K o r o v a M u l t i m e d i a World Wide Web http://www.korova.com http://www.chromejob.com ASCII archives => http://korova.com/ascii/ ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~- 25 July 2001 S t a r t B u t t o n Hoax du Jour: Lingering Misinformation The past months, nay, year of my life has been bustling and disorienting. The "new, Internet economy" has turned out to be a pipe dream, and thousands of hapless professionals have been left holding the check. No wonder, then, that nothing that the Internet misinformation mill has brought surprises me. eToys.com has tanked (yeah!), The Hunger Site is no more (sigh) , the e-commerce market has generally bombed (boo!), and hoaxes, viruses and online scams have been alive and very un-well (darn). In this column, I'll address some of the more notable of online misinformation in summary notes. NPR/NEA petition (1995, 1998) This one's so old, been around since 1995. Still makes appearances, along with the "Women in Afghanistan" petition and other calls to overreaction. Online petitions are relatively useless, as the signatures can be faked. The earliest version of this petition (1995) was initiated by two students at the University of Northern Colorado to protest congressional budget cuts to public television. Later it was anonymously edited to "Save Sesame Street!," though the show was never in danger of being cancelled. In 1998 it reappeared with broadcaster Nina Totenberg's name attached. Neither PBS nor UNC invited this petition, and they'd both like you to DELETE the petition without forwarding it any more. Instant messages going away, or being charged for (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000,....) MSN will now charge for their Messenger service. AOL is going to charge for IMs. AOL will do away with IMs entirely. Balderdash, all of it! These perennial favorite hoaxes have been circulating for years, usually accompanied by the idiotic claim that simply forwarding the message (via e-mail, via IM, via ICQ) will effect to some kind of preventative protest. When a message asks you to forward an e-mail to get a surprise, or to enable some petition tracking process, don't believe it. It won't work any more than it did in 1997, 1998, or 1999 when these "forward this e-mail for money" hoaxes previously appeared. (The initial "Save IMs!" hoax requested everyone flood Steve Case's e-mail address, as I recall. How far we've come...?) The "Toxic Tampons" forwardable (1998, 2000) Years after the hubbub in the news subsided, the chain e-mail continues to trickle around the net. Funny, after I published my account, other news reports began to appear, furthering dwelling on the suspicious connection between Terra Femme's executives Willi Nolan and Roni Bregman and the word of mouth campaign on the Internet against conventional products. During one of my spontaneous visits to the Terra Femme site, I found a version of the e-mail with instructions to send it to out. It wasn't there the next time visited. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) (1999) The rumor goes, Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC because they no longer serve "chicken" (untrue) and instead serve "genetically engineered organisms" (also untrue). Not only would it be economically impractical for KFC to do this, but also illegal. They changed the name when they began offering many non-fried chicken products. Besides, many people I've known across America were already referring to the company as "KFC" colloquially. It was a smart move. (I think Federal Express, erm, FedEx acted on the same principle.) Death-dealing bananas (1999) One of many health-danger hoaxes about deadly, disease bearing bananas from Costa Rica. The facts are misleading, references to a "Manheim Research Institute" and "Center for Disease Control" are incorrect. Bananas are good eatin'. "Hanoi Jane" (1999) In 1999, an especially outraged e-mail denouncing the wartime behavior of Jane Fonda made the inbox of most e-mail users on the Internet. The ugly reality is that Ms. Fonda's behavior during her visit to North Vietnam in July, 1972 (allegedly arranged by hubbie Tom Hayden) was "thoughtless," by her own account in later years. When POWs later returned and told of their horrid treatment, she released a statement calling them hypocrites and liars. Still, freedom of speech is not a double-standard, and Fonda exercised her rights. She did so again when she publicly apologized (though some say it was a self-serving gesture). What's done was done. Many former POWs feel that Fonda earned a place in "history's trash bin" on the merit of her own despicable actions; e-mail hoaxes weren't necessary to further polarize the issue. The as-yet anonymous author of the 1999 e-mail cited events that are patently untrue. The "Hanoi Jane" e-mail diatribe is as embarrassing and appalling as the original events, because it contrives falsehoods to overdramatize the point. Fonda has apologized on the record; where's the author of this e-mail forwardable to answer for the untruths? ... Barbara Mikkelson has an excellent essay on the matter as part of her Urban Legends References Pages; please read there for more detail. Paget's Disease of the nipple (1999) Anonymous health scares carried via the grapevine of e-mail chain letters are rarely valid. This one has some validity to it, but neglects to point out ... that this "disease du jour" is quite rare. Is it worth getting frantic over, and forwarding the e-mail to everyone you know? Certainly not. If you're concerned, talk to your doctor. The Hunger Site, The Breast Cancer Site (1999, 2001) Wouldn't you like to be able to feed the hungry for FREE? Now you can! The Hunger Site will allow you to feed a hungry person every day at no cost to yourself. Anyone can do it. Just visit the website. You can feed one hungry person everyday just by going to the website and clicking a button. The food is paid for by corporate sponsors. This is an easy way to do a really good deed. So everyone can feed a hungry person today. Please visit today and pass the word....I did. http://www.thehungersite.com According to several similar chain e-mails in 1999, charity site The Hunger Site offered users a way to generate charitable contributions from sponsors by clicking on their web site. Kind of like you sponsor a runner in a charity marathon race, pledging 10¢ for each mile. Here, corporate sponsors would pledge some money for each visitor who clicked the site. Programmer John Breen started the non-profit site as a way to generate donations to United Nations' World Food Program. I didn't like the idea, for the same reason that I hate the central idea behind all the Jessica Mydek hoaxes. What if NOBODY forwards the e-mail? "Sorry kid, no cup of rice for you today. Not enough Internet users clicked our web site...." Despite my cynicism, The Hunger Site was pretty darn successful, attracting as many as two million visitors a month, and winning a People's Voice Award at the 2000 Webby Awards. Breen's idea was better than that of the company in Seattle that he sold the site to in February, 2000. The new parent company, shopping portal GreaterGood.com, arranged donations based on purchases made on their site and those of their partners. GreaterGood launched The Breast Cancer Site, The Rain Forest Site, and several others upon the same notion. A chain e-mail for the Breast Cancer Site in 2001 claimed that one click is all it took to give a needy woman a free mammogram, but this was inaccurate; it took about 45,000 clicks for each exam. As before, you could click as many times as you liked, but only once per day. And oh, by the way, the GreaterGood sites were not non-profit. GreaterGood.com sold ad space on the site, and donated about 75% of the ad revenue to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The party couldn't last forever, though. After GreaterGood.com acquired TheHungerSite.com, traffic to the site dropped. Alas, the whole dream came to an ugly end in July, 2001, when GreaterGood.com ran out of funding, and hadn't found a way to pay their own bills. For the past week, all of the charity web sites featured a simple page stating they're "undergoing routine maintenance" and will be back soon. Uh-huh. "Spunkballing" (2000) Similar to earlier urban legends about gangs initiating new members with violent crimes towards strangers, this little tale tells us that teenagers are playing a new game in which a foil and gasoline-soaked rag sort of Molotov cocktail is thrown through an open window into a stranger's car. No news reports confirmed the rumor. Unfortunately, it's not totally fictitious. Some American teens in Germany were arrested in February, 2000, for hurling large rocks from an overpass to cars below; two people were killed and several more injured. Kelsey Brooke Jones (1999) This little girl was only missing for a few hours in 1999. Turned out she was at a neighbor's house. But apparently her mom sent out a plea via the Internet, and now another useless "missing child alert" is being forwarded long after the crisis has passed. Do everyone a favor, particularly her mother: don't forward the e-mail. The Klingerman virus (2000, 2001) Please hold your snickering until you finish this paragraph. This was not an e-mail virus hoax, but an e-mail hoax about a virus. The Klingerman e-mail hoax warns us that some mysterious baddie is mailing blue envelopes marked "A gift from the Klingerman Foundation," containing a sponge laden with a deadly virus. Take a little ANDROMEDA STRAIN, add some Unabomber, and garnish with some Publisher's Clearing House, and you've got this stew cooked up right. Both the Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Postal Service deny any investigations of such a buggaboo. Now here's what's funny: in May, 2000, citizens in Florida and Maine called 911 to report what they suspected were Klingerman virus envelopes. Okay -- you can start launghing now. (Update! After the World Trade Center bombing in 2001, a variant was sighted with the name changed to "Kinderman Foundation." Another variation warned us about any "blue package" delivered by UPS which would contain a "deadly gas.") The New Ice Age virus (2001) Did you receive a warning about The New Ice Age virus, and the intrepid AV software firm working hard to protect us from this? It wasn't no virus, bubba; t'was a childish publicity stunt. The chain letter listed a link to http://www.thenewiceage.com, which later redirected to http://www.dtpmusic.com/tnia/; both pages were faked announcements about some kind of antivirus software release. But the later page was hosted on the domain name for a rock band called Disturbing The Peace. The "New Ice Age" was apparently their new CD release, and the virus hoax was a publicity stunt to promote a release party on 2/17/2001. Isn't that clever? No; I've considered penning fake hoaxes to promote this site many times, and Jiminy Cricket talked me out of it every single time. When Rob Rosenberger, of Vmyths.com, told me about this, I was hoping the Net Pigs In Charge would take action. Don't hold your breath. Jessica Koopmans (2001) Another "little missing girl" alert, and like Kelsey's this one was valid for only a short while. Tragically, little Jessica was found murdered a few days later, and a suspect was arrested. There is no need to forward the e-mail alert. As I point out in my Children's Crusade column, you can check for missing kids on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children site, or the FBI Missing Persons Investigations page. Canola oil kills! (2001) Another nasty, grossly fabricated health scare based on misinformation and hysteria. This one wrongfully maligns Canada for exporting cooking oil that is allegedly poisonous. This 'Net rumor includes some disturbingly graphic depictions of maladies that defy reason. Other than that, this latest hoax is only scary because the claims made by the anonymous author are recklessly inaccurate. ... Proof once again that you can't believe everything that's forwarded by e-mail -- and that you should doubt most of the "forwardables" that litter the Internet highways. Count me as a "Jedi" (2001) A little forwardable made the rounds of New Zealand and the British Isles that if enough citizens report their religion as "Jedi" (the all but vanquished order of galactic knights from STAR WARS, it will be counted as a "legitimate" religious belief. Bunk. It takes a lot more than an silly, mischievous answers. Australia's bureau of Statistics has a thoughtful answer to all would-be "young Jedis." The Hoax du Jour suggests you do your chores, get those droids cleaned up before daybreak, and maybe you can go to the Space Academy next season. Don't believe everything your friends down at Mos Eisley tell you. SULFNBK.exe is a virus (2001) Another month, another virus panic. This is becoming a familiar theme (to me, at least), wherein the author alleges that an obscure utility provided by Microsoft in the Windows operating system (in this case, c:\windows\command\sulfnbk.exe in Windows 98 and ME) is a virus. It's not, though it is not exempt from being infected by some other virus. Use your anti-virus software to check the utility, but don't follow this hoax's destructive instructions to delete the utility. It's part of your software, but you're not expected to know that. The hoax is playing on general users' naivete. How did this all start? Rob Rosenberger of the venerable Vmyths.com site has a very good theory about how an overeager Chicken Little out there somewhere may've started this. Pure conjecture, but good informed conjecture as usual. Datek complaint chain letter (2001) There appears to be someone with a major grudge against Datek Online. Considering the way the stock market left hordes of e-commerce speculators high and dry, it's no wonder. The anonymous "newsletter" from "The Business Outcasts" urged readers to flood various e-mail addresses with complaints on behalf of the anonymous author, and call Datek's toll-free lines as well. I dunno about you, but I have better things to do than complain to a company I have no dealings with on behalf of some stranger online. A one-time "newsletter" from a group ("The Business Outcasts") with no online presence, using spoofed e-mail addresses that are invalid ... does not convince me otherwise. Please note, that if there was any doubt before of individuals forging hoaxes and trying to start chain e-mails to pursue their own ends (see the murky tale of Terra Femme and Toxic Tampons), there is growing evidence of "viral marketing" on a the Internet as a regular occurrence. Just it looks official doesn't mean it is official. Bonsai Kittens (2001) Another chain e-mail petition which asked you to help stop the cruel hobby of raising "bonsai kittens." Firstly, the web site about these "kittens in a jar" was a joke. Secondly, no one's making money selling these kittens. Thirdly, an online petition won't achieve anything except ... drive more curious visitors to the joke site. This was a silly petition, possibly a hoax but more likely another misguided attempt at 'Net activism. Credit bureau opt-out (2001) Briefly in the early summer, there was an e-mail being forwarded which warned us about the "new privacy protection" against financial institutions sharing and selling information about your account. Try this for overly hysterical text: "These financial firms have until July 1 to obtain your approval before they begin INVADING YOUR PRIVACY." !!) Actually, the law went into effect on July 1, and institutions had to send you a notice advising you of their privacy policies, and offering you the opportunity to "opt out." The four main credit bureaus also operated a joint 1-800 number to call. The e-mail was slightly inaccurate, but essentially true. Bottom line, you can make your decision whenever you want to. Tax Relief 2001 Tax rebates? Really? Yes, really. But it's not really a "rebate." The President HAS signed new tax relief legislation, it IS retroactive to January 1, and most US citizens WILL get a letter from the IRS in July telling each taxpayer how much will be sent in an "advance payment" of a Tax Year 2001 credit. Both the IRS and CNN.com have more answers. Go take a look. David Spalding The HOAX DU JOUR is a regular feature of Korova Multimedia. Tune in to http://www.korova.com/virus/hoax.htm. (C) Copyright 2001 D.B. Spalding. All rights reserved.