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Thursday, October 28, 2004

Do You Feel More Secure Than Last Year?
Not to worry, this story by the editors of CIO Insight has nothing to do with terrorism or Iraq. It's a report from the IT sector that basically insinuates in the headline that those guys are quivering in their boots. But here's the rub: "Just 83 percent of IT executives believe their company's security is adequate, compared with 90 percent in 2003."

"Just...?" 83 percent think things are fine and the first sentence of the piece is, "Sorry to say, the answer is no." I realize there's been a HUGE 7 percent drop, but an overwhelming majority, a super-majority as it were, think things are just ducky. This is what the media does best.

Did your father ever tell you, the way mine did me, that figures never lie but liars often figure?
# Permalink Posted at 10:09 AM 3 comments Email this Link

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Bill,

It's not so much as the press lying as being totally clueless as to understanding statistics. A good for instance is the guy who sees a 7-percent difference between one year and the next - say, 90% dropping to 83% - and calls that a "...7-percent drop." Not so. It's a 7% difference and a 7.777...percent (almost 8%) drop. No big deal? Carefull with what you say and remember pots and kettles. keep up the good work.

# posted by Anonymous 1:45 PM

Reminds me of the old Dilbert cartoon where Dogbert is watching the news. At the end the newscaster says "A recent poll shows that 84% of people believe something should be done about these problems despite not having any understanding of the underlying issues."

And of course there's Mark Twain's three types of falsehood: lies, damned lies, and statistics....

# posted by Anonymous 3:29 PM

My mother, a Sicilian woman well on her way into change of life by the time I had reached the double digit mark in age, once looked me in the eye and said, "Never tell a lie." It was the kind of look you knew didn't accompany advice, but rather was a dare in exchange for immediate consequences. So, while I do have a goodly list of vices, I don't lie and don't worry about those old pots and kettles or glass houses. I'm also very un-PC for a guy in the PC trade. Expect nothing else.

# posted by Bill 4:12 PM

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