THE story about the IQ of users determined by web browsers was a fake, according to reports.
The research was initially conducted by a Canadian company called AptiQuant. It showed IE users were of below average intelligence. It was reported on several news outlets, from newspapers to radio stations. It has only now been revealed as a hoax.
It was soon discovered that AptiQuant’s website had only been set up on 14 July 2011, despite the company’s claim it had been established in 2006. The photos and staff descriptions were false too. The firm claimed that it had given free online IQ tests to 100,000 people, and then plotted the scores against the browser on which the tests were taken.
It found that Internet Explorer users scored lower than average, while Chrome, Firefox and Safari users were very slightly above average. Camino, Opera and Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame were scored “exceptionally” high.
After the initial release about IE and IQ, AptiQuant followed it up with another story, saying that their company had been “threatened with a lawsuit by loyal Internet Explorer users”.
Graham Cluley, senior security consultant at Sophos, told the BBC: “It’s obviously very easy to create a bogus site like this: as all phishers know, it’s easy to rip-off someone else’s webpages and pictures.”
