Editor’s Pick
AUGUST 3, 2011 4:50PM
Microsoft IE Users Are Not Dumb; Journalists Fall for Hoax
For years, the internet security community has bemoaned the flaws in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. There has been a history of years of exploits by hackers. The problems with Microsoft's IE has led to the growth of rival products such as Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Linux and many Apple innovations.
The problems with Internet Explorer led to a recent news story about the intelligence of IE users:
"... A Vancouver based Psychometric Consulting company, AptiQuant, has released a report on a trial it conducted to measure the effects of cognitive ability on the choice of web browser. AptiQuant offered free online IQ tests to over a 100,000 people and then plotted the average IQ scores based on the browser on which the test was taken. And the results are really not that surprising. With just a look at the graphs in the report, it comes out pretty clear that Internet Explorer users scored lower than average on the IQ tests. Chrome, Firefox and Safari users had just a teeny bit higher than average IQ scores. And users of Camino, Opera and IE with Chrome Frame had exceptionally higher IQ levels."
This story had broad circulation among the news media. For example, CNN had a headline which read: "Are Internet Explorer users dumb?".
Well, it seems that the story was a hoax.
Of course, the first clue was the validity of "free online IQ test" to a subject pool of 100,000. Now news agencies, like the BBC, are making apologies:
"A story which suggested that users of Internet Explorer have a lower IQ than people who chose other browsers appears to have been an elaborate hoax.
A number of media organisations, including the BBC, reported on the research, put out by Canadian firm ApTiquant."
The intellect of IE users remain an unknown. However, behaviour evidence suggest that journalists are easily duped. It turns out that the story is just another lesson in fact-checking, a necessary safeguard even in the digital age. Not all press releases are to be believed.
Catherine Forsythe
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Erica K
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Stephanie Russell-Kraft
Jeremiah Horrigan
Salon.com
Comments
Maybe that is a hoax too.:)
HUGGGGGGGGGg
.
My thoughts exactly. My general observation is that those who only use IE explorer are at the least, less tech savvy than those of us who use other browsers.
It's distressing how much fake news gets printed by mainstream media outlets without any attempt to verify facts.