Combating Hate: Cyber Safety

Michael Jordan Target of Bogus Internet Report

A recent "news item" posted on several Web sites and circulated via e-mail alleges that basketball legend Michael Jordan was recently criticized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and others for wearing a black armband to show solidarity with the Palestinians. The report reads as if it were a news story, yet has no validity or truth whatsoever. The quotes attributed to an ADL spokesperson are fabricated.

One version of the e-mail, which has been posted on a Muslim listserve, was altered to give it the appearance of having been distributed from The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a national civil rights organization. This is simply not true. On its Web site, the ADC indicates that their organization has recently been the target of malicious e-mail attacks, where hackers posing as legitimate ADC e-mail users have sent out thousands of forged messages.