The incident, while unusual, illustrates the hazards of Google's automated approach to picking news stories. And it throws an odd spotlight on an entire industry that has sprouted up to ensure that their clients' press releases pop up next to stories from major newspapers when users of Google or Yahoo go trolling for news.

Are these "aggregators" providing the news - or are they diluting it with the fakery, hucksterism, and puffery that affects the rest of the Internet?

Google News says it constantly reviews its sources of news, and it dumped the service that allowed Vendetta's posting. And Yahoo News points out that its staffers make sure the stories labeled as "news" on its homepage come from respected sources.

Still, "It's the wild, wild West, and anything can happen," says Greg Jarboe, president of SEO-PR, one of several publicity firms that helps companies get higher placement on Internet search engines. "I've got to believe that at some point and time, the sheriff's got to get hired."

In Vendetta's case, he immediately regretted his actions after his hoax was uncovered - "I AM SORRY," he declared in an online message - and the press release was taken down. But the countless other people who try to use Google News and its rival sites to their advantage - including other hoaxsters, publicists, political activists - are not so apologetic.

The lack of human involvement is a big part of why publicists and hoaxsters love Google News. Computer algorithms, not people, choose which news stories, blog entries, and press releases appear first when someone types in a term like "iPod" or "Dick Cheney."

Until recently, press releases - which turn 100 this year - depended entirely on editors and reporters to gain traction. If the press didn't pay attention, the releases, like the proverbial falling tree in the forest, didn't make a sound.

The Internet has changed that, bringing press releases to the public. Anyone with the proper fee - or, in some cases, no money at all - can use publicity services to post releases that will be listed on Google News. Plenty of people are taking advantage of this opportunity: On a recent afternoon, a Google News search for the word "technology" pulled up 162,000 items, 34,400 of which were identified as press releases.

"The fundamental shift is that the media is no longer intermediating between the reader and the news source," Mr. Jarboe says.

There's plenty at stake: Jarboe reported that one of his clients, Southwest Airlines, made $2.5 million in ticket sales with the help of press releases posted on the Internet about special offers.

And why not? Yahoo News, which allows access to both press releases and news stories, averaged more than 25 million visitors a month in 2005, according to comScore, making it the most popular news site on the Internet; Google News clocked in with nearly 8 million.

When users launch searches, the sites point them to not just news stories and press releases but also partisan political sites and other alternative sources of news.

Indeed, a study by Eric Ulken in 2004, then a graduate student at the University of Southern California, found that searches for the full names of presidential candidates on Google News that year pulled up stories from nontraditional sources 40 percent of the time.

But while press releases and satire are labeled as such, Google News doesn't give users information about the difference between the missions of, say, a respected newspaper and a website devoted to political diatribes.

Publicists and activists aren't the only people interested in using news aggregator sites to their advantage. Earlier this month, another fake press release made its way onto Google News, this one falsely saying comic actor Will Ferrell had died in a hang-glider accident.

"In the old days, to perpetrate a hoax and get it in front of the eyes of the millions of people, you had to be in the media some way or have access to a reporter. Nowadays, literally anybody can do it," says Alex Boese, author of "Hippo Eats Dwarf: A Field Guide to Hoaxes and other BS."

Google News and its rival sites offer pranksters a forum that seems legitimate, adding credibility to fake stories, Mr. Boese says.

Indeed, Internet users worldwide started buzzing in 2003 when a story appeared on Yahoo News about the arrest of a time traveler on charges of insider trading. The story was from a tabloid newspaper called the Weekly World News that is infamous for its casual relationship with truth.

Ultimately, anyone who uses the news aggregation sites should consider the advice of Thomas Vendetta, the New Jersey teenager who wasn't actually hired by Google: "You're free to believe what you want, but be careful what you do believe."

In the military sectors, UA systems have been able to enter regions of the battlespace that would otherwise have endangered a warfighter. These systems gather intelligence data at rates much faster and more detailed than previous means. Additionally, UA systems have been able to loiter over positions for longer periods of time than that of manned assets.

They have provided a variety of operational support from ISR functions to Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) detection. Enhanced sensor payloads and weapons systems have demonstrated that and additional capabilities can be run through these vehicles.

Although it is unlikely that cost will affect procurement in the near-term, advancements in payload technologies is expected to increase costs. However, due to current operational requirements, cost will have little impact on procurement across the services. Cost will have more of an effect on those federal, state and local agencies with smaller budgets, but still desire to procure UA systems for surveillance needs.

The U.S. unmanned aerial systems market is dominated by two manufacturers with many smaller firms providing tactical and small UAVs. Northrop Grumman and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. continue to provide the bulk of the UAS market space with the High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Global Hawk and the Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Predator family.

With the reduced production time needed for smaller UAVs, the ability to field these systems faster brings increased capabilities to both the warfighters and domestic agencies. With the smaller, more tactical systems, the market becomes less about increasing capabilities per vehicle as it does about fielding as many platforms as possible.

Cost overruns are certainly not a unique element in defense markets. Nevertheless, the red flags associated with that are certainly not favorable. The flexibility and speed to which the additional sensor packages, radar systems and weapons can be integrated is leaving the UAS market vulnerable. All those additions driven mainly by the end-users tend to drive up the costs.

In addition to staying within budget, the industry must strive to achieve the best quality service and support to the end-user. These two items are especially important considering the competitive landscape in this industry, as it is becoming increasingly saturated while operational requirements may reduce the need for these capabilities in five to ten years.

Intermediate range ballistic missiles, or IRBMs, with a range of 1,800 miles to 3,000 miles, have declined over 95 percent, the report said. There are only 20 such systems in service with China and India today, it said.

The number of MRBMs, or medium range ballistic missiles, with a range of 600 miles to 1,800 miles in use, have declined about a quarter. MRBMs have been the favorite with North Korea, China and Iran because they are adequate for attacking neighbors. Today there are some 400 MRBMs in service, StrategyPage.com said.

However, SRBMs, or short range ballistic missiles, with a range of under 600 miles, may not have declined in number, the report said. It's uncertain how many are still in use because there are still so many Cold War era SCUD missiles around.

"Many of these missiles are rotting away in North Korean, Iranian and various other Middle Eastern warehouses. There are a lot of them sitting around in Russia, but not in usable form. Several nations are designing and building new SRBMs (especially North Korea, Iran, China)," StrategyPage.com said.

"There are at least several thousand ... SRBMs out there. The best of them are not SCUDs, but more modern designs from China. There's a lot of work going on developing new missiles," it said. Last year, there were nearly a hundred test launches, most of them "for smaller missiles."