| |
 Bogus Information
 |
Arrest Made in Emulex Hoax, Washington Post, 1 September
2000 |
|
|
Bogus press
release distributed on newswire service |
|
|
Some news media
ran the story |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Bad
information can appear in the news |
|
|
A phone
call can save face (A call to Emulex would have
exposed the hoax.) |
|
|
| |
Web Scams
|
|
Sham Site is a Scam, Federal Trade Commission, 12
February 2004 |
|
|
Do-Not-Email
registry copies FTC Do-Not-Call site |
|
|
Solicits email
addresses |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Scams
abound in email and on the Web |
|
|
Know who
you are doing business with |
|
|
Insist on
a secure Web page for the submission of personal
information |
|
|
| |
Falsified Research
|
|
Scientific Fraud Found at Bell Labs, Associated Press, 26 September
2002 (Newer story on research fraud:
Fraud Investigation, Chemical & Engineering News, 6 January 2006) |
|
|
Articles published, and patents
submitted, based on misrepresented research data |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Professional publications
are not immune to bad information |
|
|
Skepticism and verification
are your best defenses |
|
|
| |
Illicitly Edited Works
|
|
Yahoo News Hacked, Security Focus, 18 September 2001 |
|
|
Hacker edited several stories at
Yahoo News for 2 months |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Electronic information can be changed
surreptitiously after publication |
|
|
Skepticism and verification is your best defense |
|
|
| |
Bad Information in Print
|
|
Recall of Dummies Book, U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, 15 October 2003 |
|
|
Error in
instructions for making lye created a burn hazard |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Errors
appear in print too |
|
|
| |
Hoax Sources
|
|
Who Is Robert Klinger? Slate, 12 March 2002 |
|
|
Con artist duped
Slate reporter into publishing two diary entries he thought
came from the CEO of BMW |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Check out
(verify) sources |
|
|
Don't
rely exclusively on email for communication |
|
|
Consult a
technician if you suspect the source of an email |
|
|
| |
Unreliable
or Inaccurate Sources [top]
|
|
Analysis Gives Health Grades Flunking Marks, Rocky Mountain News, 16
October 2004 |
|
|
Rocky Mountain
news surveyed physician profiles provided by Health Grades
and found they were accurate only 42 percent of the time. |
|
|
Profiles or reports on people are
often inaccurate because of errors in reporting information. |
|
|
Moral of the
story:
|
|
Get
information from the primary source when possible |
|
|
The
primary source, in this case, is the state medical
board |
|
|
Always
verify information, especially information about
people |
|
|
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