Reading Assignment #1

This was a very informative reading assignment. The article explained different web hoaxes and “tricks” that normal web users find themselves falling for everyday. There are many different sites on the internet that host information that is one hundred percent credible but there are also thousands of sites that do not. These sites can be disguised as official government sites, for example, so many web users believe that they are receiving credible information. The article used a Martin Luther King website as an example of internet hoaxes. This particular site contains information that is masked to look government cited. Here there are many links that are based solely on the web creator’s opinion and view of Dr. Martin Luther King but is not cited factual information. There are several links that lead the web user to other “White Power” cites that are opinionated to the creator as well. This can be very difficult for the average college student that is trying to find credible information on the internet about Martin Luther King for a school project for example. There are also web sites that disguise themselves as harmful Trojans or worms. These sites can infect the user’s computer and in extreme cases stop the computer from functioning at all. So from what I learned from this article, web users, especially ones that are not extremely knowledgeable of the internet, need to be extremely careful of internet sites that are not created by the government or other credible organizations when looking for credible information. There are many sites that are created solely to poke fun, have political certain stands, or simply mislead the web user. Always choose sites wisely when looking for credible information on a subject.