Subject: E-mail Virus Warnings Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:07:51 +0000 To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: Eddie Chumney To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com Subject: E-mail Virus Warnings Dear Mishpachah (family): Can you imagane if I got $1 for every time a warm hearted person on the internet sent me a mail message warning me of getting viruses in my e-mail? I would be rich! But, the fact is you CANNOT get a virus through normal text in an e-mail. You can only get a virus through executable programs. The following is a full explanation of how you can and cannot get e-mail viruses. Perhaps by educating yourself, you can educate others. Eddie Chumney ************************************************************************* Date: 14 June 1998, 13:36:01 EDT From: crispen@NETSQUIRREL.COM To: TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Reply-To: TOURBUS-Request@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Subject: TOURBUS -- 11 JUNE 1998 -- TOURBUS URBAN LEGEND COMBAT KIT Sender The Internet TourBus - A virtual tour of cyberspace <TOURBUS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM> _________ ____________ ________ __________ _____________ ___ _ TODAY'S TOURBUS STOP: THE TOURBUS URBAN LEGEND COMBAT KIT (PART 1) Howdy, y'all! The summer term at the University of Alabama began a few days ago, so this and the next four TOURBUS posts from me will probably be posted a couple of days late (like on Saturday-ish instead of Thursday-ish). As anyone who has taken university summer term classes can attest, every waking hour of my life is now consumed with studying. :( One of the nice things about taking summer term classes, though, is that my classroom experiences are a great source for new TOURBUS material. For example, today's Southern Word of the Day comes from something my strategic management professor said in a lecture on Friday. And the whole idea for today's post comes from an experience I had a couple of days ago at the University of Alabama's records office. While I was waiting for the lady to key in the changes to my schedule, I noticed she had taped the following warning to her monitor (and I am kind of paraphrasing here): DO NOT OPEN ANY EMAIL MESSAGES WITH THE SUBJECT LINES "GOOD TIMES" OR "AOL4FREE." THESE MESSAGES CONTAIN VIRUSES THAT WILL DESTROY YOUR HARD DRIVE. If you have been on our little bus of Internet happiness for a while your response is probably identical to mine: an audible groan. EVERYONE should know by now that you can't get a virus from a plain- text email message, regardless of its subject line. Period. But it is clear that EVERYONE doesn't know this, because my email box (and I would guess yours as well) is packed with email virus warning messages, pleas to help a dying kid, announcements that Nike is giving away free shoes, and requests to help Bill Gates test an email tracing program. To help you combat all of these urban legends, I have created the "TOURBUS Urban Legend Combat Kit." Here is how the Urban Legend Combat Kit works. What follows is a collection of business-related urban legend stuff you are free to cut and paste into a new email message (I'll post the email-virus-related stuff next week). You can then send the "cut and pasted" stuff to the person who sent you the urban legend. The first section of the Urban Legend Combat kit contains a brief introductory note that says, pretty much Thanks for the urban legend, bozo. The story is false. Wanna know how I know this? I read it in TOURBUS. You should be reading TOURBUS too, especially before you breed and pollute this world with more bozos like you. Here's how to subscribe. In other words, the first section is shameless self-promotion. The second section is a collection of resources that will help you debunk most of the business-related urban legends floating around the Net right now. [As I said earlier, I'll get to the email-virus-related urban legends next week.] So, when someone sends you an urban legend (for example, the "Craig Shergold Brain Tumor Boy" story), all you have to do is: 1. Cut and paste the rest of this post into a new email letter to the bozo who sent you the urban legend; and 2. Delete all of the stuff that doesn't relate to the urban legend you received (make sure you keep the introductory paragraph, though). Here we go ... -------------------------------------------------------- PART 1: THE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH (PLEASE INCLUDE THIS!) -------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for the email! Unfortunately, the story you sent me isn't true. I subscribe to a really fun Internet newsletter called "TOURBUS" which debunked this urban legend *AGES* ago. I really recommend you "hop on the bus." Besides being a free, semi-weekly email-based newsletter that talks about neat sites on the Net, TOURBUS is also one of the few Internet newsletters I have found that is consistently worth reading. You can subscribe to TOURBUS for free at <http://www.tourbus.com/tickets.htm>. Here is what TOURBUS has to say about the email that you just sent me: ------------------------------------------------------------------- PART 2: THE URBAN LEGENDS (CUT AND PASTE THE PARAGRAPH(S) THAT ARE APPROPRIATE. WHAT FOLLOWS ARE BUSINESS-RELATED URBAN LEGENDS. THE EMAIL-VIRUS-RELATED URBAN LEGENDS WILL BE POSTED NEXT WEEK. ------------------------------------------------------------------- THE URBAN LEGEND: The President of Procter & Gamble appeared on the Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of Satan THE TRUTH (INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE): The story about a Proctor & Gamble executive proclaiming his love of Satan on the Donahue show is completely false. According to Phil Donahue The president of P&G has never appeared on DONAHUE, nor has any other P&G executive. Anyone who claims to have seen such a broadcast is either mistaken or lying. It never happened! In fact, Proctor & Gamble has created an entire Web page to debunk this urban legend <http://www.pg.com/rumor/>. This page also includes letters of support for Proctor & Gamble from Phil Donahue, the Archbishop of Cincinnati, Rev. Jerry Falwell, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. By the way, the folks at Proctor & Gamble are taking this urban legend seriously. So far, they have filed and won over a dozen lawsuits against people who have spread this story. Since you are one of the people who has spread this story, it might be a smart idea if you forward this entire email letter (unchanged) to everyone who received your original "Proctor & Gamble" message so they know the original message you sent them is a hoax. ----- THE URBAN LEGEND: Bill Gates has written an email-tracing program and wants you to test it out for him. In return, he'll send you US$1000 and a copy of Windows98. [A similar version of this story says that Nike is testing the program for Microsoft.] THE TRUTH (INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE): The Bill Gates email tracing program story is a hoax that has been floating around the Net since November of 1997. The story wasn't true then, and it isn't true now. To find out more about this hoax, check out the Mining Company's Urban Legends and Folklore site at http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/blgates.htm By the way, I noticed several people in the message you sent me had written something like "who could it hurt?" The answer is *YOU*! Proctor & Gamble has been dealing with a similar urban legend recently (the P&G urban legend says a P&G executive proclaimed his love of Satan on the Donahue show, and asks everyone to boycott P&G's products). Proctor & Gamble's response? So far, they have filed and won over a dozen lawsuits against people who have spread this story. While Microsoft hasn't filed a lawsuit against anyone (yet), you might want to play it safe and forward this entire email letter (unchanged) to everyone who received your original "Bill Gates email tracing program" message so they know the original message you sent them is a hoax. ----- THE URBAN LEGEND: Nike will send you a free pair of shoes for every pair you send back to the factory to be recycled. THE TRUTH (INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE): The story that Nike will send you free shoes is a hoax that has been floating around the Net since the beginning of 1998. In a recent press release, Nike's response was Nike reiterates that all such offers did not originate with Nike and are false. [from http://207.87.4.130/s_release.html] You can find out more about the Nike hoax at http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa032598.htm Proctor & Gamble has been dealing with a similar urban legend recently (the P&G urban legend says a P&G executive proclaimed his love of Satan on the Donahue show, and asks everyone to boycott P&G's products). Proctor & Gamble's response? So far, they have filed and won over a dozen lawsuits against people who have spread this story. While Nike hasn't filed a lawsuit against anyone (yet), you might want to play it safe and forward this entire email letter (unchanged) to everyone who received your original "Free Shoes from Nike" message so they know the original message you sent them is a hoax. ----- THE URBAN LEGEND: Dying kid, part 1. A young kid is dying of cancer, and the American Cancer Society will donate X number of cents toward continuing cancer research for every new person that gets forwarded a particular email message. THE TRUTH (INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE): The email message stating that the American Cancer Society will make a donation for everyone you forward a particular email message to is a cruel and sick joke that has been circulating around the Net for over a year. For the record, no fundraising efforts are being made by the American Cancer Society using chain letters of any kind. In fact, the American Cancer Society has issued a press release at http://www.cancer.org/chain.html claiming that this "dying child" email letter is "fraudulent." You can find out more about the history behind this fraudulent email letter at http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/bljess.htm Proctor & Gamble has been dealing with a similar urban legend recently (the P&G urban legend says a P&G executive proclaimed his love of Satan on the Donahue show, and asks everyone to boycott P&G's products). Proctor & Gamble's response? So far, they have filed and won over a dozen lawsuits against people who have spread this story. While the American Cancer Society hasn't filed a lawsuit against anyone (yet), you might want to play it safe and forward this entire email letter (unchanged) to everyone who received your original "dying child" message so they know the original message you sent them is a hoax. ----- URBAN LEGEND: Dying child #2. A dying child wants to be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most greeting cards. The cards should be sent to the Make a Wish Foundation. THE TRUTH (INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE): The story about a dying child wanting you to send him cards through the Make-A-Wish foundation is an urban legend that has plagued Make-A- Wish for well over 8 years. Make-A-Wish has nothing to do with this bogus request, and they have even created a special Web site that deals with this hoax <http://www.wish.org/craig.htm>. The story started in 1989 when Craig Shergold, a 9-year-old English boy diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor, wanted to be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most greeting cards. His wish was fulfilled in 1990 after receiving 16 million cards. The child no longer wants any cards. You can find the complete history of the story at http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa102997.htm Proctor & Gamble has been dealing with a similar urban legend recently (the P&G urban legend says a P&G executive proclaimed his love of Satan on the Donahue show, and asks everyone to boycott P&G's products). Proctor & Gamble's response? So far, they have filed and won over a dozen lawsuits against people who have spread this story. While the Make-A-Wish Foundation hasn't filed a lawsuit against anyone (yet), you might want to play it safe and forward this entire email letter (unchanged) to everyone who received your original "dying child" message so they know the original message you sent them is a hoax. ----- URBAN LEGEND: Dying kid #3. A kid is dying of "ostiopliosis" of the liver. Forward an email letter to as many people as possible, and X cents will be donated to the "National Disease Society." THE TRUTH (INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING IN YOUR EMAIL MESSAGE): The story of the dying child who wants you to forward an email message to as many people as possible is a cruel hoax. There is no such organization as the National Disease Society and there is no such disease as "ostriopliosis of the liver." You can find out the complete story behind this hoax at http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/weekly/aa021198.htm Since the "dying child" story you just sent out is untrue, you might want to play it safe and forward this entire email letter (unchanged) to everyone who received your original "dying child" message so they know the original message you sent them is a hoax. -------------------------------- TODAY'S SOUTHERN WORD OF THE DAY -------------------------------- TARA or TERRA (noun). A state of fear. Usage: "I haven't felt this much tera since the night our football team had to play against Bama!" [Special thanks goes to Dr. Art Thompson for today's wurd] You can find all of the old Southern Words of the day at http://netsquirrel.com/crispen/word.html =--------------------------------------------------------------------= For info on my book "Atlas for the Information Superhighway" Visit http://www.brigadoon.com/~crispen/atlas.html --------------------------------------------------------------------- =====================[ TOURBUS Rider Information ]=================== The Internet TOURBUS - U.S. Library of Congress ISSN #1094-2238 Copyright 1995-98, Rankin & Crispen - All rights reserved Archives on the Web at http://www.TOURBUS.com ===================================================================== .~~~. )) (\__/) .' ) )) Patrick Douglas Crispen /o o \/ .~ {o_, \ { **NEW** crispen@netsquirrel.com **NEW** / , , ) \ http://www.netsquirrel.com/ `~ '-' \ } )) _( ( )_.' Warning: squirrels. '---..{____} ***********************************************************************