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Apparently using the same language makes two pieces of software tied...

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At the risk of opening a shit storm of a thread, I just thought I'd share an example of why I hate fox news.

According to this article, Both angry birds and virus a russian security firm recently found are both written in Lua.

I should note that after the first two paragraphs there isn't any more mention of angry birds or Lua...

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/30/powerful-flame-cyberweapon-tied-to-powerfully-angry-birds/
Sounds almost like they made that "connection" solely to get more people to lick on it going "???"
What sort of nutcase writes an all-in-one spyware program in Lua? O_o

-Albatross
I'm fairly certain it wasn't. I also doubt angry birds was written in lua.
Linux and Windows both have a C API, therefore Linux is a conspiracy initiated by Microsoft.
I don't see why this is a valid example of a reason to hate Fox news. I'm sure they're just regurgitating what other non-technical reports have turned up. Angry birds does use lua, although I'm certain it's not the primary programming language. It's likely the malware mentioned also uses lua (and given other news reports it is the primary language used therein.) And giving the audience a way to relate to a language that most of them, otherwise, would not, doesn't seem unreasonable.

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/30/11962850-was-flame-virus-written-by-cyberwarriors-or-gamers?lite
I don't see why this is a valid example of a reason to hate Fox news.

A misleading allegation like "Powerful ‘Flame’ cyberweapon tied to popular Angry Birds game" as the headline (and using what is presumably the game's logo) is not reason enough?
I don't know the UK's USA's laws, but that's likely well beyond what is legal.
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@cire
The first thought an average consumer who doesn't know anything about programming or the Lua language might think while reading the Fox articles is "Oh god I need to get Angry Birds off my phone!" because they related Flame to Angry Birds in such a way that could lead people to thinking that they're fundamentally similar and Angry Birds is written with a tool used to create malware. The clarification later on was made a bit too soon while people would still be reeling. :/

@Athar
Somehow I don't think Rovio would win in a libel suit against Fox because it could be very hard to prove intent.

-Albatross
It isn't uncommon for the headline to be a caricature of the actual story. I'm sure the average consumer recognizes that headlines are worded to grab your attention and would actually read the first sentence before falling into some blind panic and as the average consumer has some idea what a language is in general, I suspect that would keep them from falling into said blind panic.
I'm sure the average consumer recognizes that headlines are worded to grab your attention and would actually read the first sentence before falling into some blind panic


I think you have too high of an opinion of the intelligence of the average consumer.

If people were as smart as you think they are, Fox News wouldn't even exist. That organization practically built its foundation on taking advantage of ill-informed masses.
I think you have too high of an opinion of the intelligence of the average consumer.


Perhaps, although if the 'average consumer' that consumes news isn't intelligent enough to learn from past experience with headline vis-a-vis article content they should probably be put out of our misery. I wouldn't consider that a short-coming on the news front.
The smart consumers don't bother with watching news because they would know that news (as it exists today) is nothing more than glorified gossip. Our economy is going to shit and they are carrying on about same sex marriage, whether Obama was born in the US, and the fighting in Syria. The news isn't true reporting or news anymore, most news stories are comparable to National Enquirer, Globe, or Daily Mail 'fictional real news' anymore. By 'fictional real news' I'm referring to the articles that claim some false truth and base it around a real on going news story, like when National Enquirer ran the article claiming to know the true murderer of JonBenet Ramsey to get their sales up (never read that article but the cover was self explanatory and obviously designed to sale their paper with false stories).
news (as it exists today) is nothing more than glorified gossip.


Jon Stewart has been saying this for years. Which (in part) is what makes his show so awesome.
I find the FT isn't so bad, and the Economist does well.
Somehow I don't think Rovio would win in a libel suit against Fox because it could be very hard to prove intent.

Intent is not actually necessary. The test is whether or not the libel actually caused harm to the target. The nastier loophole is whether or not the libelous statements were "opinion".

If Rovio were to able to prove that their bottom line was directly affected by Fox's story, then they would have a valid issue.

Fox could avoid further trouble by simply making a relatively prominent effort to straighten out the facts.


That said, IANAL, so... well, that's it.
When some guy down the pub says "I'm not racist, but..." it's warning that what you're about to hear is in fact extreordinarily racist. Fox News leads with "Fair and balanced". Draw your own conclusions regarding the home of the "terrorist fist bump" :)

When I first saw Fox News, I genuinely thought it was a satirical comedy.
Even before the ridiculous Angry Birds link: why does it matter in the first place which language is used to create a virus? Why report on that at all? I can't figure out any reason for this. It's completely irrelevant.

Fox News has always been a beacon of shameful lies and fearmongering.

@Athar:
I don't know the UK's USA's laws, but that's likely well beyond what is legal.


There was a discussion on this on Reddit some time ago. Turns out,
a) Fox News is registered as an entertainment station, not a news station.
b) Even a news station is allowed to lie as much as they want (in the US). They have no obligation for truth, or even proper representation of facts.

I'm quite disappointed with the reporting style of my own news stations and papers, but I don't feel like any of them are trying to influence me. They are overly reporting on celebrities and "the sister of the wife of X, who won talent show Y in the past decade, said.." nonsense, but the (national) politics are rather factual.

I'm even more disappointed with myself since those are the kind of things I read during breaks.
reporting style of my own news stations and papers ... (national) politics are rather factual


If not a secret, which country are you from? Having lived for 1+ year in 3 different countries, and moving to the US (country #4), I am very suspicious of such statements.
a) Fox News is registered as an entertainment station, not a news station.


now that's interesting...
Not really that interesting. Just another inaccurate internet fact based on the misguided notion that the name of the owning company ("Fox Entertainment Group", which is in turn owned by "News Corporation") somehow is an official classification.
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