mfr_blog_breezer
Breezer Entries
Monday, November 06, 2006
Welcome
I’m Gene Hilsheimer and I live in Panama City, Florida. I’ve got this little domain called hilsheimer.org and I have no idea how it will ultimately turn out… but it seems like a good idea to try to connect Hilsheimers from all over the world together somehow… just because we can in this day and age.
I’ll spend the next few weeks (or months) figuring out what I can, should, might and will do here.
Any suggestions are welcome… My email address is .
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Friday, June 18, 2010
Cyberhoax: Lie Spreads on Internet
Cyberhoax: Lie Spreads on Internet
By Curtis Morgan and Elisabeth Donovan
This article was published Friday, August 2, 1996 in the Miami Herald.
In cyberspace, they call it trolling. Post something outrageous online and see who bites. Someone went trolling last week, placing a bogus message about the downing of TWA Flight 800, using the hot-button words “Bill Clinton” and a credible source, “The Miami Herald.”
The result: fodder for anti-government conspiracy buffs, a rumor that spread like electronic wildfire, a flood of inquiries to The Herald - and some questions about the power of the Internet.
“There is a lot of fear going on around that this kind of thing could have serious ramifications,” said Charles Green, a journalism professor at Florida International University.
On July 24, a short message appeared in the alt.conspiracy newsgroup, one of thousands of discussion forums on the Internet, about the TWA crash off Long Island that killed all 230 people aboard.
It read: “It was reported in The Miami Herald today that two of the passengers were former Arkansas state troopers that were on Bill Clinton’s security detail. They were on their way to Paris to be interviewed by the LeMonde in Paris, as well as the News of the World in London.”
Some ex-troopers who guarded Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas have alleged that they helped him meet women and book hotel rooms for illicit liaisons. Clinton has repeatedly denied the allegations.
But there were no troopers aboard the flight. The Herald never carried such a story. Nor did any other major media.
The posting sat three days before another user calling himself Rambo copied it to other Web sites whose addresses include telltale words like activism.militia, survivalism and impeach.clinton.
By Thursday, the message was on at least a dozen news groups frequented by anti-government users, and it drew immediate response. Most scoffed or emphasized that it was an unverified report, but some swallowed the bait. They viewed it as an extension of tragic events - which they consider suspicious - that include the suicide of presidential adviser Vincent Foster and the death of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in a plane crash in Bosnia.
“Read the reports,” one entry says, “so far over 100 people that worked for him in Ark. are dead.”
Another rebuffs a doubter this way: “Why do you say conspiracy theory? I thought this was a mention of a fact seen in the Miami Herald. You can make your own conclusions.”
On the airwaves
The hoax also reached both short wave and talk radio. The Herald received calls from Idaho, California, Virginia, Maryland and elsewhere from people seeking copies of the article.
Robert Wilson, who does radio commentary for Wake Up America, a Washington, D.C.-based program that broadcasts on five stations covering 20 states, called The Herald to verify the story. He heard it on tape from another radio show, reported as fact. Wilson called the fabrication “poisonous information from a poisoned well.”
The hoax does raise questions about the ‘Net. No one can say how many bogus messages are sent out every day, but the TWA hoax underlines how easily the ‘Net can be misused.
Hilbert Levitz, a computer-science professor at Florida State University and president of the city’s free online system, says pranks have not created widespread problems but have been mostly simple annoyances.
“It doesn’t seem to be as serious as it could be, but the potential is there,” Levitz said.
Green, the FIU professor, likens the ‘Net to a street corner. “Anyone can come along and say what they want.”
Most people will take ‘Net discussions with a grain of salt, but others simply believe what they read. That poses some dangers.
Hypothetical Case
“Take a company stock, for example,” Green said. “Say someone posts that The Wall Street Journal has reported that the president of a major multinational corporation has absconded with the company funds.”
There is already heated debate over the issue of privacy on the ‘Net. Pranks like this will only add fuel to the fire. Green expects the Net will eventually have to find a way to deal with such problems. For now, though, no one can agree on how - or if - to police the ‘Net.
The Herald traced the original posting to the Internet address of Gene Hilsheimer, who supervises a military flight simulator in Panama City. Hilsheimer denied creating it. “Well, gosh, it’s amazing what goes out there and is picked up,” said Hilsheimer, a former Homestead resident who moved to the Panhandle after he was displaced by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. But in electronic mail to The Herald, he played coy: “I am certain that the person or persons who posted this . . . had no idea how many difficulties they may have created for both of us. However, if it was a simple troll, then whoever it was must be amazed at the effect they have had. Probably well beyond their original expectations.”
“Whoever they are, they should be ashamed of themselves and advised to pick a more fictitious source if they ever decide to go trolling in the future.”
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Hilsheimer Forum
Well… I figured out how to get the Express Engind forum installed and configured so it’s ready to go…
I’m still learning about how it all works… so if you get there and have any questions, just shoot me an email and together, we’ll figure it out… There’s a link to it over there in the right rail - above the Calendar.
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