Beware of official-looking news releases on the Web.

Much like in October when activists put up a fake website and held a "news" conference that (falsely) claimed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had reversed its position on climate change legislation, someone has punked Environment Canada (the equivalent of the USA's EPA).

As Toronto's Globe and Mail explains:

Canada is red-faced at the Copenhagen climate-change conference as a result of a spoof news release purporting to be from Environment Canada announcing Canada was bringing in bold new emissions reduction targets.

According to the newspaper, the prank involved a fake Twitter account, and a fake news release at a fake Environment Canada website.

The real Environment Canada website, by the way, is here. It has officially called the spoof "unequivocally false," the Globe and Mail says.