“There was a great story yesterday by ‘technology writer’ Dan Goodin at the Associated Press, and because it was from the AP, we can read it on several sites,” John Gruber writes for Daring Fireball. “What’s great about an AP story like this one is that if you’re only paying attention to the headlines, it creates the impression that there are multiple reports from all over the web corroborating the same point, when in fact it’s just one story, repeated many times over by news publications that regurgitate whatever comes in over the AP wire.”
“Journalism this good deserves a close analysis,” Gruber writes before providing said analysis with gusto.
“With Apple yesterday launching a new television ad campaign that draws specific, pointed attention to the fact that Macs are not besieged by malware — this sort of bogus ‘trend piece’ that purposefully conflates the issues of whether Macs are in theory potentially vulnerable to malware (yes) with whether Macs are in reality under attack (no) is just what the doctor ordered,” Gruber writes.
“If Goodin wanted to be reasonable or accurate, he could have written a story titled ‘Some Guy Double-Clicked a Trojan Horse Virus for Mac OS X but It Didn’t Actually Spread to Anyone Else,’ but what kind of story would that be? OK, it’d be a true story, but it wouldn’t be a good story,” Gruber writes. “No one would have linked to such a story except to make fun of it: What would be the point of making a big stink out of one guy who got hit by a Mac OS X Trojan horse — which was so poorly written that it couldn’t even successfully spread to another computer — when there are hundreds of thousands (millions?) of Windows users suffering from malware every single day? What good journalism calls for is taking that one guy, and writing an article that presents his episode as though it were part of a trend of increasing Mac virus attacks. No one is going to make fun of Dan Goodin — or the Associated Press, or the dozens of reputable news outlets that ran the story — for that.”
Full article, highly recommended, here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Mac Web is a better place thanks to John Gruber’s writings.
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I wonder what Al Jazoo thinks of “trusted computing”????
lol
I’ll make fun of Dan Goodin. He’s goodin at writing bad stories that are full of FUD!
WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE A VIRUS. GET THIS
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/
AND RUN A CLONE WITH THIS BEFORE IT ALL HAPPENS
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/
OOPS This is the link http://www.intego.com/personalbackup/
All of this Windows viruses vs Mac OS X theoretical viruses reminds me of 2004. Remember when we had two presidential canditates running, one had no military combat experience and the other had 1 silver star, 1 bronze star and 3 purple hearts? Guess who got hit with the FUD campaign?
Now we’ve got windows, known by even my mom to be extremely virus-prone, and we’ve got Mac OS X, which has never had a single virus. Which operating system is getting hit with the FUD?
All we need now is a Microsoft television ad campagin called “Mac OS X virus survivors for truth.”
(…mind you, Microsoft would have no “official” ties to said ad campaign, of course)
And I wonder what Al Jazoo thinks of the “iPod Hi-Fi”????
Nick = Pino
You can run, but you can’t hide from the ‘dude.
MDW: “head” Like Nickie gives great dickie.
I have one final thing I want you to consider. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense!
Just in Case, to answer your question.
Whenever the first virus shows up to really affect OS X, check the Mac webosphere. There will be stories beyond belief obsessing over every nit of this oddity. Wait a day or two for the panic and FUD to calm down, then follow the advice of reputable Mac sites.
Otherwise, follow good security practices: back up your user files regularly, avoid questionable emails, learn about your firewall, download your shareware files from MacUpdate, Versiontracker or Apple.
You can run ClamXav if you’re so inclined. I found one Windows java virus (solution from an anti-virus site found by searching for “virus-name mac” on Google: delete the files), a bunch of phishing emails in my Junk folder and a couple of Classic OS viruses in my old ClarisEmailer folder, again, just delete the files.
Some of you are acting like you just found out that modern “journalism” isn’t about reporting news. No way! It’s about shaping perception. The AP is notorious packaging inuendo as “news”. Most main stream media long ago gave up news for entertainment. It’s all about sensationalism. Normality doesn’t sell. Microsoft and viruses = “Dog bites man”; Macs and viruses = “Man bites dog”.
You know you love me.
You tried and you failed.
Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I’m a lawyer defending a major record company, and I’m talkin’ about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you’re in that jury room deliberatin’ and conjugatin’ the Emancipation Proclamation, [approaches and softens] does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.
Mr. Jazoo, please come with us. We have a nice padded room for you to check out.
No, no, noooooo . . . pino no ‘Nick’. Nick do good all by hisself.
pino appreciate Nick help, but no need.
Actuawwy, pino no need anybody help!
No . . . cuz MacDude/Al Poopoo look like fool all by hisself!!
Foorish! Vewy, vewy foorish you are, Al Poopoo!!!!!
And now pino rearize someting . . . yesssss, pino now utterwy convinced: Al Poopoo is himself a viwus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, viwus . . . dat’s what AL Poopoo is!!! And best thing for viwus, evewybody know: AVOID!!!!!
Avoid Al Poopoo! Put on ‘ignore’ button. Stay awaaaaaaaaaaay fwom him.
Be veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwy caweful, evewyone!
Al Poopoo dangerous! Thoughts, bad!
Ignore him!!! Ignore like da plague!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And your recommend the “men in white coats” for me?
I might be crazy, but I’m not insane like poor pino here.
Ok pino, now don’t smear your poo poo all over your nice white Mac keyboard again.
Rememeber how I made you clean it up with your tongue the last time.
Behave!
all this talk about wookiees is confusing. i must have a virus on my mac! i think i heard it sneeze! or was that my dog? or a wookiee? i better listen to everything the AP says! shape my perception! ahhhhh-CHOOOO!!
I like to spout. I’m on here allllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the time!
Why don’t I have a life? Why do the squirrels spit at me?
There’s only one person I can blame for all this. Yes, one person.
ARE YOU LISTENING, MOTHER????!!????
Get the knives! Get the knives! Get the knives!
What does Al Jazzoo think of all of this? I haven’t heard from her for a while.
All those who are all panicky about Mac viruses, here’s a solution:
1. Take your Ethernet cable
2. Unplug it from your computer
3. Stay off the Internet and have fun playing Chess
For the rest of us, we’ll take precautions, but we’re not going to let FUD rule our lives…
And for those who are saying, “Oh, goody, Macs are going to be just as virus prone as Windows!”, dream on…oh, and “bugs” are not the same thing as viruses…
Wow, I just looked at this page on my Windows Box and I got a malware infection called “SpyFalcon”. I’m in the process of getting rid of it. Thanks for the malware, MDN!
Man, I sure wish Al Jazzoo would post something, I miss her.
(… waiting for my system scan to complete…)
Now my taskbar has this big flashing red thingy in it, and if I click it it opens my browser up to here:
http://www.spyfalcon.com/?aff=265
It happened right after one of these popup ads appeared, spawned by the MDN page. Is that even legal?
Where is the light?
Oh dear God, make the noises stop.
I’m 15, okay? Lay off!
Al, you would only be running X11 on your Mac if you purposely put in the OS X CD, went into Development Tools and installed it. It doesn’t come pre-installed on any Mac, and isn’t installed with the OS when you do a clean install.
I just got a popup notice from my Webroot spysweeper program: It said I was now protected against 136,460 threat traces. Maybe it is time to switch to Mac. LOL
Al, you would only be running X11 on your Mac if you purposely put in the OS X CD, went into Development Tools and installed it. It doesn’t come pre-installed on any Mac, and isn’t installed with the OS when you do a clean install.
duh, some do run X11. A lot of knowledgeable Mac folks have Dev Tools installed, like they should.
And I have a excuse, I’m a paranoid crazy tin-foiled hat dude that’s been driven bonkers by Microsoft malware.
I got a Mac because Chewbacca lives on Endore with a bunch of two foot tall Ewoks and it doesn’t make sense!!
Please pass the kool-aid.