HOW TO CONVINCE THE MEDIA YOU’RE A TERRORIST

Interesting snippet from John Gehl’s great ‘Above the Fold’ IT-e-newsletter today on how easy it was for a journalist to con Computerworld into thinking one of their correspondents was the Slammer worm hyper-terrorist:
Although it violates journalistic ethics for a reporter to misrepresent his identity, freelance journalist Brian McWilliams (whose work has appeared in Salon and Wired News) used a fake Web site and phony ID to deceive Computerworld’s Dan Verton into believing that he was a Pakistan-based terrorist who unleashed the recent Slammer network worm on the world. Computerworld published, then quickly retracted, Verton’s story. McWilliams says he wanted to teach reporters “to be more skeptical of people who claim they’re involved in cyber-terrorism.” Computerworld editor-in-chief Maryfran Johnson says, “I couldn’t believe a journalist could do this to another journalist,” and Verton says, “I feel like I’ve been had, and that’s never an easy thing to swallow. So, I’m left here scratching fleas as the price you sometimes pay for sleeping with dogs.” (AP/San Jose Mercury News 7 Feb2003)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5127584.htm