Reading Report #1

This reading was a detailed article of what types of information exist on the internet and which sources you should ignore as misinformation and which you should consider legit. The author suggested that there were categories to label this misinformation: counterfeit, malicious, fictitious, parodies/spoofs/entertainment, hacks, and disinformation. The author went into great detail to inform you of the dangers of believe information that isn’t credible. Counterfeit websites were noted to be the most troublesome of websites since they pose to be legit and then turn out to be false misleading information. False websites also seem to create a chain reaction of incorrect information. News groups such as CNN may pick up something that had recently been posted by a counterfeit of suspicious website and without properly researching the credibility of that site, report misleading info. Even scams occur within these websites. The author brings up an example of the September 11th tragedy, where scam artists set up fake donations online for you to give to the victim’s families that didn’t really exist. The author also notes that medical information online can be misleading because it might be posted by individuals with no knowledge or background in the field. Businesses are also at risk when angry customers slander the companies name in counterfeit websites or hack into their systems causing thousands of dollars in damages and customer relations.

This article was very informing and useful. For the longest time I considered that “.org” websites of all legitimate and that everything on those sites were fair and unbiased. After reading this article I learned that isn’t the case at all and that more research should be done before believing sites on the web. The author made one comment about using common sense when online. I really agree with that, a lot of people read or hear something and automatically assume it’s true just because it’s online, and this is crazy to me. People need to keep their common sense caps on and actually do a little more research to clarify their sources on the web. The author listed many helpful sites to help identify hoaxes on the net. I suggest using those when you might be in question of some internet material. I know I will!