Date: Wed, 2 Jul 1997 22:22:18 -0400
From: crispen@INTERNIC.NET
Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: TOURBUS TOP TEN -- 3 JULY 1997 -- SPAMS AND URBAN LEGENDS
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\___/ \___/ T h e I n t e r n e t T o u r B u s \___/
Happy birthday to us,
Happy birthday to us,
Happy birthday dear BU-US,
Happy birthday to us!
I want to give a special thanks to the folks at the University of Central
Arkansas in Conway for inviting me to speak at their campus last weekend.
I had a great time, and I seriously jealous of the speed at which Conway's
residents access the Internet (Conway's local utility has strung high-speed
fiber optic cables to every house in town!).
Oh, and if you haven't noticed it by now, our little bus of Internet
happiness has just entered its "terrible twos." To celebrate TOURBUS'
second birthday, Bob and I are running a "Best of TOURBUS" series. Today's
post is number 4 in that series. :)
Today's post -- which is one of my favorites -- is brought to you by
ultra-cool cyber guru Dave Taylor. Dave has been a long-time supporter of
TOURBUS, so please take a few moments to stop by his Web site and think him
for keeping our bus on the road another week ...
+----------------------------[ BE COOL ]-----------------------------+
Jump start your Web pages with a copy of the best-selling
book "Creating Cool HTML 3.2 Web Pages" by guru Dave Taylor.
For info and FREE online HTML lessons, visit
+-----------[ http://www.intuitive.com/taylor/cool-web ]-------------+
TOURBUS TOP TEN SITE #4 : SPAMS AND URBAN LEGENDS
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES :
http://www.urbanlegends.com/afu.faq/index.cgi
http://www.jcn18.com/news/cfv-fail.htm
http://www.legends.org.za/arthur/craig01b.htm
http://www.wish.org/wish/craig.html
http://www.cancer.org/chain.html
http://www.mayo.edu/about/parkin.html
http://www.hmco.com/hmco/trade/hmi/polar/
Over the past two years, our little bus of Internet happiness has happily
squished its fair share of both spams and urban legends. Actually, spams
and urban legends are two different things. On the Internet, a "spam" is
either:
1. A canned luncheon meat with the shelf life of gravel; or
2. An inappropriate e-mail letter, oftentimes an advertisement,
sent to hundreds of thousands of people on the Internet.
Urban legends, on the other hand, are stories that:
1. Appear mysteriously and spread spontaneously in varying
forms;
2. Contain elements of humor or horror (the horror often
"punishes" someone who flouts society's conventions);
3. Make good storytelling; and
4. Do NOT have to be false, although most are. Urban legends
often have a basis in fact, but it's their life after-the-fact
(particularly in reference to the second and third points)
that gives them particular interest."
[Adapted from http://www.urbanlegends.com/afu.faq/index.cgi]
Before we get to the "old" urban legends that our bus has squished, let's
point our bus in the direction of a new piece of garbage that has recently
been cluttering up the Information Superhighway:
... [A] few Neo-Nazi groups are trying to create (again) a Usenet
group where they want to keep in contact with each other
regarding their activities. I believe it is not necessary to
dwell further on these activities.
The group is rec.music.white-power ...
The letter goes on to tell you to "send this message to people you know"
[gee ... now THERE'S a shock ... an urban legend that asks you to forward
the message to others]. The letter also asks you to send an e-mail letter
with the message "I vote NO on rec.music.white-power " to
"music-vote@sub-rosa.com"
As usual, the "Nazi newsgroup" story is false. No one has (recently)
proposed to create such a group, and the domain name (the stuff after the @
sign) in the e-mail address doesn't even exist [GASP!].
Like all urban legends, however, this story does have some basis in fact.
In March of 1996 there was a proposal to create a "rec.music.white-power"
Usenet newsgroup. What the urban legend conveniently omits, however, is
the fact that the proposal was soundly defeated (33,033 people voted
against creating the newsgroup, while only 592 voted for it). The defeat
was so stunning, in fact, that the chances of this proposal EVER being
reintroduced are about the same as the chances of heavyweight boxer Mike
Tyson being named "humanitarian of the year."
Still, if you want to find some more information about the *REAL* proposal
to create "rec.music.white-power" -- the proposal that was defeated last
year -- check out the Jewish Communication Network's article on the vote at
http://www.jcn18.com/news/cfv-fail.htm
With that urban legend successfully flattened, let's take a look back at
some of the other urban legends that we have recently run down ...
THE FATHER OF ALL INTERNET URBAN LEGENDS
----------------------------------------
If you have been a TOURBUS rider for any amount of time, you'll know that
one of the worst urban legends floating around the Net is the story about
Craig Shergold:
Craig Shergold is seven years old and suffering from terminal
cancer. It is his ambition to be included in the Guinness Book of
Records for the largest number of business cards ever collected
by one person. Craig would be grateful if you could send one of
your business cards to the address below and also send the
enclosed pages, including one of your own, to another ten
companies.
[Quoted from http://www.legends.org.za/arthur/craig01b.htm]
What the "Craig letter" does not tell you is that Craig is alive and well,
he's cured, he's now well into his teens, he made it into the Guinness Book
of Records years ago, Guinness has retired the "most cards" category, and
HE DOESN'T WANT ANY MORE BLOODY CARDS! You don't believe me? Go to *ANY*
search engine -- Yahoo, Lycos, Alta Vista, etc. -- and type in the words
"Craig Shergold."
A few years ago, someone thought it would be funny to change the Craig
letter a little so that the letter now requests that you send your cards to
the Make-A-Wish foundation (instead of to Craig's home in England). Here
is what the Make-A-Wish foundation has to say about that:
"The chain letter claims that Make-A-Wish is involved," stated
James E. Gordon, Chairman of the Board of the Make-A-Wish
Foundation of America. "That is not true. Our organization is
not, and has never been associated with the letter. Yet our
office continues to receive numerous phone calls each month about
the letter, diverting our staff time and resources from our
mission. The Make-A-Wish Foundation requests that people please
stop sending business cards or greeting cards to Craig Shergold."
[Quoted from http://www.wish.org/wish/craig.html]
If that isn't bad enough, someone else thought it would be funny to
completely rewrite the Craig letter and change the name "Craig Shergold" to
"Jessica Mydek":
LITTLE JESSICA MYDEK IS SEVEN YEARS OLD AND IS SUFFERING FROM AN
ACUTE AND VERY RARE CASE OF CEREBRAL CARCINOMA. THIS CONDITION
CAUSES SEVERE MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMORS AND IS A TERMINAL ILLNESS.
THE DOCTORS HAVE GIVEN HER SIX MONTHS TO LIVE.
AS PART OF HER DYING WISH, SHE WANTED TO START A CHAIN LETTER TO
INFORM PEOPLE OF THIS CONDITION AND TO SEND PEOPLE THE MESSAGE TO
LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT, A CHANCE THAT
SHE WILL NEVER HAVE. FURTHERMORE, THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY AND
SEVERAL CORPORATE SPONSORS HAVE AGREED TO DONATE THREE CENTS
TOWARD CONTINUING CANCER RESEARCH FOR EVERY NEW PERSON THAT GETS
FORWARDED THIS MESSAGE. PLEASE GIVE JESSICA AND ALL CANCER
VICTIMS A CHANCE.
IF THERE ARE ANY QUESTIONS, SEND THEM TO THE AMERICAN CANCER
SOCIETY AT ACS@AOL.COM
[Quoted from http://www.cancer.org/chain.html]
Here is the American Cancer Society's response:
As far as the American Cancer Society can determine, the story of
Jessica Mydek is completely unsubstantiated. No fundraising
efforts are being made by the American Cancer Society in her name
or by the use of chain letters. Furthermore, the email address
ACS@AOL.COM is inactive. Any messages to the American Cancer
Society should be instead sent through the American Cancer
Society website at http://www.cancer.org.
[Quoted from http://www.cancer.org/chain.html]
One of the things that tipped me off that the "Jessica" story was a hoax
was the line in the letter that said "THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY ... [HAS]
AGREED TO DONATE THREE CENTS TOWARD CONTINUING CANCER RESEARCH." Ask
yourself one question: why would a not-for-profit organization like the
American Cancer Society, an organization whose goal is the promotion and
continuation of cancer research, *MAKE* a donation to continue cancer
research? Who, exactly, would they send this money to? THEMSELVES?!
Isn't that a tad bit redundant? :)
Our next urban legend of the day is this little letter, which has been
clogging up the Net recently:
From: Anthony Parkin
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 1996 12:46:46 +0800
To:
Subject: My dying wish
My name is Anthony Parkin, and you don't know me. I'm 7 years
old, and I have leukemia. I found your name using gopher, and I
would like for you to carry out my dying wish of starting a chain
letter. Please send this letter to five people you know so I can
live forever.
Unfortunately, neither the "Mayo Hospital" nor the domain
"MayoHospital.health.com" exist. There is a Mayo Clinic, however, and here
is what they have to say about the Anthony Parkin chain letter:
[P]lease be advised that the letter did not originate from a
valid source. The address "Parkin@MayoHospital.Health.Com" is
fictitious, as are the particular details of that letter.
The plight of children or adults suffering from leukemia,
however, certainly is not fictitious. It is understandable that
such a letter can generate a great deal of sympathy, but
forwarding chain letters is not an appropriate response to the
situation. If you would like further information about how you
can help the real victims of this terrible disease, please take a
look at the Leukemia Society of America world-wide-web server [at
http://www.lukemia.org/].
[quoted from http://www.mayo.edu/about/parkin.html]
One of the things that tipped me off that the Anthony Parkin letter was a
hoax was that he used a .COM address. Most teaching hospitals -- like
Mayo, Hopkins, etc. -- are in the .EDU domain.
Folks, if you receive a letter telling you that Craig Shergold, Jessica
Mydek, Anthony Parkin, or ANY other sick/dying kid wants you to send them
business cards, get well cards, e-mail letters, or anything else, DON'T
BELIEVE IT! These stories not only betray the public's confidence, they
cause damage to legitimate organizations like the American Cancer Society
and the Mayo Clinic.
POLAR EXPRESS
-------------
Stay on the Net long enough, and you will be able to actually *predict*
urban legends. Back on December 19, 1996, I told you about a letter
floating around the Internet stating that Houghton Mifflin Publishing
Corporation will donate one book to a children's hospital for every 25
e-mails they receive. The story *was* true, but Houghton Mifflin reached
its goal of 50,000 e-mail letters and their "Polar Express" campaign has
been over for about 7 months. As far as I can tell, the campaign will not
be revived.
You can find more information about the Polar Express campaign on Houghton
Mifflin's Web page at:
http://www.hmco.com/hmco/trade/hmi/polar/
My prediction: expect to see this urban legend flood the Net again in
November and December. :(
IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN
-------------------------
This one comes from Peter Langston, the owner of the Fun-People list (which
we visited back on December 12th -- check out
http://www.tourbus.com/archives.htm if you want to see that post again).
You may remember that a couple of months ago, congress talked about
slashing funding for both National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public
Broadcasting System (PBS). A petition was distributed across the Internet
urging congress to protect NPR and PBS.
Peter writes:
Today, when I did a quick search on the WWW for "npr funding
petition," I came up with the appended correspondence on the
Bananafish Archives page at:
> http://slf.gweep.net/~sfoskett/jds/online/archive/9609/118.html>
... %< snip snip snip %< ...
****UPDATE FOR PBS/NEA/NPR PETITION****
To all receivers of this petition,
It has come to our attention, due to the overwhelming support of
these programs, the movement to cut the funding for the NEA, NPR,
and PBS has been dropped. To repeat, thanks to your support of
these programs, the danger of losing these programs has passed!!
Unfortunately, the due date for this petition was deleted on most
or all of these copies and the petition is still circulating.
***** PLEASE DELETE ALL COPIES OF THE CIRCULATING
PETITION!!!***** We greatly apologize for any inconvenience
concerning this effort but MUST ASK FOR THE PETITIONS TO BE
DELETED!!! The overwhelming support we have received has kept us
going, but the fight has been won and we thank you all!
-Sincerely,
The authors of the petition
KIDNEY HARVESTING AT HOME FOR FUN A PROFIT
------------------------------------------
The most grisly urban legend floating around the Net recently was the one
that said:
I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is targeting
business travelers.
This ring is well organized, well funded, has very skilled
personnel, and is currently in most major cities and recently
very active in New Orleans [or Las Vegas or Houston]. The crime
begins when a business traveler goes to a lounge for a drink at
the end of the work day. A person in the bar walks up as they
sit alone and offers to buy them a drink. The last thing the
traveler remembers until they wake up in a hotel room bath tub,
their body submerged to their neck in ice, is sipping that drink.
There is a note taped to the wall instructing them not to move
and to call 911. A phone is on a small table next to the bathtub
for them to call. The business traveler calls 911 who have
become quite familiar with this crime. The business traveler is
instructed by the 911 operator to very slowly and carefully reach
behind them and feel if there is a tube persuading from their
lower back. The business traveler finds the tube and answers,
"Yes." The 911 operator tells them to remain still, having
already sent paramedics to help. The operator knows that both of
the business traveler's kidneys have been harvested.
I received a copy of this letter a few months ago, and decided to do a
little investigating of my own. So, I contacted the Police Department's
Public/Media Information offices in New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Houston.
All three police departments told me that the story is a hoax, and the New
Orleans police department denied the story so quickly that I never even
finished asking the question:
Police> Public Information
Me> Yeah, my name is Patrick Crispen, and I write an
Internet newsletter. I was just calling to confirm ...
Police> That the kidney story is not true. It's not.
By the way, my favorite part of the kidney harvesting story is the line in
the letter that says:
My sister-in-law works with a lady that this happened to her
son's neighbor who lives in Houston
Oh, yeah ... now *THERE'S* a reliable source. :)
VIRUSES IN E-MAILS
------------------
The biggest hoaxes floating around the Net are the virus hoaxes. Some of
the most common virus hoax messages look like:
Here is some important information. Beware of a file called
Goodtimes. ... If you get anything called "Good Times", DON'T
read it or download it. It is a virus that will erase your hard
drive. Forward this to all your friends. It may help them a lot.
or
There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet.
If you receive an e-mail message with the subject line "Irina",
DO NOT read the message. DELETE it immediately.
or
There is a computer virus that is being sent across the Internet.
If you receive an email message with the subject line
"Deeyenda", DO NOT read the message, DELETE it immediately!
or
This is a warning for all internet users - there is a dangerous
virus propogating across the internet through an e-mail message
entitled "PENPAL GREETINGS!". DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY MESSAGE
ENTITLED "PENPAL GREETINGS!" This message appears to be a
friendly letter asking you if you are interested in a penpal, but
by the time you read this letter, it is too late. The "trojan
horse" virus will have already infected the boot sector of your
hard drive, destroying all of the data present. It is a self-
replicating virus, and once the message is read, it will
AUTOMATICALLY forward itself to anyone who's e-mail address is
present in YOUR mailbox!
[All quotes from http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html]
Some of these virus warnings also come with an emergency warning from the
United States Federal Communications Commission -- the FCC (remember them?).
Folks, it is flat out impossible for you to get a virus from reading an
e-mail message. It can't be done. Letters warning you about "Good Times,"
"Irina," "Deeyenda," "Penpal Greetings," and any other e-mail-born viruses
are HOAXES!
As I said back in April,
1. Regular, plain-text e-mail letters -- the plain old
vanilla e-mail letters (like this one) that you receive
every day -- can *NOT* contain viruses or Trojan horses.
Period. It does not matter what you may have heard from
your friends, co-workers, newspaper, government, or
religious leaders. Plain e-mail letters can not contain
viruses or Trojan horses. It does not matter WHAT the
subject line of the letter is -- "Good Times," "PenPal
Greetings," "Deeyenda," "Irina," "AOL4FREE," "I AM A
REALLY MEAN VIRUS AND I AM GOING TO EAT YOUR HARD DRIVE"
-- plain text e-mail letters simply can not contain
viruses or Trojan horses. If anyone tells you otherwise,
they are either lying or are badly misinformed.
2. Files that are attached to e-mail letters -- like Lotus
or Excel spreadsheet files and *especially* Microsoft
Word files -- can, and probably do, contain viruses and
Trojan horses. How can you protect yourself? VIRUS
CHECK EVERY SINGLE ATTACHMENT THAT YOU RECEIVE THROUGH E-
MAIL (AND EVERY SINGLE FILE THAT YOU DOWNLOAD FROM THE
INTERNET). If your boss, best friend, worst enemy,
family pet, significant other, insignificant other,
teacher, tribal member, or political leader sends you a
file attached to an e-mail document, VIRUS CHECK THAT
FILE. It does not matter what the subject line of the e-
mail letter to which that file is attached is called.
VIRUS CHECK THAT FILE!
Oh, and as for the FCC warnings, the FCC's policy is that
The U.S. FCC does not disseminate information regarding the
existence, impact, or affect of computer virus. [sic]
[Quoted from http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Miscellaneous/
Public_Notices/pnmc5036.txt]
With that said, let me once again remind you that it *IS* possible for you
to get a virus from a file that is *attached* to an e-mail message, but you
have to execute that file first. For example, let's say that someone sends
you an e-mail letter and he attaches a virused Microsoft Word file to that
e-mail letter. Your computer would NOT become virused if you opened and
read the e-mail letter (remember, it is IMPOSSIBLE for you to get a virus
from an e-mail letter). Your computer *would*, however, become virused the
moment you launched the attached, virused Microsoft Word document.
Should you be worried about receiving a virused file attached to an e-mail
letter is sent to you? Yes and no. According to an article that was
recently posted on the Macintosh Evangelist mailing list, there are
currently
- 10,000-11,000 DOS viruses
- 12 Windows viruses
- 35 Mac viruses
- 200+ macro viruses; 70-90% are cross platform
- 6 Unix viruses
Those 10,000 to 11,000 DOS viruses affect all DOS, Windows, and Windows95
machines (but not Macs), and most of those 200+ macro viruses affect ALL
machines (PC and Mac). By the way, macros are a series of commands
(usually Microsoft Word commands) that allow you to group together a whole
bunch of tasks into a single command.
We've talked about this a couple of times before, but how can you protect
yourself from downloading a virus from the Net? The answer is: NEVER open
a file without first running it through a virus checker. Even if the file
is from your boss, loved one, or clergy member, CHECK THE FILE BEFORE YOU
OPEN IT.
Finally, how can you protect yourself from the "Good Times," "Irina,"
"Deeyenda," and "Penpal Greetings" viruses? YOU DON'T HAVE TO! THEY'RE
HOAXES!
TOURBUS TOP TEN SITE #4 : SPAMS AND URBAN LEGENDS
TODAY'S TOURBUS ADDRESSES :
http://www.urbanlegends.com/afu.faq/index.cgi
http://www.jcn18.com/news/cfv-fail.htm
http://www.legends.org.za/arthur/craig01b.htm
http://www.wish.org/wish/craig.html
http://www.cancer.org/chain.html
http://www.mayo.edu/about/parkin.html
http://www.hmco.com/hmco/trade/hmi/polar/
--------------------------------
TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY
--------------------------------
VITAMIN (phrase) - What you do to guests.
Usage: "Bubba's here? Well, don jus stand there ... vitamin!"
(Special thanks to an anonymous bus rider for today's word)
YOU CAN FIND ALL OF THE OLD SOUTHERN WORDS OF THE DAY ON THE SOUTHERN WORD
HOMEPAGE AT http://ua1ix.ua.edu/~crispen/word.html
[By the way ... that's "you-ay-won-eye-ex"]
=--------------------------------------------------------------------=
For info on my new book "Atlas for the Information Superhighway"
Visit http://ua1ix.ua.edu/~crispen/atlas.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------
=====================[ Tourbus Rider Information ]===================
The Internet Tourbus - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238
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=====================================================================
.~~~. ))
(\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen
/o o \/ .~ The Internet Network Information Center
{o_, \ { Business E-mail: crispen@internic.net
/ , , ) \ Personal E-mail: crispen@brigadoon.com
`~ '-' \ } )) http://www.brigadoon.com/~crispen/
_( ( )_.'
'---..{____} Warning: squirrels.
