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What is Clone Zone: Scott Brooks hoax explained

By Josh Criswell

Apr 15, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks stands on the sidelines in the first quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 15, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks stands on the sidelines in the first quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /
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A fake website generator called Clone Zone recently duped many people, media members included, with false quotes from Scott Brooks regarding his departure from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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Comments from Scott Brooks surfaced yesterday that seemed, well, not very Scott Brooks-like. The reason behind that is the quotes were not from Brooks at all; they came courtesy of a fake website generating tool called Clone Zone.

The controversial Brooks quote was posted from a cloned copy of The Oklahoman’s website, and even had Rotoworld duped momentarily.

Screen Shot 2015-04-24 at 2.12.11 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-24 at 2.12.11 PM /

Here is the exact quote from the faux article, via SB Nation:

"“When we traded James (Harden), I was doing damage control with the guys for a while, particularly with Kevin,” Brooks said. “I know Kevin will say the right things and handle this like a pro, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that he won’t see the hypocrisy in it. As a small market team, those principles of loyalty and trust are what we knew we had to demonstrate to set ourselves apart from other teams. When Kevin’s contract is up, what sets them apart now?”"

Darnell Mayberry, The Oklahoman’s beat writer for the Thunder, was the victim of the attack. Fortunately the article was swiftly discredited, but the momentary fiasco raises a pressing question; what exactly is Clone Zone?

It is a new tool for internet trolls that can generate an identical copy of a website and allows the user to make edits to the website. The only thing users have to do is type in the URL of their choice, and they are on their way. From this point individuals are free to make any changes they desire, including posting fake articles as we witnessed yesterday.

The difference between Clone Zone and other similar tools of its kind is the fact that it is incredibly difficult to differentiate it from the legitimate page that it is mimicking. Clone Zone creates a duplicate website with a URL that is almost identical to that of the original copy.

The difference in the URL is very slight and extremely difficult to recognize on the surface, making it an easy tool to quickly spread false stories and dupe audiences. When shared on social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, readers have no reason to believe the article is fake because it looks exactly like an a story from the real website.

Unfortunately, internet trolls are becoming more and more talented at their useless craft, and tools like Clone Zone will force the media to take even further precautions in their fact checking, which may not end up being a bad thing after all.

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