Politics: December 1997 Archives

Trust sources, not information

| | Comments (0)

I could lie to you, and you might never know it. I could put a virus in my software or point you to a fake site that you only think is real. I could even be someone else other than whom you might think I am.

And this does not make me any different from any of the other people on the Internet, or in the popular media. How do you know that I will not give you a virus? How do you know that was said by a "trusted White House official", and that even if it was that he wasn't lying? How do you know that Java is the "next big thing"?

Do not trust any piece of unqualified information, ever. Trust only sources, and trust only the sources which you have reason to trust. If you do not know me and do not know anyone who knows me, do not trust me.

This is not a manifesto. This is just a warning.

<pudge/*> (pronounced "PudgeGlob") is thousands of posts over many years by Pudge.

"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."

About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Politics category from December 1997.

Politics: March 1997 is the previous archive.

Politics: August 1998 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.