I know this guy who was home recovering from having been served a rat in his bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. One day this guy 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 and distribute the $600 Neiman Marcus cookie recipe under the leadership of Bill Gates.
Sound familiar?
- The Web makes it ever so easy to disseminate material. Unfortunately, there's no filtering mechanism to sift out the lies, rumours and general misinformation that comes along with all the useful and entertaining stuff.
- The Net is awash with rumours, lies and hoaxes, all of them "verified" by some source. Don't pass any of these on until you've verified the source yourself. This goes for everything on the Web, including reports by the media. Many reporters now research their stories by looking for information online, leading to some very circular and limited "sources".
- Check out all warnings about viruses at Symantec's AntiVirus Research Center first before forwarding them to others. Nine times out of 10 the warning is a hoax.
- Most of us have a tendency to regard the written word as more reliable than the spoken word. On the Web, in particular, this is a poor practice to follow.
- Remember that e-mail, chat logs and digitised images can all be saved, altered and retransmitted. You can't necessarily believe your eyes.