Reading Report #1

Reading the article “Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet” is definitely going to make me think twice about the research I do before using information from the internet for college assignments and in other aspects of life. Before reading this article, I was completely unaware of just how many counterfeit sites actually existed on the internet. When thinking about a counterfeit site, one would think maybe it would be obvious that it was not real or included misinformation, but this article taught me that counterfeit sites are in fact just like counterfeit money, in that sometimes it is hard to tell. This article taught me just how dangerous these counterfeit sites and web hoaxes can actually be. A great example of this that I learned of in the article was that of September 11th. When a major disaster like this occurs, everyone is in a state of panic. Since this kind of disaster leaves people feeling vulnerable, all it takes to cause a state of chaos in the world is for someone to write a lie or something that is fabricated on the internet to worry people even more. In this specific instance, people all over the world were coming together and helping clean up the mess and also donating money to victims. It probably never even crossed people’s minds that the website they clicked on to donate money for this cause was a hoax.

Not only did this article change the way I looked at the internet as a fun, efficient, and informative tool that makes our everyday lives easier, but it also frightened me a little bit. In a way it is quite disappointing to see the amount of hoaxes that are made up to scam other people and take their money. This article shows that when it comes to the internet, gullibility is a dangerous trait to have because this can land you right in the middle of a scam. From now on when I am navigating the internet I will be much more careful about what I choose to believe and also what I choose to click on, as I have learned that these types of counterfeit websites and hoaxes may not be as obvious as a pop up advertisement.