Dialogue: Net gossip like a vicious virus

Last week the smart, although fairly illiterate, hackers Prime Suspectz scored some Brownie points with the hacking community when they successfully hijacked the Microsoft site, causing time and money to be wasted and bringing a flurry of negative publicity and damage to the software giant's corporate image.

Although we may assume this sort of internet terrorism is the biggest threat to companies, there is another more insidious way the internet is used for the explicit purpose of time wasting and corporate damage - the electronic whisper campaign.

As one of many chain e-mail recipients, I am often sent requests to ban various brands of clothing and household goods on the basis of so-called shocking revelations. E-mail alerts come in waves. A few months ago we were all on the look out for a shady character selling perfumes in supermarket car parks, and more recently one fuelled my cynicism towards the American dream by almost convincing me that the Apollo moon landings were a Government-inspired hoax and were staged on a Hollywood set.

These e-mails are usually cleverly penned and imply that not only is the news urgent but the contents classified. Thus people respond with a "Crikey, I better let the others know" approach and swing in to action by helpfully forwarding the e-mail to as many friends as possible. Hence, the birth of an urban myth.

Although authorities may be trying to monitor information on the net, it's a relatively hopeless task and the net remains an uncontrollable medium with no code of ethics and policing to ensure fair play.

E-mail encourages rumours and fictitious news to spread like wildfire. Electronic smear campaigns are far more powerful than the traditional Chinese-whisper types of rumour-mongering - the original message stays intact, the printed word is all the more potent and, of course, a friend always forwards it. Everyone knows that word of mouth is one of the most effective forms of advertising.

E-mail opens a new world of manipulating the masses with whisper campaigns created to cause problems to companies and individuals. Who knows which among the many chain e-mails circulating in this underground medium hold any grains of truth? And if they do, why is it that more official sources of news don't champion the cause?

Because of the underground nature of e-mails, victims of whisper campaigns are forced to use the same medium to fight back. A few years ago fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger was the victim of an electronic whisper campaign and to stop the vicious rot used the net to cut if off at the pass.

Remember poor Claire Swire, the not-so-innocent British lass who last year helplessly looked on in horror as a former lover beamed her naughty e-mail describing their sexual exploits to tens, then hundreds, then thousands, then millions of curious recipients in a cumulative nightmare.

In a mere few hours her personal drama became an international episode, an unstoppable epidemic with her name on it and she saw no option but to run for the hills.

Of course, she might like to have considered sweet revenge by way of the same medium that made her infamous, maybe with some compromising photos of the dirty rat, with details modified by computer graphics.

We used to think it was only the United States President who had the ultimate power at the tip of his finger but, in fact, each and every one of us can effect major changes with a push of a finger and often with positive intent.

Last week I was sent yet another petition to sign - this time to ensure no leniency to the juvenile delinquents who murdered British toddler Jamie Bulger. It had 35 names on it but within minutes the petition could more than quadruple in size and the 200th recipient was instructed to e-mail it to the judge in question. I assumed its authenticity and dutifully performed my jury duty by proxy. Alerting the media and using traditional avenues to get groundswell support is often redundant. Sometimes one doesn't have that sort of time.

Now marketers have hooked on the electronic word of mouth gig, viral marketing looks set to be their next big thing. It's fast, cheap and effective and gradually we are being inundated with pesky spam, as electronic e-mail is affectionately referred.

With an escalating number of e-mail claims fuelling an equal number of counter- claims, various petitions that demand our involvement, and an inbox stuffed with junk mail, I'm in the market for an electronic "No Circulars" sign.