Fool, and Be Fooled

Screen Grab
By SREENATH SREENIVASAN

You'd be wrong. Thanks to various Web sites and software programs, it is easier than ever to fool and be fooled.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a 120-year tradition of students' playing benign engineering pranks. A year ago today, students hacked the front page of the M.I.T. home page and replaced it with one that announced "Disney to Acquire M.I.T. for $6.9 Billion." So proud are students of their handiwork that they have archived examples of their famous on-line and off-line pranks, including the Disney one, at the M.I.T. Hack Gallery (hacks.mit.edu/Hacks).

Jeffrey Schiller, M.I.T.'s computer network manager, said his team was ready to defend itself against any similar efforts this year. "We are always vigilant," he said, "so my bigger concern is, how funny will it be?" Mr. Schiller said that he discovered last year's Disney hack within three minutes, but left it up for the day because "it was hilarious."

A good starting point for exploring Internet-based pranks is April Fools on the Net , run by David Barberi of 2meta Consulting, in West Chester, Pa (www.2meta.com/april-fools). It serves as an archive of various fake E-mail messages and other pranks. Among the classics in the Top 20 Fools section: the "Internet Cleaning" hoax of 1997, which warned that the entire Internet needed to be shut down on April 1 that year.

That one encouraged people to turn off their computers and servers and disconnect their Internet connections so that "Internet-crawling robots" could remove "electronic flotsam and jetsam" to create a "better-working and faster" Internet.

"Avoid wearing nylon (or other dielectric fiber) undergarments because of the possibility of electrical discharge," the message warned helpfully. And of course it urged Internet users to post the message prominently and to pass it to others.

These hoaxes "thrive on the newbies," said Rob Rosenberger, a security expert who documents hoaxes and debunks phony virus warnings on his site (kumite.com/myths). "One of the first things any new user invariably gets is a hoax of some kind that he or she then forwards to everyone they know," he said.

Intelligent, educated users who throw away chain letters received via the Postal Service seem keen on forwarding the most outrageous fake E-mail about Internet "tolls," or "Walt Disney Jr." giving free Disney World passes to a lucky few thousand people who add their names to an E-mail list.

"The technology makes it so much easier to send messages that no one thinks before hitting the Send button," Mr. Rosenberger said. "They think they can change the world with a few clicks of the mouse."

There is a strong distinction, of course, between the April Fool's tradition of jokestering on the Web and the malicious hoaxes meant to inflict harm on individual or networked computers.

For those wanting to go beyond jokes and fashion for a more sophisticated and personal spoof, there is April Fools.com, which promises: "We don't want to fool you. We want to help you fool someone else." Most of the pranks can be played free (aprilfools.infospace.com).

Another repository of shenanigans is The Free Site. Some of the tricks there, like programs that simulate an accidental erasure of every file on a hard drive, complete with realistic messages and sound effects, are on the cruel side (www.thefreesite.com/aprilfools.htm).

Tricksters who are looking for something tamer can try the April Fool's electronic greetings at the Hallmark Cards site (www.hallmarkconnections.com).

If you do get an E-mail today that seems too good, too bad or too amazing to be true, it probably is. If you harbor suspicions, visit Hoax Kill (www.hoaxkill.com), which tracks urban legends, bogus virus warnings and other pranks and offers help "to actively combat them."

Be careful out there today. You've been warned.

• M.I.T. Hack Gallery

• April Fools on the Net

• April Fools.com

• The Free Site

• Hallmark Cards

• Hoax Kill