the weather.
And news, is just hard to find.
So it only makes sense that reporters and news anchors get excited over something like this.
But still, this is pretty bad, even for the press.
*Carlos: Exit Stage Right*
"Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
*Carlos: Exit Stage Right*
"Geeks, Where would you be without them?"
"Got Linux?"
Somehow (in a future world) mail servers should detect e-mail that has been forwarded a certain amount of times or that is being forwarded to certain numbers of recipients and add a prefix to the subject such as CHAIN: or CHM:
That way people can catch on and set their filters to intercept a majority of chain mail. If anyone finds this concept useful please tell someone or fwd it to 20 of your friends hehehe
Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
Anybody feel like calling up their local news station with an indignant story about how Neiman-Marcus screwed them over? Maybe we could get the recipie spammed over the airwaves, too.
Someone should send them a link to the greatest news source on the net, The Onion. I can only imagine what news stories they would come out with then (well, I wouldn't have to imagine, now would I?).
I was a journalism major in college (yes, this stuff does take education), and what you are saying is simply not the case. In my experience, the average journalist is:
:P
1. Under incredible amounts of time pressure. If a newscast is coming up and you need news, it is a bit too easy to take a story and just run with it. Not that this should happen, but sometimes it does.
2. Constrained by being allowed "X" amount of space (in print media) or time (in a radio or TV newscast) for a story.
3. Under increasing pressure to conform to the ethics of the mega-media-corps, like Gannet and its chain of McPapers.
Not to mention, even the best journalists there are still make mistakes. The entity known as "Woodstein" screwed up and ran with a story or two that it shouldn't have, but overall it's a damn good thing those guys were there to do what they did.
Actually, there's a point:
4. This generation's newbie journalists all want to be the next "Woodstein." Hell, I know I did. But after things like the Monica Lewinsky scandal, I don't have the stomach for it.
[And if you don't know who and what I mean by "Woodstein," you are really off base in trying to criticize journalists at all!]
Incidentally, the word is gullIble.
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
And what makes you think that people go INTO journalism to make money in the first place? There's something called idealism, and it tends to drive us in the beginning.
Unfortunately, it's the same thing that does seem to kill off the good ones in the end
Judging by YOUR logic, though, we should all be Web designers and let the world fall apart around us as there are suddenly no teachers/reporters/lawyers/whatever. Well, if everyone was a Web designer, it'd stop being worth so much money NOW WOULDN'T IT?
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
I used to work for a bank, and the Budweiser Frogs Virus Alert showed up there.
I patiently explained to the rest of my department that this was a hoax, and there was no way in hell that all this scary stuff could actually happen. I also e-mailed a friend who goes to my alma mater, whose fiance is a sysadmin there, for further backup on this.
The response of one of my co-workers? "Well, I'll take the word of the president of Company XYZ [I forget what it was exactly] over a bunch of snotty college kids any day!"
Pity she didn't realize that said "snotty college kids" actually KNOW SOMETHING about the 'net.
*chuckles* Was her face ever red a few days later when the "This is a hoax!" e-mail was sent from Information Security. *smirk*
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
Hahahahahahah That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever read. And I just know that some guy would actually fit that diary. It's probally based off a true story! Here's another tech joke site, TechTales
Y'know, I've seen this, and I got a good laugh out of it. I thought (at the time) that it was a joke, that there could not be anyone that stupid out there. Well, serves me right for assuming...
:p
censorship is a form of noise, which actively seeks to drown out content with silence - Crash Culligan
See this is the kind of stuff I do for fun (bogus news) purposely. It's a crying shame reporters nowadays throw anything on without having a clue about the true situation... Somebody start paying me for this!@!$#@ I mean if I do it with intent it's only fair that I make some money for my stupidity.
www.AntiOffline.com -- Elite Hax0r Stories
Thanks for the memories