'Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction'

In February 2003, Internet surfers were amazed to find Google could find the

elusive "Weapons of Mass Destruction" (WMD) while UN inspectors couldn't!

All one had to do was type "weapons of mass destruction" in Google and

hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button. One got the 404 error page but

it was unlike any other. Instead of saying "Cannot find the Server" it

said "Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction." The webpage was a

spoof site created by a little known British pharmacist called Anthony Cox. What

started as a joke, earned Anthony Cox world wide recognition. The error page,

referred to as the CIA error page, has links that will take you to Amazon UK,

which sells book of existential poetry by Donald Rumsfeld! In this interview to

Deepa Kandaswamy, Cox talks about his motivation and how technology can be made

socially relevant.

What motivated you set up the error page on WMDs? When did you decide to

create this error page?



It was just a joke for a few friends. In early February, I was reading

online a "Guardian" article about Hans Blix's problems obtaining

cooperation in Iraq. Immediately after, I was confronted with the ubiquitous 404

error page, which usually tells the reader that a website is unavailable. With

this serendipitous inspiration in mind, along with a text editor and some

fiddling in a graphics package, I created a spoof 404 "weapons of mass

destruction" error page in 20 minutes. Saddam would have been proud; the

page was deployed and operational well within 45 minutes.

Yours was a wonderful way of using technology to create social awareness.

You seem to do this in the pharmacy field too using websites. Tell us more about

your work.



Well, my main interest is in drug safety and communication is a big part of

that field.  Without awareness of the need to report adverse drug reactions

and medical errors, then patients are put at risk. In Google, you seem to have

pulled it off by somehow arranging for lots of external links to point to the

"error" page-that is how Google ranks listings, right? How did you

manage it? Or did you use a different technique?

There was no arranging of the external links.  The page spread on web

pages naturally, and I think the rise of web logs at the same time probably

helped to some extent. I didn't even link to it from my own web log until

months after it had got to the top of Google naturally.  I think it

obtained links because it was funny, rather than any real attempts to google

bomb it to the top.

Is there a new way to interfere with search engine results? If yes, do you

think this can be used for propaganda too by governments?



To a limited extent there is, but I don't think it is a big problem. It's

too subtle a process for governments to get a handle on, and the fall out from

being seen doing it would be too great.  Those governments that have

problems with the Internet, generally undemocratic ones, tend to use more blunt

methods to interfere with the Internet.

Have you designed other such web pages? Was the New York Times error page

on the Jason Blair scandal also designed by you?



Yes, It was.

Did you receive any nasty messages/threats from people because of this WMD

error page?



No, I think most people saw it for what it was-a joke.  It was

satirizing both the US and Old Europe's views.  I had a few emails from

people that were less than complimentary, but given the millions who have read

the page that is to be expected.

Were you prepared for the world-wide recognition? How did your friends and

family react?



Not really, amusement was the most common reaction. I kept getting emails

from friends telling me were they had heard about my page.  Being

interviewed by the BBC's world service was interesting though.

The best feedback you got about the webpage. Did you get any from the

Middle East?



Very little from the Middle East apart from some messages from troops based

there.  They were supportive in nature.

Why do you think computer science majors didn't think of it but you did?

Do you think people in technology have not yet become socially responsible or

just seem to lack the creativity?



I don't think you can draw conclusions about IT people from this.

The people I know in IT have weirder senses of humour than me!

Deepa Kandaswamy is a

writer-engineer based in Trichy, India. Her articles have been published in six

continents