Urban legends have been with us since human beings started sharing stories. The best urban legends are dramatic, unbelievable and told with such frequency that recipients assume they have to be true. There are the historic "URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL" lucrative business proposals from deposed Nigerian leaders, the horrifying heroin-contaminated hypodermic needle in the McDonald's ball play area and the albino alligators terrorizing New York City sewers.
Of course, these outlandish stories are totally false. The world of information technology is not immune from the reaches of the urban legend. Here are some of the most notable IT urban legends that have propagated over the years.
iPods are lightning rods
In July 2007, online publications blurted that "iPods Attract Lightning" and "Using Portable Music Players Attracts Lightning."
The headlines weren't true. The stories referred to doctors' findings in The New England Journal of Medicine that described the cases of men in Canada and Colorado being struck by lightning while wearing iPods. Their injuries--ruptured eardrums, hearing loss and burns--matched the pathway of the headphone cord.
The doctors did not say that the iPod acted as a lightning rod, though, and another letter to the Journal noted: "Eardrum perforation is the norm in lightning-related injury, not a sign of any special effect due to an iPod."
SAP's Hasso Plattner moons Oracle's Larry Ellison on the high seas
Yes, Hasso Plattner directed a classic insulting gesture at Larry Ellison's yacht-racing team. But he didn't actually flash his backside at the Oracle chairman personally.
To counter stories of the alleged incident in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, Plattner bared all on the legendary "pants dropping" affair to Sailing World.
Plattner says he did not moon Ellison or his Sayonara crew during the 1996 Kenwood Cup off Hawaii. As Plattner's wounded yacht Morning Glory tumbled on rough seas with a broken mast and bloodied crew member, it was Ellison's tender (a boat that supports the racing yachts) that circled Plattner's vessel and did not help. (The Sayonara was past Plattner's yacht at this time.) So, Plattner says, "I lowered my pants." A video of the event is rumored to exist.
Microsoft's Wired portable potty
In early May 2003, the news broke: Microsoft's portable toilet iLoo (using the more elegant British term) was in the works, complete with internal wireless keyboard, plasma screen and external MSN "Hotmail station" (for those waiting in line). According to urban legend site Snopes.com, several news outlets including the Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal ran with the story. It turned out it was all a PR gimmick, emanating from Microsoft's British offices.
Saddam Hussein purchases 4,000 PlayStation 2s for his WMD program
WorldNetDaily.com blasted this gem on Dec. 19, 2000: "Why Iraq's buying up Sony PlayStation 2s: Intelligence experts fear games bundled for military applications." Anonymous military sources cited the 128-bit CPU power and graphics capabilities of the PS2, and said that Iraqis could build a "crude super-computer." Bundling 12 to 15 PlayStations could enable an unmanned aerial attack vehicle, the report suggested.
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