[GTALUG] Man deletes his entire company

[CLIFFORD ILKAY]

On 15/04/16 01:54 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
> | From: Mauro Souza <thoriumbr at gmail.com>
>
> | I saw this on Slashdot and on serverfault. He was using Ansible at the
> | time, and all remote backups were mounted at that time, and wiped clean too.
>
> ServerFault has declared it to be a hoax and taken it down.
>
> <http://meta.serverfault.com/questions/8696/what-to-do-with-the-rm-rf-hoax-question>

The unfortunate part of all this is that it has gone viral and 
half-truths and outright falsehoods are being spread by those who are 
either clueless or have an axe to grind. Think of who benefits when the 
mainstream media picks up this story and the "Linux scary" message is 
imprinted into the minds of the PHBs and the generally tech-illiterate 
population.

I see so much of this in other spheres, particularly when it comes to 
anything to do with terrorism, refugees, or Islam, on social media. 
Stupid algorithms of course will pick up that I used those three words 
in succession and might further reinforce the biases of those who are 
constantly beating that drum. Here is a recent example. 
<https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/the-chronicle-herald-unfairly-maligns-kids-in-attack-on-refugees/> 
The usual suspects were all over the original story that the Chronicle 
Herald ran and it was spread like wildfire by those who are predisposed 
to look for confirmation of their biases. By the time the article 
referenced above came out, the damage had already been done. The echo 
chamber known as "social media" had firmly established the original 
story as "the truth", not unlike the belief amongst a substantial part 
of the American population that the 9/11 hijackers entered the Unites 
States via Canada.

The Internet is like a Hydra (from Greek mythology, not Marvel Comics) 
once stories like this go viral. I'd love to know who started this and 
what their motivations were.

-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay

+ 1 647-778-8696