HOW TO AVOID THE MALWARE

How is personal data collected? There are several ways that an unauthorised person can try and collect your data. These include: •phishing •smishing •vishing •pharming. Phishing Phishing is when a person sends a legitimate looking email to a user. The email contains a link to a website that also looks legitimate. The user is encouraged to click the link and to input personal data into a form on the website. The email could also simply ask the user to reply to the email with their personal data. The user is tricked into giving their personal data to a source that they believe is legitimate. However, both the email and the linked website are from a fake unauthorised source. The personal data that is input is then collected by an unauthorised person. This person can then use this data for criminal acts, for example, to commit fraud or steal the person's identity. Intimidation has become a common feature of phishing emails, threatening the user that they must click the link and rectify a situation immediately, or there will be a further issue. The aim of a phishing attack is to steal the user's personal data. Figure 5.1: Phishing. A real-life example of phishing PayPal have been the subject of several different phishing emails. Users receive an email that looks as though it has been sent from PayPal, as it has the PayPal branding. The email normally warns of an issue such as unexpected activity on their account, or that some kind of verification of their account is required. The user is then asked to click a link to log into their account and resolve the issue. The link takes them to a webpage that looks like the PayPal login page. If the user inputs their login details into this page, they will not be taken to their account. It is often at this stage that the user may realise that the email and webpage are fake. However, they have already given the unauthorised person their PayPal login details. Figure 5.2: An example of a phishing email claiming to be from PayPal. How to recognise phishing There are several guidelines to be aware of regarding emails to avoid being subjected to phishing. These include: •Don't even open an email that is not from a sender that you recognise or a trusted source. •Legitimate companies will never ask you for your personal data using email. Be immediately suspicious of any email that requests your personal data. •Legitimate companies will normally address you by your name. Be suspicious of any email that addresses you as ‘Dear Member' or ‘Dear Customer'. •Legitimate companies will send an email that uses their domain name. If you hover your mouse over the sender's name, it will show the email address that the email is sent from. If this does not look legitimate, for example, does not contain the correct domain name, then it is probably fake. For example, if the sender's email is user@paypal1.com rather than user@paypal.com, this is from an incorrect domain name. •Legitimate companies are protective of their professional reputation and thoroughly check any communications. They will make sure that all information given is grammatically and correctly spelt. Be suspicious of any email that contains bad grammar or spelling mistakes. •A link in an email from a legitimate company will also normally contain the domain name of the company. You can sometimes hover over the link, or right click and inspect the link, to see the address of the URL that is attached. If the URL does not contain the domain name, or also contains typical errors such as spelling mistakes, then be suspicious of this. PRACTICAL ACTIVITY 5.02 Ask a friend or a member of your family if they have ever received an email that they believed was a phishing email. Ask them how they identified it was phishing. Ask them if they know all of the given guidelines for identifying phishing emails. Smishing Smishing (or SMS phishing) is a variant of phishing that uses SMS text messages to lure the user into providing their personal details. The user is sent an SMS text message that either contains a link to a website, in the same way that phishing does, or it will ask the user to call a telephone number to resolve an urgent issue. The same advice can be followed for smishing as given for phishing. The user must question at all times any links that are sent from an unknown or suspicious user. It is advisable that if a user believes the message may be legitimate, to type in the domain name for the legitimate company website into their web browser, rather than following the link in the message. Users should block any numbers that they believe are suspicious to prevent any further risk of smishing from that number. Figure 5.3: Smishing. Vishing Vishing (or voice phishing) has the same aim as phishing, to obtain a user's personal details. The user receives a telephone call that could either be an automated system or could be a real person. An automated voice could speak to the user and advise them that an issue has occurred, such as there has been suspicious activity regarding their bank account. The user may then be asked to call another number, or just to simply press a digit and be directed to another automated system. This system will ask them to provide their bank account details to resolve the issue. The bank account details have then been obtained by the unauthorised user and can be used to commit a crime against the user. The automated system could be replaced by a real person who will try to do the same thing. They will try to convince the user that there has been an issue with an account they have and to provide the log-in details or PIN for the account to verify who they are so the issue can be resolved. The precaution to take for vishing is that no company will ever call you and ask you to provide any log-in details or PIN details over the telephone. They may ask you to provide other personal information, and if you are in doubt that the person on the other end of the phone is legitimate, it is always advisable to put the phone down and call the company back on a legitimate number that you may already know or can obtain. Figure 5.4: Vishing. Pharming Pharming is when an unauthorised user installs malicious code on a person's hard drive or server. The malicious code is designed to redirect a user to a fake website when they type in the address of a legitimate one. The fake website is designed to look like the legitimate one, to trick the user and make sure they are not aware that their request has been redirected. The user will then enter their personal details into the fake website, believing it is the legitimate one, and the unauthorised person will now have their personal data. A common technique used in pharming is called domain name server (DNS) cache poisoning. This technique exploits vulnerabilities in the DNS and diverts the internet traffic intended for a legitimate server toward a fake one instead. The unauthorised user needs to find a way to install the malicious code on the computer. They often hide the malicious code in an email attachment or link. When the user opens the email attachment or clicks the link, the malicious code is downloaded also. Figure 5.5: Pharming. The aim of a pharming attack is also to steal a user's personal data. A real-life example of pharming In 2007 50 different companies all over the world were subject to a pharming attack, these included PayPal, eBay, Barclays bank and American Express. Over a three-day period, hackers managed to infect over 1000 PCs a day with a malicious pharming code. When users who had been infected visited the websites of the different companies, they were redirected to a legitimate-looking version of the site that was designed to steal their personal data. The original email, containing the malicious code, was set up to look like a shocking news story. Users were encouraged to click a link in the email to find out more information. The code was downloaded when the user clicked the link. This was quite a sophisticated attack that required legitimate looking websites to be set up for a large number of companies. It is not known how much money the hackers were able to retrieve as a result. How to prevent pharming All of the guidelines to avoid being subjected to phishing are also relevant for recognising pharming. There are also several other precautions that can be taken to check for pharming attacks. These include: •Have a firewall installed and operational. A firewall monitors incoming and outgoing traffic from your computer. It checks this traffic against set criteria and will flag and stop any traffic that does not meet the criteria. A firewall could detect and block suspicious traffic, such as a malicious code trying to enter your system. •Have an anti-virus program installed that is designed to detect malicious pharming code. You need to scan your computer on a regular basis to check for any malicious code. It is advisable to set up an automatic scan on a daily basis at a time when your computer will normally be switched on. •Be aware when using public Wi-Fi connections. A hacker could look to directly access your computer and install the malicious code if you are connected to a public Wi-Fi connection. It is often advisable to use a VPN when using public Wi-Fi. This will help shield your internet activity and personal details from a hacker, making it more difficult for them to access your computer. Smishing can also be used as a form of pharming. A user is sent a link, that when they click is designed to download malware onto their mobile device. Therefore, it is advisable to have security software installed on your mobile and also scan it regularly to detect any presence of malware.

How to Stop Avalanchesnow with explosives, or by erecting snow fences. Explosives Explosives are primarily used to prevent avalanches, especially at ski resorts where other methods are often impractical. Maintenance staff from the ski resort travel to potential avalanche areas and areas with steep slopes. First, they measure the depth of the snow and its quality. They want to check for hard, loose, wet or icy snow layers. If an area is considered dangerous, small explosives are fired into the side of the steep terrain. The explosion loosens the top layer of snow, which tumbles harmlessly down the mountainside. But using explosives is costly and dangerous. Some researchers are currently experimenting with the cheaper and safer method of using ultrasonic sound waves that shock the snow into falling, averting an avalanche and saving lives. Snow Fences It is very common to put up snow nets or snow fences. These nylon nets or wooden and steel fences are placed at the top of slopes. They prevent the buildup of snow on the downwind side, thereby lessening the chance of a slab avalanche. Beacons and Radio Devices Fortunately, there are companies that specialize in making rescue beacons. These are small electronic devices that send out a radio signal to search and rescue crews. Most people who venture into the backcountry carry some sort of beacon or GPS device. They can help locate a buried victim up to 80 meters away. However, these beacons and GPS devices only send out a signal if the victim turns it on. Often, the victim is too injured to think clearly and press the 'on button.' If search and rescue crews do not quickly reach the victims, the skiers will not be discovered in time. Surviving an Avalanche If you are ever caught in an avalanche, the chances are slim that you will survive. If you are not killed instantly, you only have a short time (15~35 minutes) before your oxygen runs out. Take off your ski, boots and poles. Use a swimming motion to claw your way to the surface. Often people do not know which way is up or down. The effect of this is disorientation. It is not uncommon for avalanche victims to dig in the wrong direction. With proper precautions, both skiers and ski resorts can avoid the tragedy of an avalanche.

How to Stop Avalanches ToB A major concern of ski resorts is avalanche control. Most avalanches occur outside the boundaries of the regular groomed ski runs. But each year, skiers and trekkers on snowshoes go into these remote areas where most avalanches occur. There are two primary ways to prevent avalanches-by blasting the snow with explosives, or by erecting snow fences. Explosives Explosives are primarily used to prevent avalanches, especially at ski resorts where other methods are often impractical. Maintenance staff from the ski resort travel to potential avalanche areas and areas with steep slopes. First, they measure the depth of the snow and its quality. They want to check for hard, loose, wet or icy snow layers. If an area is considered dangerous, small explosives are fired into the side of the steep terrain. The explosion loosens the top layer of snow, which tumbles harmlessly down the mountainside. But using explosives is costly and dangerous. Some researchers are currently experimenting with the cheaper and safer method of using ultrasonic sound waves that shock the snow into falling, averting an avalanche and saving lives. Snow Fences It is very common to put up snow nets or snow fences. These nylon nets or wooden and steel fences are placed at the top of slopes. They prevent the buildup of snow on the downwind side, thereby lessening the chance of a slab avalanche. Beacons and Radio Devices Fortunately, there are companies that specialize in making rescue beacons. These are small electronic devices that send out a radio signal to search and rescue crews. Most people who venture into the backcountry carry some sort of beacon or GPS device. They can help locate a buried victim up to 80 meters away. However, these beacons and GPS devices only send out a signal if the victim turns it on. Often, the victim is too injured to think clearly and press the 'on button.' If search and rescue crews do not quickly reach the victims, the skiers will not be discovered in time. Surviving an Avalanche If you are ever caught in an avalanche, the chances are slim that you will survive. If you are not killed instantly, you only have a short time (15~35 minutes) before your oxygen runs out. Take off your ski, boots and poles. Use a swimming motion to claw your way to the surface. Often people do not know which way is up or down. The effect of this is disorientation. It is not uncommon for avalanche victims to dig in the wrong direction. With proper precautions, both skiers and ski resorts can avoid the tragedy of an avalanche.

There are two numbers you need to know about climate change. The first is 51 billion. The other is zero. Fifty-one billion is how many tons of greenhouse gases the world typically adds to the atmosphere every year. This is where we are today. Zero is what we need to aim for. To stop the warming and avoid the worst effects of climate change, humans need to stop adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This sounds difficult, because it will be. Every country will need to change its ways. Virtually every activity in modern life – growing things, making things, getting around from place to place – involves releasing greenhouse gases, and as time goes on, more people will be living this modern lifestyle. That’s good, because it means their lives are getting better. Yet if nothing else changes, the world will keep producing greenhouse gases, climate change will keep getting worse, and the impact on humans will be catastrophic. But “if nothing else changes” is a big If. I believe that things can change. We already have some of the tools we need, and as for those we don’t yet have, we can not only invent, but also deploy them, and, if we act fast enough, avoid a climate catastrophe. Two decades ago, I would never have predicted that one day I would be talking in public about climate change. My background is in software, not climate science. Things changed for me when I met with two former Microsoft colleagues who were starting non-profits focused on energy and climate. They brought along two climate experts who were well versed in the issues, and the four of them showed me the data connecting greenhouse gas emissions to climate change. I kept learning everything I could about climate and energy, agriculture, oceans, sea levels, glaciers, power lines, and more. One thing that became clear to me was that our current sources of renewable energy – wind and solar, mostly – could make a big dent in the problem, but we weren’t doing enough to deploy them. It also became clear why, on their own, they aren’t enough to get us all the way to zero. The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Within a few years, I had become convinced of three things: 1. To avoid a climate disaster, we have to get to zero. 2. We need to deploy the tools we already have, like solar and wind, faster and smarter. 3. We need to create breakthrough technologies that can take us the rest of the way.

Important Preparations Before an Earthquake Strikes • Follow the structural design and engineering practices when constructing a house or building. • Evaluate the structural soundness of the buildings and houses: strengthen if necessary. • Be aware of the earthquake evacuation plans for all of the buildings you occupy regularly. • Strap or bolt heavy furniture and cabinets to the wall to keep them in place. • Breakable items, harmful chemical, and flammable materials should be stored properly in the lowermost secure shelves • Prepare and know where fire extinguishers, first aid kits, alarms, and communication facilities are located and learn how to use them beforehand. • Pick safe places in each room of your home, workplace, and school and practice doing drop, cover, and hold.Essential Things to Do While an Earthquake is Happening • Stay calm. • Duck under a sturdy desk or table and hold onto it. Protect your head with your arms. • If there is no sturdy furniture, sit on the floor in a corner next to an interior wall and cover your head and neck with your arms. • Move away from glass windows, sliding doors, shelves, cabinets, and other heavy objects. • Grab anything handy to shield your head and face from falling debris and splinting glass. • Stay indoors until the shaking stops. If you must leave the building. use the stairs rather than elevators. • Stay away from trees, power lines, posts, and concrete structures and proceed cautiously to an open area. • Move away from steep. slopes, which may be affected by landslides. • Move quickly to higher grounds since tsunamis might follow • Pull over to a clear location and stop. Avoid bridges, overpasses, and power lines, if possible. • Be updated about disaster. prevention instructions from battery operated radios.Essential Safety Measures After an Earthquake • Check yourself and others for injuries. • Do not panic. • Expect and prepare for aftershocks. These aftershocks may be weaker but they may sometimes cause more damage than the major earthquake. • Look for emergency supply kits. They should include food, water, medication, clothing, and other things you may need. • If you need to evacuate, leave a message stating where you are going • Do not enter damaged buildings since they might have weakened foundations, increasing their susceptibility for collapse. There can also be a lot of falling debris. • Do not use elevators • Check water and electrical lines for damages. Turn the main switch off to avoid any incidences of electric shock • Look for and extinguish fires to reduce their chances of spreading. • Avoid fallen power lines. • Tune in to radio broadcasts and be updated on disaster prevention instructions.

Create me a multiple choice test questions with 4 options on the following topic:Consumer Education for Different Audience 1. Children and Youth: - Focus: Building foundational knowledge about basic consumer concepts, making safe choices, understanding money and value, and recognizing scams and unsafe situations. 2. Teens and Young Adults: - Focus: Building financial literacy, responsible debt management, understanding contracts and agreements, responsible technology use, online safety, and consumer rights. 3. Working Adults and Families: - Focus: Managing budgets, making informed purchasing decisions, understanding credit and debt, finding consumer protection resources, and navigating complex financial products (mortgages, insurance, investments). 4. Seniors: - Focus: Protecting themselves from scams and fraud, understanding common consumer issues like telemarketing, identity theft, and online scams, managing medications and healthcare costs, and accessing community resources. 5. Special Populations: - Focus: Adapting consumer education programs to the specific needs of people with disabilities, immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized communities. 6. Business and Industry:- Focus: Understanding ethical marketing practices, complying with consumer protection laws, and providing clear and accurate information to consumers. 7. Policymakers and Regulators: - Focus: Understanding consumer needs, developing effective consumer protection laws, enforcing regulations, and ensuring a fair and competitive marketplace. Adapting consumer education programs for children, teens, and seniors requires tailoring content and delivery methods to their unique needs and learning styles. Children (Ages 5-12): - Understanding the concept of money: Teaching children about saving, spending, and the value of money. - Developing basic budgeting skills: Helping children learn to make choices about how to spend their allowance or pocket money. EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES •Focus on basic concepts: Introduce core concepts like saving, spending, and budgeting in a fun and engaging way. Use simple language and relatable examples. •Real-life scenarios: Use age-appropriate scenarios to illustrate financial concepts, like buying toys or snacks. •Parental involvement: Encourage parent participation and provide resources to help them reinforce lessons at home. Teens (Ages 13-18): - Building budgeting and financial planning skills: Teaching teens how to manage their money, set financial goals, and plan for the future. - Navigating the digital marketplace: Equipping teens with the knowledge and skills to make safe and informed online purchases, understand digital marketing, and protect themselves from scams. EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES • Practical skills: Focus on skills relevant to teens, like managing money for social activities, saving for college, and understanding credit cards. • Digital literacy: Address the growing influence of online shopping, social media advertising, and financial scams. • Real-world applications: Connect financial concepts to real-life decisions teens make, like choosing a part-time job or making purchases online. Seniors (Ages 65+) - Managing retirement savings and healthcare costs: Providing information and resources on retirement planning, Medicare and Medicaid, and other healthcare options. - Navigating the digital world: Offering technology training and resources to help seniors access online services and information safely and securely. EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES • Addressing specific concerns: Focus on topics relevant to senior citizens, like retirement planning, managing healthcare expenses, and avoiding scams. • Clear and concise communication: Use simple language and visual aids to ensure easy understanding. • Social interaction: Create opportunities for seniors to share experiences and learn from each other. Teaching Financial Literacy in school and Communities In Schools: Curriculum Integration: Financial literacy concepts can be seamlessly integrated into existing subjects, making learning more relevant and engaging. - Math: Budgeting exercises, calculating interest rates, analyzing financial data, and understanding compound interest are all natural applications of math skills. - Social Studies: Exploring the history of money, financial institutions, economic systems, and the impact of financial decisions on society provide valuable context. - Economics: Discussions about supply and demand, inflation, investment, and the role of consumers in the economy enhance financial literacy. Dedicated Courses: Offering elective courses or workshops specifically focused on personal finance provides deeper dives into crucial topics. - Personal Finance: Cover budgeting, saving, investing, credit, debt management, and insurance. - Entrepreneurship: Introduce concepts like business planning, marketing, financial forecasting, and managing cash flow. In Communities: Community Centers and Libraries: Workshops, seminars, and classes tailored to adults and families provide accessible learning opportunities. - Financial Planning: Cover budgeting, retirement planning, debt management, and estate planning. - Homeownership: Provide guidance on buying, selling, and maintaining a home. - Consumer Protection: Educate individuals about their rights and how to avoid scams. Partnerships with Financial Institutions: Collaborations with banks, credit unions, and financial advisors offer valuable resources, workshops, and financial literacy programs. Consumer Education for Low-Income and Vulnerable Populations Low-income refers to individuals or households with limited financial resources, typically below a certain threshold. Low-income individuals may face challenges like: 1. Limited education and job opportunities 2. Poor living conditions and housing 3. Food insecurity and malnutrition Causes of low income: 1. Unemployment or underemployment 2. Low-paying jobs or minimum wage 3. Limited education or skills 4. Single parenthood or large family size Vulnerable population'' is a term that is used to describe a group of people who possess some sort of disadvantage. elderly people, people with low incomes, homeless people, people in prison, migrant workers, pregnant women, Family Consumer Education: Managing Household Finances and Resources Financial literacy is the ability to understand and manage personal finances effectively. 1. Debt Debt is money you spend that isn’t yours. If you borrow money from the bank, use a credit card, or take out a short-term loan, or a payday loan, you are accumulating debt. Good debt is considered money borrowed for things that are absolutely necessary for making a life e.g. a house and for advancing your money-making potential e.g. an education. Bad debt is considered borrowing money or using a credit card to pay for things you don’t need, such as expensive clothes, hi-tech electronics, eating out at restaurants, going on holidays, etc. 2. Saving Saving is an essential part of financial wellness, a secure present, and a happy future. 3. Budgeting Budgeting is the life skill of planning and managing your money. By understanding exactly where your money goes every month, you are empowered to create an actionable plan by which you can spend less, by curtailing those unnecessary expenses and saving more for the things you need and want. 4. Investing Investing is all about creating and growing the wealth you need to enjoy a financially secure and happy future. It’s about putting your money into something that will make you a profit over time, such as property, retirement funds, and unit trusts Integrating Consumer Education into the Home Economics Curriculum. Integrating consumer education into the home economics curriculum can provide students with essential skills for making informed choices about their personal finances, food, clothing, and overall well-being. Here are some strategies and ideas for effectively incorporating consumer education: Financial Literacy Budgeting: Teach students how to create and manage a personal budget, including setting financial goals, tracking expenses, and understanding savings. Saving and Investment: Cover the basics of saving, including different saving accounts, and introduce concepts related to investing. Food and Nutrition Food Label Literacy: Engage students in learning how to read and interpret food labels, including nutrition facts and ingredient lists. Grocery Shopping Skills: Teach students how to compare product costs, understand unit pricing, and make healthy, budget-friendly choices while shopping. Clothing and Textile Education Consumer Choices in Clothing:Discuss factors influencing clothing purchases, such as quality, price, and sustainability. Fashion and Trends: Analyze the impact of marketing and advertising on consumer behavior regarding clothing. Sustainable Purchasing Eco-Friendly Choices: Raise awareness about environmentally friendly products and the importance of sustainability in consumer choices. Project-Based Learning - Assign real-life projects where students must apply their knowledge, such as creating a meal plan within a budget, planning a shopping list based on nutrient needs, or evaluating the cost-effectiveness of different products. Technology Integration - Use technology to teach students about online shopping, price comparison websites, and apps that aid budgeting and financial planning. Collaborative Learning Opportunities - Organize team projects where students work together to solve consumer-related problems, emphasizing teamwork and communication skills. Assessment and Reflection - Incorporate assessments that allow students to reflect on what they have learned about consumer education and how they can apply these skills in their daily lives.

“There’s No Such Thing as Sound Science” by By Christie Aschwanden was a lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight. FiveThirtyEight, Science, Dec. 6, 2017 Science is being turned against itself. For decades, its twin ideals of transparency and rigor have been weaponized by those who disagree with results produced by the scientific method. Under the Trump administration, that fight has ramped up again. In a move ostensibly meant to reduce conflicts of interest, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has removed a number of scientists from advisory panels and replaced some of them with representatives from industries that the agency regulates. Like many in the Trump administration, Pruitt has also cast doubt on the reliability of climate science. For instance, in an interview with CNBC, Pruitt said that “measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do.” Similarly, Trump’s pick to head NASA, an agency that oversees a large portion the nation’s climate research, has insisted that research into human influence on climate lacks certainty, and he falsely claimed that “global temperatures stopped rising 10 years ago.” Kathleen Hartnett White, Trump’s nominee to head the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in a Senate hearing last month that she thinks we “need to have more precise explanations of the human role and the natural role” in climate change. The same entreaties crop up again and again: We need to root out conflicts. We need more precise evidence. What makes these arguments so powerful is that they sound quite similar to the points raised by proponents of a very different call for change that’s coming from within science. This other movement strives to produce more robust, reproducible findings. Despite having dissimilar goals, the two forces espouse principles that look surprisingly alike: Science needs to be transparent. Results and methods should be openly shared so that outside researchers can independently reproduce and validate them. The methods used to collect and analyze data should be rigorous and clear, and conclusions must be supported by evidence. These are the arguments underlying an “open science” reform movement that was created, in part, as a response to a “reproducibility crisis” that has struck some fields of science.1 But they’re also used as talking points by politicians who are working to make it more difficult for the EPA and other federal agencies to use science in their regulatory decision-making, under the guise of basing policy on “sound science.” Science’s virtues are being wielded against it. What distinguishes the two calls for transparency is intent: Whereas the “open science” movement aims to make science more reliable, reproducible and robust, proponents of “sound science” have historically worked to amplify uncertainty, create doubt and undermine scientific discoveries that threaten their interests. “Our criticisms are founded in a confidence in science,” said Steven Goodman, co-director of the Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford and a proponent of open science. “That’s a fundamental difference — we’re critiquing science to make it better. Others are critiquing it to devalue the approach itself.” Calls to base public policy on “sound science” seem unassailable if you don’t know the term’s history. The phrase was adopted by the tobacco industry in the 1990s to counteract mounting evidence linking secondhand smoke to cancer. A 1992 Environmental Protection Agency report identified secondhand smoke as a human carcinogen, and Philip Morris responded by launching an initiative to promote what it called “sound science.” In an internal memo, Philip Morris vice president of corporate affairs Ellen Merlo wrote that the program was designed to “discredit the EPA report,” “prevent states and cities, as well as businesses from passing smoking bans” and “proactively” pass legislation to help their cause. The sound science tactic exploits a fundamental feature of the scientific process: Science does not produce absolute certainty. Contrary to how it’s sometimes represented to the public, science is not a magic wand that turns everything it touches to truth. Instead, it’s a process of uncertainty reduction, much like a game of 20 Questions. Any given study can rarely answer more than one question at a time, and each study usually raises a bunch of new questions in the process of answering old ones. “Science is a process rather than an answer,” said psychologist Alison Ledgerwood of the University of California, Davis. Every answer is provisional and subject to change in the face of new evidence. It’s not entirely correct to say that “this study proves this fact,” Ledgerwood said. “We should be talking instead about how science increases or decreases our confidence in something.” The tobacco industry’s brilliant tactic was to turn this baked-in uncertainty against the scientific enterprise itself. While insisting that they merely wanted to ensure that public policy was based on sound science, tobacco companies defined the term in a way that ensured that no science could ever be sound enough. The only sound science was certain science, which is an impossible standard to achieve. “Doubt is our product,” wrote one employee of the Brown & Williamson tobacco company in a 1969 internal memo. The note went on to say that doubt “is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’” and “establishing a controversy.” These strategies for undermining inconvenient science were so effective that they’ve served as a sort of playbook for industry interests ever since, said Stanford University science historian Robert Proctor. The sound science push is no longer just Philip Morris sowing doubt about the links between cigarettes and cancer. It’s also a 1998 action plan by the American Petroleum Institute, Chevron and Exxon Mobil to “install uncertainty” about the link between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. It’s industry-funded groups’ late-1990s effort to question the science the EPA was using to set fine-particle-pollution air-quality standards that the industry didn’t want. And then there was the more recent effort by Dow Chemical to insist on more scientific certainty before banning a pesticide that the EPA’s scientists had deemed risky to children. Now comes a move by the Trump administration’s EPA to repeal a 2015 rule on wetlands protection by disregarding particular studies. (To name just a few examples.) Doubt merchants aren’t pushing for knowledge, they’re practicing what Proctor has dubbed “agnogenesis” — the intentional manufacture of ignorance. This ignorance isn’t simply the absence of knowing something; it’s a lack of comprehension deliberately created by agents who don’t want you to know, Proctor said.2 In the hands of doubt-makers, transparency becomes a rhetorical move. “It’s really difficult as a scientist or policy maker to make a stand against transparency and openness, because well, who would be against it?” said Karen Levy, researcher on information science at Cornell University. But at the same time, “you can couch everything in the language of transparency and it becomes a powerful weapon.” For instance, when the EPA was preparing to set new limits on particulate pollution in the 1990s, industry groups pushed back against the research and demanded access to primary data (including records that researchers had promised participants would remain confidential) and a reanalysis of the evidence. Their calls succeeded and a new analysis was performed. The reanalysis essentially confirmed the original conclusions, but the process of conducting it delayed the implementation of regulations and cost researchers time and money. Delay is a time-tested strategy. “Gridlock is the greatest friend a global warming skeptic has,” said Marc Morano, a prominent critic of global warming research and the executive director of ClimateDepot.com, in the documentary “Merchants of Doubt” (based on the book by the same name). Morano’s site is a project of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, which has received funding from the oil and gas industry. “We’re the negative force. We’re just trying to stop stuff.” Some of these ploys are getting a fresh boost from Congress. The Data Quality Act (also known as the Information Quality Act) was reportedly written by an industry lobbyist and quietly passed as part of an appropriations bill in 2000. The rule mandates that federal agencies ensure the “quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information” that they disseminate, though it does little to define what these terms mean. The law also provides a mechanism for citizens and groups to challenge information that they deem inaccurate, including science that they disagree with. “It was passed in this very quiet way with no explicit debate about it — that should tell you a lot about the real goals,” Levy said. But what’s most telling about the Data Quality Act is how it’s been used, Levy said. A 2004 Washington Post analysis found that in the 20 months following its implementation, the act was repeatedly used by industry groups to push back against proposed regulations and bog down the decision-making process. Instead of deploying transparency as a fundamental principle that applies to all science, these interests have used transparency as a weapon to attack very particular findings that they would like to eradicate. Now Congress is considering another way to legislate how science is used. The Honest Act, a bill sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas,3 is another example of what Levy calls a “Trojan horse” law that uses the language of transparency as a cover to achieve other political goals. Smith’s legislation would severely limit the kind of evidence the EPA could use for decision-making. Only studies whose raw data and computer codes were publicly available would be allowed for consideration. That might sound perfectly reasonable, and in many cases it is, Goodman said. But sometimes there are good reasons why researchers can’t conform to these rules, like when the data contains confidential or sensitive medical information.4 Critics, which include more than a dozen scientific organizations, argue that, in practice, the rules would prevent many studies from being considered in EPA reviews.5 It might seem like an easy task to sort good science from bad, but in reality it’s not so simple. “There’s a misplaced idea that we can definitively distinguish the good from the not-good science, but it’s all a matter of degree,” said Brian Nosek, executive director of the Center for Open Science. “There is no perfect study.” Requiring regulators to wait until they have (nonexistent) perfect evidence is essentially “a way of saying, ‘We don’t want to use evidence for our decision-making,’” Nosek said. Most scientific controversies aren’t about science at all, and once the sides are drawn, more data is unlikely to bring opponents into agreement. Michael Carolan, who researches the sociology of technology and scientific knowledge at Colorado State University, wrote in a 2008 paper about why objective knowledge is not enough to resolve environmental controversies. “While these controversies may appear on the surface to rest on disputed questions of fact, beneath often reside differing positions of value; values that can give shape to differing understandings of what ‘the facts’ are.” What’s needed in these cases isn’t more or better science, but mechanisms to bring those hidden values to the forefront of the discussion so that they can be debated transparently. “As long as we continue down this unabashedly naive road about what science is, and what it is capable of doing, we will continue to fail to reach any sort of meaningful consensus on these matters,” Carolan writes. The dispute over tobacco was never about the science of cigarettes’ link to cancer. It was about whether companies have the right to sell dangerous products and, if so, what obligations they have to the consumers who purchased them. Similarly, the debate over climate change isn’t about whether our planet is heating, but about how much responsibility each country and person bears for stopping it. While researching her book “Merchants of Doubt,” science historian Naomi Oreskes found that some of the same people who were defending the tobacco industry as scientific experts were also receiving industry money to deny the role of human activity in global warming. What these issues had in common, she realized, was that they all involved the need for government action. “None of this is about the science. All of this is a political debate about the role of government,” she said in the documentary. These controversies are really about values, not scientific facts, and acknowledging that would allow us to have more truthful and productive debates. What would that look like in practice? Instead of cherry-picking evidence to support a particular view (and insisting that the science points to a desired action), the various sides could lay out the values they are using to assess the evidence. For instance, in Europe, many decisions are guided by the precautionary principle — a system that values caution in the face of uncertainty and says that when the risks are unclear, it should be up to industries to show that their products and processes are not harmful, rather than requiring the government to prove that they are harmful before they can be regulated. By contrast, U.S. agencies tend to wait for strong evidence of harm before issuing regulations. Both approaches have critics, but the difference between them comes down to priorities: Is it better to exercise caution at the risk of burdening companies and perhaps the economy, or is it more important to avoid potential economic downsides even if it means that sometimes a harmful product or industrial process goes unregulated? In other words, under what circumstances do we agree to act on a risk? How certain do we need to be that the risk is real, and how many people would need to be at risk, and how costly is it to reduce that risk? Those are moral questions, not scientific ones, and openly discussing and identifying these kinds of judgment calls would lead to a more honest debate. Science matters, and we need to do it as rigorously as possible. But science can’t tell us how risky is too risky to allow products like cigarettes or potentially harmful pesticides to be sold — those are value judgements that only humans can make.

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