ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - April 13, 2001

After a week at home, it's time to get on the road (and a bit off the beaten path.) I will be in Bangor, Maine on Tuesday for Serca Foodservice and in Escanaba, Michigan on Wednesday for Sysco, presenting programs at their distributor food shows.

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN
After receiving another surge of forwarded hoax messages from well-meaning friends last week, once more it seems like time to talk about how to stop all this madness . . . or at least slow it down. Here is an edited version of an article from David Emery, host of Urban Legends, my favorite hoax-checking site. David says, in part:

E-mail hoaxes have become so prevalent that they're regarded in some quarters as a threat to network integrity comparable to that of actual computer viruses. The objective of tossing all this debris into the system is to generate an unusually high volume of e-mail traffic, which crashes the server. Then the whole system is down.

The threat posed to individual users is less dramatic, but in these days of ever-increasing spam, people are getting fed up with the amount of garbage clogging their in-boxes. Net hoaxes account for a growing percentage of the glut (the unstoppable "US Postal Tax on Email" hoax is a particularly virulent example) and everyone is asking what can be done about it.

There are few solutions at this point beyond redoubling our efforts to expand awareness and change people's habits. Each of us can deal with the problem by familiarizing ourselves with the best information sources on Internet hoaxes and sharing them with the uninformed. This involves some effort, but it may well be worth it in cases where repeat offenders repeatedly barrage you with unwanted e-mail forwards. Helping to educate them will benefit you (and all of us) in the long run.

Without researching the factual claims made in a forwarded e-mail there's no 100% sure way to tell it if it's a hoax, but here you'll find common clues to watch for:

1. Note whether the text was actually written by the person who sent it to you. If not, be skeptical.

2. Look for the telltale phrase, "Forward this to everyone you know."

3. Look for a statement like "This is not a hoax." This usually means the opposite of what it says.

4. Look for overly emphatic language, the frequent use of UPPERCASE LETTERS and multiple exclamation points!!!!!!!

5. If the message seems geared more to persuade than to inform, be suspicious. Hoaxers are out to push emotional buttons.

6. If the message purports to give you extremely important information that you've never heard of before or seen elsewhere in legitimate sources, be suspicious.

7. Read carefully and think critically about what the message says, looking for logical inconsistencies, violations of common sense and obviously false claims.

8. Look for subtle or not-so-subtle jokes, indications that the author is pulling your leg.

9. Check for references to outside sources. Hoaxes will not typically name any, nor link to websites with corroborating information.

10. Check to see if the message has been debunked by websites that cover Internet hoaxes (see below).

11. Virtually any chain email you receive (i.e., any message forwarded multiple times) is more likely to be false than true. Be skeptical.

12. Hoaxers usually try every means available to make their lies believable -- e.g., mimicking a journalistic style, attributing the text to a 'legitimate' source, etc.

13. Be especially wary of health-related rumors. Most importantly, never act on such rumors without first verifying their accuracy with your doctor or other reliable source.

A note from the Doc:
Here are my current favorite sites to investigate suspicious messages. Bookmark them and take a second to check things out BEFORE you forward garbage to your friends.

Urban Legends: http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/science/urbanlegends/
Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) at the US Dept of Energy: http://www.ciac.org/ciac/
V-Myths: http://www.vmyths.com/
Symantec Virus and Hoax Encyclopedia: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/vinfodb.html

Forward THIS message to everyone you know! Happy springtime! :-)

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