IE User? You May Not be Dumb After All

Just two days ago, a report by a certain Canadian firm, AptiQuant Psychometric Consulting Co claimed that the IQ levels of IE users was particularly low, as compared to the IQ levels of those who used other browsers. In simple terms, IE users were labeled as ‘dumb’. The research was conducted among as many as 100,000 subjects belonging a few English-speaking nations. It now so appears that there is little truth in the whole report, or better put, its credentials are iffy, at the moment. According to BBC, the entire report seems to be a hoax. 

WHOIS details of AptiQuant

The BBC report states that the Canadian firm’s website has just been set up (on the 14th July, 2011, according to a WHOIS records), and that the details of its staff, including their thumbnails were copied from a legitimate business, based in Paris, called Central Test. The hoax was discovered when the readers of the BBC report found out about the ’legitimacy’ of AptiQuant. The confirmation of the hoax came when the thumbnail images matched those belonging to the staff of Central Test.

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The press release by AptiQuant was replete with graphs and numbers adding to the authenticy of the report and it resulted in several leading sites carrying the controversial story.