Why Information Quality Matters
The events described below actually happened. They document incidents that involve false or fraudulent information, illicit revisions of published works and printing errors. Follow the links below for more information about each incident.
Bogus Information
- Suspect Is Arrested in Fake News Case, New York Times, 1 September 2000
- FBI Arrests Man in Shares Hoax, BBC News, 1 September 2000
- Bogus press release distributed on newswire service
- Some news media ran the story
Moral of the story:
- Bad information can appear in the news
- A phone call can save face (A call to Emulex would have exposed the hoax.)
Web Scams
- Sham Site is a Scam, Federal Trade Commission, 12 February 2004
- Do-Not-Email registry copies FTC Do-Not-Call site
- Solicits email addresses
Moral of the story:
- Scams abound in email and on the Web
- Know who you are doing business with
- Insist on a secure Web page for the submission of personal information
Falsified Research
- Scientific Fraud Found at Bell Labs, Associated Press, 26 September 2002 (Newer story on research fraud: Fraud Investigation, Chemical & Engineering News, 6 January 2006)
- Articles published, and patents submitted, based on misrepresented research data
Moral of the story:
- Professional publications are not immune to bad information
- Skepticism and verification are your best defenses
Illicitly Edited Works
- Yahoo News Hacked, Security Focus, 18 September 2001
- Hacker edited several stories at Yahoo News for 2 months
Moral of the story:
- Electronic information can be changed surreptitiously after publication
- Skepticism and verification is your best defense
Bad Information in Print
- Recall of Dummies Book, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 15 October 2003 (Newer story on another book error: Find of Sun King's Secret Diaries Sounded Almost Too Good to Be True. And It Was ..., The Guardian, 29 April 2008)
- Error in instructions for making lye created a burn hazard
Moral of the story:
- Errors appear in print too
Hoax Sources
- Who Is Robert Klinger? Slate, 12 March 2002
- Con artist duped Slate reporter into publishing two diary entries he thought came from the CEO of BMW
Moral of the story:
- Check out (verify) sources
- Don't rely exclusively on email for communication
- Consult a technician if you suspect the source of an email
Unreliable or Inaccurate Sources
- Analysis Gives Health Grades Flunking Marks, Rocky Mountain News, 16 October 2004
- Rocky Mountain news surveyed physician profiles provided by Health Grades and found they were accurate only 42 percent of the time.
- Profiles or reports on people are often inaccurate because of errors in reporting information.
Moral of the story:
- Get information from the primary source when possible
- The primary source, in this case, is the state medical board
- Always verify information, especially information about people
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