Google and weapons of mass destruction

There's an email going around that says that if you go to Google and type in "weapons of mass destruction" and click the "I'm feeling lucky" button, you will get an Easter egg, a fake error page that Google put up and then forgot to take down. Try it soon, before someone notices! the email says.

You do in fact get a cute fake error page, but what people forwarding this mail don't realize is that it has nothing to do with Google. If instead of clicking "I'm feeling lucky" you click the regular Google search button, you'll get the usual list of sites, and the first one will be the fake error-message page, which is on a totally different site. It's not a bug, it's not an Easter egg, and it's not something that Google's going to take down when they notice it. It's just a cute joke that has climbed to the top of Google's rankings for that search phrase.

In other words, the "I'm feeling lucky" button is just doing what (I think) it always does: taking you to the first item in the list of results.

(The same person who wrote that WMD fake error page, btw, also wrote a scathing New York Times fake error page.)

6 Responses to “Google and weapons of mass destruction”

  1. jere7my

    I must not have tried it soon enough; now it links to a White House WMD strategy document. :P=

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  2. Jed

    Now, that‘s weird. The fake-error page is no longer anywhere in Google’s first page of results (though an article about it appears among the news links at the top of the Google results list). That’s a big change to happen in less than 24 hours; I wonder what happened.

    reply
  3. Beth

    Interesting. I tried both the regular search and the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, and they both turned up the fake-error page.

    Google quirks? Someone complained?

    reply
  4. Kenny Smith

    There are several answers that could be the cause…

    One is.. The two of you might be hitting different data centers where one of them might have already been through the monthly Google Dance (update of the index) and one hasn’t.

    Um, I typed out a couple of more and then realized I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say about the topic. :/ So… there are other possible reasons (all legit stuff). After reading Jed’s comment, I tried doing the search and didn’t get the spoof… I just tried from my laptop (different network location too) and I DID get the spoof. So it’s still there… maybe try clearing any cookies you have from Google.

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  5. Vardibidian

    Just in case, I didn’t want to risk you missing the article in the Guardian by Anthony Cox, the pharmacist who made the spoof page, and his (as he puts it) 15MB of fame.

    Redintegro Iraq,
    -Vardibidian.

    reply
  6. Sanjay Wagle

    It is amazing that the US government Department of Defense has gone to such efforts to thwart a very funny spook. Sensitive I guess.

    reply

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