Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Browser Usage
Encyclopedia
"Intelligence Quotient and Browser Usage" was a hoax
study allegedly released by a Canadian company called AptiQuant Psychometric Consulting Co. on July 26, 2011, that claimed to have correlated the IQs of 100,000 internet users with which web browsers they used. Its claims that users of Microsoft
's Internet Explorer
had lower IQs than users of other browsers was widely covered in the media, and its revelation as a hoax was widely cited as an example of the weaknesses of the media. The speed with which the story was reported was also alleged by some to be indicative of anti-Microsoft bias.
The hoax was arranged by 28 year old Tarandeep Gill, a web developer from Vancouver, British Columbia. He claimed it was to raise awareness of the outdated nature of earlier versions of Internet Explorer that still have significant market share.
It came amid a wave of other negative coverage of earlier versions of Internet Explorer.
The study was presented as measuring how IQ affects choices to adopt new technologies.
.
When the report was first covered by the BBC
some readers were skeptical of its authenticity and quickly noted that the domain for the company had only been set up a month prior and that pictures of the company's staff were from the French company Central Test. Central Test began investigating the issue and said it was considering legal action against whomever had used the photos. It was initially suspected that the whole thing was a plot to spread malware
; however, the PDF was examined and none was found. As the hoax was uncovered additional problems with the report were raised, the results were noted as improbable and the task of collecting 100,000 users very difficult. The address given on the website was looked up using Google Street View
and it turned out to be just a parking lot.
While the story was being covered Gill posed as Leonard Howard, the fabricated owner of AptiQuant, to the media. He also wrote a blog on the AptiQuant website about how they were being sued by Internet Explorer users and that it had been receiving hate mail.
Internet Explorer users acted defensively.
Some news outlets criticized the methodology of the study, although without realizing it was hoax. It was even described as "Junk science at its worst". Some defended the study; for example, The Register
wrote, "The methodology of the study appears sound."
Hoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
study allegedly released by a Canadian company called AptiQuant Psychometric Consulting Co. on July 26, 2011, that claimed to have correlated the IQs of 100,000 internet users with which web browsers they used. Its claims that users of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
had lower IQs than users of other browsers was widely covered in the media, and its revelation as a hoax was widely cited as an example of the weaknesses of the media. The speed with which the story was reported was also alleged by some to be indicative of anti-Microsoft bias.
The hoax was arranged by 28 year old Tarandeep Gill, a web developer from Vancouver, British Columbia. He claimed it was to raise awareness of the outdated nature of earlier versions of Internet Explorer that still have significant market share.
It came amid a wave of other negative coverage of earlier versions of Internet Explorer.
The reported results
| Browser | Average IQ, 2006 | Average IQ, 2011 |
| Internet Explorer 6 Internet Explorer 6 Internet Explorer 6 is the sixth major revision of Internet Explorer, a web browser developed by Microsoft for Windows operating systems... |
103 | 83 |
| Internet Explorer 7 Internet Explorer 7 Windows Internet Explorer 7 is a web browser released by Microsoft in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 is part of a long line of versions of Internet Explorer and was the first major update to the browser in more than 5 years... |
108 | 88 |
| Internet Explorer 8 Internet Explorer 8 Windows Internet Explorer 8 is a web browser developed by Microsoft in the Internet Explorer browser series. The browser was released on March 19, 2009 for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit builds are available... |
||
| 92 | ||
| Internet Explorer 9 Internet Explorer 9 Windows Internet Explorer 9 is the current version of the Internet Explorer web browser from Microsoft. It was released to the public on March 14, 2011 at 21:00 PDT. Internet Explorer 9 supports several CSS 3 properties, embedded ICC v2 or v4 color profiles support via Windows Color System, and... |
||
| 90 | ||
| Firefox | 104 | 108 |
| Chrome Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or... |
||
| 112 | ||
| Safari Safari (web browser) Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the... |
113 | 114 |
| Internet Explorer Internet Explorer Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year... with Google Chrome Frame Google Chrome Frame Google Chrome Frame is a plug-in designed for Internet Explorer based on the open-source Chromium project. It went stable on September 2010, on the first birthday of the project.... |
||
| 123 | ||
| Camino Camino Camino is a free, open source, GUI-based Web browser based on Mozilla's Gecko layout engine and specifically designed for the Mac OS X operating system... |
||
| 125 | ||
| Opera Opera (web browser) Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software with over 200 million users worldwide. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent,... |
101 | 128 |
The study was presented as measuring how IQ affects choices to adopt new technologies.
Conception
Gill says he got the idea for the hoax about a month prior to its release when working on his website. "IE6 compatibility was being a pain in the ass," he told ReadWriteWebReadWriteWeb
ReadWriteWeb is a Web technology blog launched in 2003. RWW covers Web 2.0 and Web technology in general, and provides industry news, reviews, and analysis. Founded by Richard MacManus, Technorati ranked ReadWriteWeb at number 12 in its list of top 100 blogs worldwide, as of October 9, 2010. RWW...
.
Release
The report was covered by many news outlets. Initially the discrepancy was explained by that the advanced computer users with high IQs were savvy enough to choose other browsers.When the report was first covered by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
some readers were skeptical of its authenticity and quickly noted that the domain for the company had only been set up a month prior and that pictures of the company's staff were from the French company Central Test. Central Test began investigating the issue and said it was considering legal action against whomever had used the photos. It was initially suspected that the whole thing was a plot to spread malware
Malware
Malware, short for malicious software, consists of programming that is designed to disrupt or deny operation, gather information that leads to loss of privacy or exploitation, or gain unauthorized access to system resources, or that otherwise exhibits abusive behavior...
; however, the PDF was examined and none was found. As the hoax was uncovered additional problems with the report were raised, the results were noted as improbable and the task of collecting 100,000 users very difficult. The address given on the website was looked up using Google Street View
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
and it turned out to be just a parking lot.
While the story was being covered Gill posed as Leonard Howard, the fabricated owner of AptiQuant, to the media. He also wrote a blog on the AptiQuant website about how they were being sued by Internet Explorer users and that it had been receiving hate mail.
Internet Explorer users acted defensively.
Some news outlets criticized the methodology of the study, although without realizing it was hoax. It was even described as "Junk science at its worst". Some defended the study; for example, The Register
The Register
The Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
wrote, "The methodology of the study appears sound."
Aftermath
The hoax coverage was said by some to be a victory for citizen journalism, as it was readers who first uncovered that it was a hoax. WIRED wrote that "Too often, business analysts and statistics and insider rumors carry a similar currency in journalism. They often add just a thin sheen of detail and a slightly stronger claim to verification. Really, guys, it’s just a color PDF."List of news sources fooled by hoax
- Dino Grandoni, The Atlantic Wire (July 29).
- Business StandardBusiness StandardBusiness Standard is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published by Business Standard Ltd in two languages, English and Hindi...
(August 2). - Ysolt Usigan, CBS NewsCBS NewsCBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
(August 1). - Chris Matyszczyk, CNETCNETCNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...
(July 29). - Doug Gross, CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
(July 29). - Mark Huffman, ConsumerAffairs.comConsumerAffairs.comConsumerAffairs.com is a consumer advocacy and complaints site that defines itself as an “independent consumer news center”.The site publishes original and reprinted stories on consumer-related topics....
(August 1). - CTV Television NetworkCTV television networkCTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
(July 30). - Tim Worstall, ForbesForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
(July 29). - Adrian Chen, Gawker (August 1).
- Jason O. Gilbert, The Huffington PostThe Huffington PostThe Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
(August 1). - The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
(July 30). - Indian Express (July 31).
- Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorldInfoWorldInfoWorld is an information technology online media and events business operating under the umbrella of InfoWorld Media Group, a division of IDG...
(August 1). - Lawrence Latif, The InquirerThe InquirerThe Inquirer is a British technology tabloid website founded by Mike Magee after his departure from The Register in 2001. In 2006 the site was acquired by Dutch publisher Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen...
(July 29). - International Business TimesInternational Business TimesThe International Business Times is an online global business newspaper, published in 17 editions in 10 languages across 13 countries. The publication, sometimes called IBTimes, offers news, analysis and editorial commentary on business and business related stories...
(July 29). - Kevin Fogarty, IT World (August 1).
- KGO-TVKGO-TVKGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
(July 29). - Caroline Crouch. KNXV-TVKNXV-TVKNXV-TV, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Phoenix, Arizona, broadcasting in digital on UHF channel 15. Owned by The E. W. Scripps Company, its transmitter is located on South Mountain in Phoenix....
(August 2). - Daniel Bates. The Mail on SundayThe Mail on SundayThe Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
(August 1). - MashableMashableMashable is an American news website and Internet news blog founded by Pete Cashmore. The website's primary focus is social media news, but also covers news and developments in mobile, entertainment, online video, business, web development, technology, memes and gadgets...
(July 29). - Dan Amira, New York Magazine (July 29).
- Kevin Spak, NewserNewserNewser is an online news site based in the United States. It is the brain-child of journalist Michael Wolff, an Internet pioneer, Vanity Fair columnist, and author of the Rupert Murdoch biography, The Man Who Owns the News...
(July 29). - Eyder Peralta. NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
(August 2). - David Murphy, PC MagazinePC MagazinePC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
(July 30). - Rik Myslewski, The RegisterThe RegisterThe Register is a British technology news and opinion website. It was founded by John Lettice, Mike Magee and Ross Alderson in 1994 as a newsletter called "Chip Connection", initially as an email service...
(July 29). - Matt Rosoff, San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco Chroniclethumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
(July 28). - Nick Eaton, Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Post-IntelligencerThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
(July 29). - Jonathan Walczak, Seattle WeeklySeattle WeeklySeattle Weekly is a freely distributed newspaper in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded by Darrell Oldham and David Brewster as The Weekly...
(July 29). - The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
(August 1). - Times of India (July 30).
- Douglas Perry, Tom's Hardware (August 2).