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Newsletter #1: Won't Get Fooled Again

2006-03-28 11:49:32

Newsletter #1: Won't Get Fooled AgainSorting the Truth from the Trash

Have you ever received an e-mail written in a panicky tone by an unknown third party, claiming an imminent threat to your PC from a brand new hard-drive-wiping virus, and citing legitimate-sounding sources such as Microsoft or "Good Morning America"? Have you ever, thinking you were acting for the greater good, been spurred on to "forward this to everybody you know"?

Most of us will have received such e-mails, and some of us have probably even sent them on thinking they were genuine. But how can you tell truth from fiction?

There are many tell-tale signs of the VIRUS HOAX - if it asks you to tell everyone you know, then that's usually the biggest giveaway - but the best way to be sure is just to use Google. Pick out a key phrase and put it in speech marks when doing a search (this tells Google to look for the whole phrase and not just the individual words scattered anywhere on the page) and add the word "hoax".

(e.g. your search may read "win a holiday" hoax ) The results should tell you in seconds how real the virus threat is.

For more on virus hoaxes, Sophos has a lot of information: http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/hoaxes/

The virus hoax is really a form of CHAIN LETTER, and chain letters - despite what they might say or what benefits or pleasant surprises they may promise - are equally worthless and misinformative, only serving to clog up mailboxes. Find out more at http://www.breakthechain.org/.

Been told a friend-of-a-friend story? Find out if may be true or merely URBAN LEGEND via Snopes.com's own search engine: http://www.snopes.com/info/search/search.asp

Another interesting link is the contentiously-named Quackwatch: http://www.quackwatch.org/ - exposing QUACKERY, which Wikipedia defines as "the unethical practice of promising health-related benefits for which there is little or no basis".

The old adage "don't believe everything that you read" is still true and even more relevant in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Fortunately, however, so is the more recent saying "the truth is out there". Remember: when in doubt - Google.

(Oh, and please DON'T forward this on to everyone you know!)

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