Web hoaxes and other spurious information on the internet.

In an online article Paul S. Piper discusses web hoaxes and fraudulent information posted throughout the internet. The article discribes how some internet sites post invalid information and can be misleading when attempting objective researche. There are many reasons why information can be skewed or blatanly misleading on internet sites but for the most part it is due to parody and entertainment, scams and money making schemes as well as disinformation and propoganda.


Every one knows of wikipedia, but what you might not know is that anyone can post information on this online encyclopedia. This can be good because it allows all people to pool knowledge on subjects in one particular place but it also creates the opportunity for those to post misleading or false information for personal gains.
Another example is martinlutherking.org, in which a white supremecist organization has used this domain name to give information about the civil rights activist that is atypical. They have used this site to present information about MLK as if it were a reputable even though the substance is particularly biased. the websites name is decieving in that one would think it is a credible source for info, this is an example of disinformation being used to alter public opinion.
The author is trying to emphasize the amount of false and out of context information floating around the internet currently. He also makes the point that a piece of information is only as cgood as its source. Checking sources as well as comparing information from multiple sources is the best way to determine the credibility of a statement or article.

“Music Industry urged to embrace the Internet”

“Music Industry urged to embrace the Internet”

By Kate Holton 1/20/09

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090120/media_nm/us_internet;_ylt=AsYDlovMOU8DH2TvI107e9P6VbIF

Recently, the music industry has been experiencing heavy loses due to internet piracy. So far the industry standard is to sue those who download copyrighted media illegally but with slumping sales, companies are trying to forge partnerships with online retailers.

“In 2008, some 95 percent of the music downloaded from the Internet, or more than 40 billion files, was illegal, leaving the overall music market down around 7 percent on 2007.”

There is an underground culture that shares and pirates music and other media freely throughout the internet. The copyright holding firms have noticed this and instead of fighting it are beginning to embrace the technology pioneered by the internet underground. Companies are looking to create media websites fueled by advertisements to bring media to consumers in a legitimate manner, some are also expanding their media to be compatible on all times of mobile devices.

In my opinion, this is a great step forward. Personally I use these online ‘pirating’ websites and I hope that I will never pay for digital media again. What these companies don’t want you to know is that almost all mainstream music and video can be downloaded of the internet for free. As the underground online community strengthens, hopefully a new culture of completely uninhibited media sharing will blossom. Information should be free.

First Post

My first post in my new blog for LIB103.