 
By Molly Wood Senior associate editor, CNET Reviews (2/14/03)
In these modern times of struggle, there are a few things you can always count on (and duct tape is not necessarily one of them). One is that the bulk of citizens will feel disenfranchised, frustrated, and powerless. Another is that a select few of those citizens will assuage those feelings by revving up the good old Internet hoax machine.
Just this week, I became the unwilling recipient of one of the hoax e-mails--this one claiming to be a UN-sponsored petition for peace. Truth be told, it's not hard to spot a current-events-related hoax such as this one--if your hysteria, fury, and terror hasn't overtaken your common sense, that is. However, I also know that it's easy and comforting to believe simple explanations, opportunities for quick action, or even jokes at the other guy's expense. If that's your gig, more power to you--just don't send anyone any money. Be aware, too, that if you insist on forwarding chain letters to your Net-savvy friends, you'll soon add shame and embarrassment to your list of woes. To help you avoid becoming the goat, here are three current-events-related hoaxes and forwards, with tips for spotting similar tricks in the future. The UN antiwar petition This long-lived gem (it appeared in early 2002) states, in most cases, that the UN is gathering signatures in an effort to avoid going to war with Iraq and that America is "moving toward what may be the beginning of a THIRD WORLD WAR." It exhorts "compassionate, thinking" people to add their names to an online petition, forward it to all their friends, and, if the list you receive contains more than 500 names, send it to a specific e-mail address. (Read the full text and hoax status here.) The version I received this week began with a statement that "Congress has just authorized the President of the U.S. to go to war against Iraq." As chain letter hoaxes go, this one seems fairly simple to spot. First of all, at present, Congress certainly has not specifically authorized "the President of the U.S." (see how timeless hoax text can be?) to go to war with Iraq. (Heck, some members of Congress are even suing him over just that issue.) Second, it's highly doubtful that the UN has mobilized itself to start an e-mail petition drive. Read carefully, and please don't forward. Lieberman's letter to France There's nothing like crisis to bring out nationalistic ranting. In this case, be on the lookout for e-mail that contains a so-called "Open letter to the French people" said to be penned by Senator Joe Lieberman. (Read the "letter" here.) In prose unbefitting of the most melodramatic of senators, the letter accuses the people of France of being indifferent to the suffering of Jews and of tolerating attacks on French Jews. The letter, with many exclamation points, urges a boycott of France and says that you, dear forwarder, can "make the French remember" by sending this e-mail to up to 10 million Americans. I'm sure the letter, too, is being amended as we speak by warmongers who resent France's reluctance to help the United States jump-start a bombing campaign. Watch for variations. The tip-off? Well, aside from overused exclamation points and horrific writing, beware any declarations of foreign policy from politicians that don't come in the form of, say, speeches on television. Oh, yeah, and letters that encourage you to send forwarded e-mails usually don't come from presidential candidates. Terrorist groups created Slammer As online hoaxes go, this one was extremely short-lived--but possibly more disturbing than your run-of-the-mill e-mail chain letter because it was perpetrated by an actual journalist. What happened? Freelance journalist Brian McWilliams defaced his own (fake) terrorist-recruitment-magnet Web site, harkatulmujahideen.org, with ranting that claimed Islamic terrorists were responsible for the Slammer worm. Next, he sent e-mails to various journalists, claiming to be Abu Mujahid, a spokesperson for Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, and that his group had created and spread Slammer. (Read his account and attempts at justification here.) Reporter Dan Verton of Computerworld fell for the scam in a big way, running a big spread based on what he believed to be a series of exclusive e-mail interviews with Mujahid. The story didn't last long--it was yanked almost the same day, and Verton has since published this first-person account detailing, somewhat bitterly, the events that unfolded. Could Verton have avoided the trap so elaborately set for him? Sure. Innumerable opportunities for fact-checking presented themselves. But the real culprit here is McWilliams; he's just as bad as the authors of cheap e-mail chain letters, no matter what his journalistic-watchdog intentions. The lesson for the nonjournalists among us? Beware stories and explanations tied up in such tidy packages. We're all duped sometimes, but a little critical thinking and a little research can help you avoid cluttering your family and friends' in-boxes with well-intentioned spam (or, you know, publishing news that's totally false). For additional resources and just plain good reading, check these sites often for the most recent and most persistent online lies.
Molly Wood, a senior associate editor of software coverage for CNET Reviews, is terrified of the ocean, but she can't get enough of the virtual surf. Have a question for her? We'll pass it on!
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