November 21, 2003

Computer column: truth or fiction?

By Rick Dexter
Special to the Times

All the reader e-mail I received this past month had a single, common theme. One person received a charge card order confirmation for 1-800-FLOWERS and wanted to know if it was real. Another person asked about a virus warning he’d received, telling him to delete a file on his hard disk, and another asked how to apply a Microsoft software patch that was sent as an attachment to a rather official-looking warning. Just this week, I received an e-mail claiming that Bill Gates would give me money for forwarding it on to others, one claiming Starbucks is boycotting Israel, and yet another claiming the FCC was imposing a per minute charge on modem connections, thus “taxing” the Internet.

All of these emails have one thing in common: they simply aren’t true. Some of them can even cause damage to your computer system or try to trick you into giving out personal information like credit card numbers.

No, 1-800-FLOWERS didn’t really place an order, the “teddy bear” virus isn’t real, and Bill Gates doesn’t give anybody money for forwarding e-mail messages. Starbucks isn’t “boycotting” Israel (although they did pull out of the country for business reasons), and the FCC modem charge idea was killed years ago. The most damaging e-mail I received, the Microsoft patch warning, is actually a virus in disguise.

E-mail like these play on people’s fear and concern for others. In the age of the “information superhighway,” it’s common for people to take in so much information that they simply don’t have the time to verify its accuracy. All too often, because we trust the person who sent us the e-mail, we take it at face value and pass it on to others. For many people, electronic information is considered to be as truthful as a newspaper. However, the Internet gives just about anyone in the world the ability to mass-publish any information they want without any guidelines, rules, laws or editorial review. While there is a ton of good information on the Internet, some of it is simply wrong. There’s really only one way to combat this problem: check information out before you pass it along to others, and don’t pass it on at all if you can’t confirm it’s real. Here are a few of the Web sites I use to check out electronic information:

In the Internet world, an “urban legend” or “snope” is incorrect or misleading electronic information. Some of this information is harmless, and some of it can be damaging to a person or business, like the Starbucks boycott. Virus hoaxes could actually cause damage to your computer by instructing you to delete important files or install “patches” that are really viruses. One email that’s been floating around lately claims that if you add AAAAAAA@AAA.AAA to the top of your address book, it will prevent e-mail viruses from mass mailing to your address list, eliminating the need to run anti-virus software. Without going into details about how viruses and worms work, I will say that a single address book entry won’t phase a mass-mailing worm one tiny bit. However, following these instructions could give you a false sense of security, which can be as dangerous as a real virus. The Security Response Center at Symantec is one of the best places I know of to check out virus related warnings, and this site has a large list of virus hoaxes in the searchable database.

Occasionally I receive an e-mail that I can’t verify at any of the sites above, but it still may not mean the information is accurate. When that happens, I simply do a general search on Google. This method does take a little more effort, as I usually have to look at several sites before forming an opinion. It’s easy to get excited out of concern for your friends, and mass forward incorrect information that seems to be important. I’ve done it myself. I urge you—take the effort and make sure it’s real before you do.

Rick Dexter is founder and CEO of NDYNAMICS Network Professionals. Rick has over 25 years of experience designing, implementing, supporting and maintaining computer networks, particularly for small businesses and startups seeking reliable and scalable IT infrastructure. If you have a computer question that you would like to have answered in a future column, e-mail it to computerconnection@ndynamics.com.