Reading #1--Web Hoaxes

Mallory Phillips

September 8, 2009

Reading #1

Web Hoaxes, Counterfeit Sites, and Other Spurious Information on the Internet

By: Paul S. Piper

            This article informs readers about whether websites are legitimate or not. There are different types of these websites, and some of them are: counterfeit, malicious, parody/spoofs, fictitious, hacks, and misinformation. A website that has mistakes is not included, simply because mistakes happen! Counterfeit sites try and trick people by making itself seem just like the original website. Malicious sites intentionally misguide information seekers, and there is really nothing that can be done about this because of the First Amendment right to free speech. Parody/spoof websites use humor to try and make fun of the original site. Fictitious sites represent a website that has been completely fabricated. Misinformation websites are based on opinions. This does not mean that they are necessarily wrong, just not 100% factual. Some websites pretend to be something that they are not, and this is known as a Trojan horse. One of the first counterfeit websites was www.makah.org. The Makah tribe has won the right to harvest a few gray whales to keep tribal tradition. Animal rights groups protested and made a website that was identical to the Makah website, but all links led to anti-whaling information. The purpose of this article is mainly to inform its readers that there is plenty of false information on the Internet, and that you need to determine the validity of a website before you use it as a source.

            One example that the author gives of a counterfeit website deals with a Martin Luther King Jr. site. This website gives questionable information on a supposed plagiarism accusation against King. They also accuse King of being part of the Communist party, and that the night before he was shot, he was partying with three white women, one of who he supposedly beat up. There are a few clues that give away that this website is counterfeit. At the top of the page there was an email link to the author, and the end of the address was @stormfront.org. Stormfront’s website is dedicated to white nationalists “fighting to preserve white western culture.” There are also some other pro-white links on the website. I just don’t see why people would take the time to make a false website. Instead of copying the original website, why don’t they just make their own website? Also, are there not any copyright laws on websites? If there were, people who do things like this would get punished, and it would probably deter people from making more of these websites.