Computerworld Falls For RFID Rifle Hoax

from the fact-checking-is-a-waste-of-time dept

Last year Brian McWilliams pulled off a hoax on Computerworld, convincing a reporter that he was a terrorist hacker who had programmed the Slammer worm. When the story came out there was a lot of embarrassment all around, but it appears that Computerworld hasn't beefed up their fact checking department much. Earlier this month there was some buzz around the blog world about a rifle that would shoot RFID tags into people in order to track them. It wasn't that difficult (beyond just using a bit of common sense) to realize this was actually a hoax. However, thanks to Politech, we discover that Computerworld has fallen for the hoax completely and written up a whole story about it. I wonder how long the story will last until it's taken down. Of course, this also raises questions about where Computerworld got the story. Did they pick it up off a blog and then fail to credit them?
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  • identicon
    dorpus, 28 Apr 2004 @ 5:35am

    Reminds me

    of a hoax a DEA agent pulled off against a Mafia kingpin. The kingpin had been shot in the butt at a New Jersey nightclub, he was in the hospital, and the DEA agent told him that they had surgically planted a listening device in his ass. The kingpin had a nervous breakdown and confessed everything.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Sydney Newman Dotson, 9 Oct 2004 @ 8:13am

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      "Deceased victims of identity theft cannot come back from the dead to defend themselves," says Dotson. "It leaves the victims' children to seek justice on their deceased relatives behalf.“

      "My stepmother had a brilliant scheme. She opened a number of bank accounts in my father's name. The forged signature on the checks matched the signature on the forged will she produced for my father."

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      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    bah, 29 Apr 2004 @ 1:20am

    They shot themselves in the foot

    It's been taken off.
    From the Horses Mouth(TM)

    The page you are looking for is not valid.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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