Please Don't Spread EMail Viruses

Last week, I got an extremely distressing bit of email, in my Inbox.

I get spam all of the time (I'm sure that you do too), and the content of spam you all know what I'm talking about. Disgusting. This was worse. This wasn't spam, from an anonymous sender.

A friend, who I respect highly, sent this bit of email to me.

I won't repeat the content of the email, but if you wish, you can read about The Budweiser Story, as analysed by Snopes.

This story has been going around the Internet since September 2001. I find it particularly distressing, since

• The story is a lie, and it has been proven to be a lie. Read about The Budweiser Story, as analysed by Snopes.
• I've seen this lie, in my Inbox, several times.
• This lie stays alive because American citizens seem to want to believe that it's true. I've seen this lie several times, and not once has it been prefaced with

  Here's a nice bit of fiction.

  or even with

  Here's a nasty bit of fiction.

  No, it's almost always prefaced with

  Here's an inspiring true story about real Americans supporting real Americans.

• The United States Of America is a nation of many faiths, and many of us celebrate our diversity in various ways.
• Christians, Jews, and Muslims are all Children Of Abraham. True followers of Allah do not kill followers of Jehovah, simply because they are followers of Jehovah. There is a war going on right now, but it is not Followers of Allah vs Followers of Jehovah.
• Americans do not rejoice as other Americans die.

Don't spread lies. This lie is spreading virally. Don't spread viruses, particularly EMail viruses. There are several reliable web sites that exist solely to identify lies and viruses, like The Budweiser Story.

• F-Secure. http://www.f-secure.com/virus-info/hoax/
• HoaxBusters. http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
• McAfee. http://vil.mcafee.com/hoax.asp
• ScamBusters. http://www.scambusters.org/legends.html
• Symantec. http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
• TrendMicro. http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hoaxes/hoax.asp
• Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/virus.htm
• VMyths. http://vmyths.com/

Learn these websites, and use them. And the next time you get email that starts out

I know that you won't believe this but ...

or

This is a true story. Really.

check out what you are being told, against 2 or 3 of the above links. And maybe you'll know enough to say

NO it's not true.

Please.

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