Internet Hoaxes

Although not part of the Internet security story, the issue of Internet hoaxes is a related one computer users should know about.

Computer users who want to be trouble makers but don't know how to create viruses, worms and Trojan horses sometimes spend their time creating rumors rather than malicious code which then they try to pass around the Internet.

Instead of taking delight in hurting people's computers, they exalt over stealing time by convincing people that there is a threat or some other issue that they should be concerned about when it's all just a hoax.

Nearly all the e-mail messages warning people of dire consequences from various virus threats are simply not true. Some warn of files that no antivirus program will identify and tell you to delete them. Only later do those who fall for the trick learn that they've deleted a file their computer needs, and that no antivirus program would have identified it as a problem because it wasn't.

Another common hoax is a report concerning ill children or some injustice suffered by someone who reportedly "needs help." Such forwarded e-mail messages usually just aren't factual.

There are many other messages which are just as useful. If you want to believe that Bill Gates will write big checks to people just for sending e-mails that's your choice, but when you clog the inboxes of all your friends with the hoax they won't be too pleased.

So the next time you get a warning with advice that you pass it along to all of your friends, what are you going to do? You don't have to guess, you can consult one of the many services in the Internet which track such things.

For virus alerts, check with the Symantec Antivirus Research Center (See the links in the box in the upper right). Do a search and they'll tell you the story - virus or fake.

If the report involves a product recall or safety warning, check with the Consumer Project Safety Commission.

For other types of hoaxes, check one of the other links. Often you'll find that the message you just received is a hoax that started its travels around the Internet months or years ago.

What may be the longest running hoax, that there's a petition before the FCC to keep religion off television, illustrates the problem. This rumor, which first surfaced in 1974, still crops up every now and then. The FCC has been trying for decades to kill it, citing the cost of handling all of the misguided mail, faxes and now e-mails that are related to it; there have been millions over the years. If you are interested in its story, see the FCC statement on the "No God on TV" hoax, as well as the perspective of American Atheists Inc. on the hoax.

Most often the rumors are passed along by people who think they are doing the right thing, but end up only being used.