Hoaxes On The Internet

Hello Everyone,

And thank you for signing up for my Beta Email Tracking Application or (BETA) for short. My name is Bill Gates. Here at Microsoft we have just compiled an e-mail tracing program that tracks everyone to whom this message is forwarded to. It does this through an unique IP (Internet Protocol) address log book database. We are experimenting with this and need your help. Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches 1000 people, everyone on the list will receive $1000 and a copy of Windows98 at my expense. Enjoy.

Note: Duplicate entries will not be counted. You will be notified by email with further instructions once this email has reached 1000 people. Windows98 will not be shipped until it has been released to the general public.

Your friend,

Bill Gates & The Microsoft Development Team.

Here's what I did:

1. I went to the Microsoft Home Page at http:www.microsoft.com/
2. I clicked the "Search" button on the top.
3. I typed Hoax and came up with the the link On Spam: Wasting time on the Internet at http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/columns/1998essay/3-25col.htm. Here is an excerpt:

Even more annoying than spam, in some respects, are hoaxes. I'm acutely aware of this because my name was recently attached to a hoax e-mail message that was widely distributed.

People embellished the fraudulent e-mail over time, as it was forwarded from electronic mailbox to electronic mailbox, but an early version read this way:

"My name is Bill Gates. I have just written up an e-mail tracing program that traces everyone to whom this message is forwarded to. I am experimenting with this and I need your help. Forward this to everyone you know and if it reaches 1000 people everyone on the list will receive $1000 at my expense. Enjoy. Your friend, Bill Gates."

The bogus message was widely forwarded, which surely led to some disappointment from people who hoped to receive $1,000 for passing along what was essentially a chain letter.

As people forwarded it to everybody they knew who had an e-mail address, they appended wishful commentary:

"I hope this is for real. It would be nice."

"Just read it and pass it on and collect $1000...I hope."

"I'm sure that this is a joke . . . but maybe not."

"I am sure this is a big bunch of hooey . . . but what if it isn't????"

Well, it is hooey. There's a lot of hooey on the Internet, and a lot that's rude. But that doesn't mean the Internet isn't wonderful, that it won't change the world or that it won't get a lot better over time.

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