Remember Milli Vanilli, the late 80's-early 90's chart-topping pop duo eventually exposed as lip-syncing frauds? Being "economical with the truth" (whether outright lying or creating a breach of faith) will always be discovered, but whether there are consequences depends on how people perceive the untruth and how they are affected.

For example, I'll bet that, like me, when you first saw a football game on television where they inserted into the picture a line across the field showing the line of scrimmage you were mighty impressed. What a cool way to augment reality! We were already used to all of the graphics that the networks had used to show the score, review statistics, highlight players and so on, but inserting the line of scrimmage as if it were real – wow.

The same technique became commonplace in other televised sports and has been used extensively in the last few summer and winter Olympics. And here's the thing: No one would think that this kind of enhancement is in any way wrong or is done with any duplicitous intention. It supports the event and adds real value.

Now, just consider the same kind of overlay technology as used in the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to fake a fireworks effect that would have been impossible to pull off in the real world.

For those of you who haven't heard the story here it is: People watching the Olympic opening ceremonies on television, including on the giant screens around the Beijing National Stadium (the "Bird’s Nest"), you would have seen what looked like a chain of 29 giant footprints apparently produced by fireworks marching across the sky from Tiananmen Square to the stadium (if you missed the show you can find the footprint sequence on MyTube).

The effect was spectacular! What an incredible concept. But it was a complete and shameless fraud, the Milli Vanilli of fireworks.

What was sad was that most people didn't know they were seeing a fake. The TV networks didn't make it clear what was going on (although whether they understood what they were being fed is in doubt), and the Chinese authorities only 'fessed up after the fact. The consequences? Nothing of note because only people's perceptions were being manipulated. The Chinese government has no shame. End of story.