Comments on: Fox News reports new Mac virus that is neither Mac nor viral nor new

By: enzos

enzos — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:27:28 +0000

Hi Dan.. map skills? … here’s The Chaser team from “CNNNN” asking typical Americans in the street which country America should invade next. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hp4iI59BfpQ

By: ejon123

ejon123 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:22:20 +0000

Walter doth protest too much.

By: walter

walter — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:41:49 +0000

I should declare that a defense of Fox News is not a defense of the corrupt Republicans mentioned in this article. Craig is a dirtbag and Sanford should resign or be thrown out of office. And not just because he used taxpayer dollars to fund his escapade in South America, but because, if he can’t be trusted by his own wife, then he certainly can’t be trusted by the people of South Carolina. People in power should be held to high standards of conduct than simple legality.

One of the biggest problems of this country is its descent into party politics. People are more concerned about the advancement of their parties than doing what is right.

My question is, where is Watchdog Dan when other mainstream media outlets publish misinformation? This smacks of the same old partisan politics.

By: benlewis

benlewis — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:14:11 +0000

Wide Stance – LOL

By: mihomeagent

mihomeagent — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:52:32 +0000

Oh, and by the way: The claim that the reason for your roping Fox into this because “the problem with the article was mainly in the headline” is even more risible than your lame justification that Fox readers just kant thumk deap enuff. Just one example of another outlet’s headlining of the same Associated Press story: “Porn ruse shows Macs’ are bigger target for crooks.” Wow! There’s some huge differences! That would sure not convey what Fox’s headline conveyed, would it? Actually what it does is show that the Fox News headline did NOT, as you claimed it does and constitutes “the problem,” contradict the AP story.

Clearly, the problem with the article is not mainly in the headline; otherwise your article wouldn’t have needed to pick apart the serial contradictions in the article itself. But then, your real motivation was to bash Fox, anyone conservative who happens to watch Fox News, the Republican party, and — what the hell, you know it’s true as I know it even if he’s not mentioned — George Bush.

And now for the piece de resistance: Way to stay current, Dan. So hysterical are you to bash Fox (add the rest of the list here), you grope back to a story that is from November 02, 2007 — yes, 2007 — to find a sin for Fox to have committed. Yet your tone and breathlessness in this report of yours, dated July 30, 2009, with its reference to how the threat is already two years old, is meant to convey that you are talking about a recent or current Fox News report.

What’s going on with that? Are you assuming that your readers won’t “read into facts beyond the simple half dozen words in the headline (or talking point)”?

By: mihomeagent

mihomeagent — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:36:22 +0000

Yeah, Dan. That would be far more convincing if other networks did not make the same errors occasionally too in their Chiron graphics; if in a massive proportion of stories about Democratic malfeasants the party were not simply ignored while it is played up in stories about Republican malfeasants; and if there were any truth at all to your broadbrush smear of Fox watchers, as if you have any clue at all about what its audience reads or reads into. As usual, your unnecessary political turns in your articles only drag them down into ludicrous hysteria.

By: danieleran

danieleran — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:52:22 +0000

The problem with the article was mainly in the headline. That’s an issue for Fox’s audience, which doesn’t read into facts beyond the simple half dozen words in the headline (or talking point).

The fact that the (Fox) headline contradicted the (AP) story is just more telling.

And yes, Fox does occasionally label Democrats as Republicans, such as in races where the Democrat is winning. So not entirely random.

As Thomas points out, Intego is as much of a villain in pushing this fear mongering.

Also – Apple has issued a patch for the SMS issue in iPhone 3.01.

By: Thomas

Thomas — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:31:27 +0000

Don’t forget Intego’s role in the fear-mongering. They will get out in front of the first whisper of trouble to pitch their products. They have no shame at all.

By: VeoSotano

VeoSotano — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:43:49 +0000

It doesn’t matter if the story comes from Fox or from AP or wherever… Fact is that it’s FUD and missinformation. This kind of articles are the ones that Windows enthusiasts like to refer to (though always vaguely) when saying that Mac OSX has viruses and that it is only a matter of time that Apple’s security state is the same as Microsoft’s. Uh-oh!

By: ebob

ebob — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:58:41 +0000

This story doesn’t seem to be up to Daniel’s usual level of research and analysis. This AP story was picked up by USA Today and Highbeam Research (which seems to simply be a feed aggregator). The headlines there were “Porn ruse shows Macs’ are bigger target for crooks” and “Online Crooks Target Macs With Porn Ruse”. [sic–The stray apostrophe really was in USA Today's headline.]

More interesting would be this article about an SMS vulnerability that Apple has known about for weeks and still not fixed (though Google fixed the same vulnerability promptly): http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10299378-245.html?tag=rtcol;pop