Rumours, Lies and Innuendo Spread Far, Wide and Fast on The Internet

This week assignment is about Rumours, Lies and Innuendo Spread Far, Wide and Fast on The Internet in other word how you often take what is on the Internet as TRUTH with our thinking much about it.
From this picture we've been told to not believe information from internet because we don't know exactly who make the article. But from my opinion we can't 100% not believe to internet's article, because not all the information just a hoax. 

I do a lot using internet's article as my research and reference for my assignment because it's the easiest way to finishing it rather searching it on book or magazine or another sources and all this time I found that the accuracy of the article is quite good. It helps me a lot in my work and my daily life to know about world.
for an example, 
I live far away from my parents, suddenly I can't call my parents. I immediately looking twitter to found an information and then I saw a tweet about my city and I found why I can't call my parents. 
What we have to do, we have to evaluate the information from internet. here some question you have to ask yourself when you want take something from internet.


about the author

• Is the name of the author/creator on the page?
• Are his/her credentials listed (occupation, years of experience, position or education)?
• Is the author qualified to write on the given topic? Why?
• Is there contact information, such as an email address, somewhere on the page?
• Is there a link to a homepage?
• If there is a link to a homepage, is it for an individual or for an organization?
• If the author is with an organization, does it appear to support or sponsor the page?
• What does the domain name/URL reveal about the source of the information, if anything?
• If the owner is not identified, what can you tell about the origin of the site from the address?

accuracy

• Are the sources for factual information clearly listed so that the information can be verified?
• Is it clear who has the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy of the content of the material?
• Can you verify any of the information in independent sources or from your own knowledge?
• Has the information been reviewed or refereed?
• Is the information free of grammatical, spelling, or typographical errors?

Rumours, Lies and Innuendo Spread Far, Wide and Fast on The Internet

From the picture above, you can see how you can't always believe every news that you read on the internet. Everyone in the world can easily post and spread news on the internet. Nowadays people becoming easy and easier to believe whatever news they got from the internet without checking the truth and just simply spread it out to everyone.

What we’re seeing, more and more, is not so much a pursuit of truthful, fact based, resource-supported content – but instead a heavy emphasis on the “now” – the latest news, the hottest, most popular buzz-worthy content we can get our hands on.

This is the way our society in general is programmed to think – this is the type of content that “sells” and gets people talking. But what we’re seeing is a total blur of what’s truthful and what isn’t – content manufactured simply to create a buzz. And what’s scary is we’re starting to almost not care about honesty – it’s increasingly becoming more about who said it and where they said it. The online world has become one big “who you gonna’ believe?” popularity contest. I want out.

Paraphrasing, Ted Koppel praised the Internet for what it has done and continues to do with the sharing of information, but also criticised it in an almost fearful way, stating that in today’s online world, there’s no way to truly know who these ‘information sharers’ are or what there intent is. We can’t say beyond a shadow of a doubt that what anyone is saying online is true (of course the same can be said for “traditional” media) but it’s much more prevalent in the online world.

(http://www.lifewithoutpants.com/blogging/how-much-do-you-care-about-the-truth/)

Do you often take what is on the Internet as TRUTH with our thinking much about it?


NO!  Why not? I never believe in everything that i read on the internet. When i try to search some information on internet, i'll try to search from more than 5 sources. Even when the website state as the "real" source, i won't believe in everything. There's a lot source that people easily believe in and simply spread the news, and try to make people believe in that news. Sometime, i found it really annoying and just try to not believe on that news.

Rumours, Lies and Innuendo Spread Far, Wide and Fast on The Internet

From the image above, you can conclude that you should not believe anything you read from the internet, although it is from a large or trusted site. Because everybody can publish anything on the internet, but the problem is today’s most people are not prepare to critically evaluate the information they find there. They just believe anything directly. I meant when people looking for an article and search it on Google, they will click on the first listing at the top of the results page and take a quick look, then continue down the list without studying the source of the website to figure out whether it’s best source of information.

Honestly, I don’t often take what is on the internet as truth without thinking much about it. Why I could say like that? Because from my personal experience and because I’m kind of people who like to search. When I got news, for example from my friend’s status on twitter I will go check for the truth. I will believe it if there is the author named or the organization that is responsible for the truth of the article.

I have an example that related to this topic from my recent personal experience. I have read my friend’s status on twitter about The Strokes (one of my favourite American band) will perform in Kuala Lumpur on 6^th August 2011 at Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil. Of course when I read it, I got shocked and really excited. But on the other side, I also think like “is it for real?”. Then I checked it on the internet. I searched some articles that related to this news, and the result is I found this flyer. 

I was more excited when saw this flyer, because I saw the concert was sponsored by Maxis, Malaysia Airlines, Mtv, Junk, and Astro. Those are big companies and I think they will not spread the lies. But I didn't just stop, I checked for another trusted site, I opened The Strokes official website and saw their tour dates and sure enough they don’t have event on  6^th August 2011 their upcoming event is on 13^th August and that is not in Kuala Lumpur, but in Tokyo. 

Another example is about “Facebook Will End on March 15^th, 2012”. 

I read it from weeklyworldnews.com. In this article, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will be shut down because managing the site has become too stressful. “Facebook has gotten out of control,” said Zuckerberg in a press conference outside his Palo Alto office, “and the stress of managing this company has ruined my life. I need to put an end to all the madness.” Of course many people got upset when read this article, including me. I think that his reason is no sense, I meant why he should shut down the Facebook if he got much money from it? Then I looked for the truth from another site, and the result is it is just Hoax news. According to http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, The "Weekly World News" article went on to quote another company official, Avrat Humarthi, vice-president of technical affairs at Facebook, as saying "After March 15th the whole website shuts down. So if you ever want to see your pictures again, I recommend you take them off the internet. You won't be able to get them back once Facebook goes out of business."

So, the conclusion is don’t believe everything you read on the internet, and think twice before you pass a story or news on to your friends. Be critical, you better search the truth first before pass give the information to another people than giving them fake information. Although a hoax is not as serious as malware worming its way between users and stealing information, it's still a nuisance, clogging up communications, increasing the overall level of spam and perhaps leading people to make decisions for the wrong reasons.

Hijja Ania - 1092700994

Rumors, Lies and Innuendo Spread Far, Wide and Fast on the Internet

The comic shows that about rumor, lies and innuendo. The story tell us that the article about "The Late" Vic Van Speck is fake, and it was created by a child behind the scene. These attitudes are so selfish and mischievous. It will become trouble or burden to other people.

Internet has many possitive and negative effects on people life. It makes all kinds of information available by just one click. Although you can find recent news in a moment, you may get the incorrect one. Actually, it is important to pay attention to the resources and website addresses and using the famous and trusted websites which is never published hoax. Lies and rumors are really important, because it can change and influence people's mind easily these days. That's why, the media that come to people’s lives are so important. Media has big effects on our lives like I mentioned before, it may bring problems among people. Media can spread lies that change people's view and even country’s destiny. 

Here's one example of rumors, lies and innuendo that spread around the internet:

Steven Spielberg Palestinian Movie

Spielberg to Direct Feature Based On Palestinian Uprising

The news is about an upcoming film from director Steven Spielberg will document the current uprising in the West Bank from a pro-Palestinian point of view. It was posted on several news lists and also forwarded to several Canadian-based news organizations as well as Jewish political-action groups and other activists. Under the headline that read "Spielberg to direct feature based on Palestinian uprising," The false news story purported to quote Spielberg speaking out on behalf of the Palestinians and criticizing both Israel and Hollywood. The original story, which circulated by e-mail, could not be determined.

We should be more cautions towards what we expose to from Internet, because we don't know which one is the true and which one is the fake one. Now, I think that there are few billions or people surfing information from webs. This is how news can spread throughout the whole world. We need to search and look carefully in order to avoid the rumors and lies around us. Be aware of lies, rumours and innuendo that spread from Internet. 

Rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide and fast on the Internet

Through the comic strip uploaded by the lecturer. I understand that the news post through internet might be either true or false. Therefore, it is critical in making decision to believe or not. In my critical reflection toward the media is I would not believe what is written on the internet as the truth because:


1) As everyone know that internet is now an easy access door to the world of information. In the same time, each originate of the information come from different source in the world. Therefore, the source provider might add in their own opinion toward a matter create doubt to receiver.


2) As mention in above that different people might add in their opinion. Thus, let take internet as a comment board to every user to freely comment on a matter and some people take an advantage toward this way to influence others on their thinking by using their opinion. So, the percentages of believing the news on the internet is greatly reduce.


My Personal Reflection on the News Post in Internet


From the class, I understand that Media not only entertain, inform and etc. It also in a way also effect us in many way from our mind thinking to even our living style. From many different theory that we learn allow us to understand that some people use Media for others purpose to inject information, ideas, propaganda hypodermically. Maybe we don't realised but even now we are still being influence by Media such YouTube, Blog and etc. Therefore, it is wise that we interpret certain information that we gain before we accept it.

Rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide and fast on the Internet

A lot of information on the internet that we can believe it or not. We should be able to choose what is right and wrong, do not be too easy to believeeverything on the internet.

Information research is performed in many different ways throughout the Internet. Once an information is found, the assessment of its relevance and trustiness happens through objective criteria and on the premise of subjective factors. What are such criteria and factors?  And how are they changing in a growing social connected net? A typical situation: You sit with friends together and discuss; a fact is cited, but you do not believe it and want to prove it is wrong, so you quickly check it  in the Internet. We increasingly rely on our digital backbone, which now it is even ubiquitous available through mobile phones. The net becomes our extended memory – not in any case it is easy to find an answer quickly, but is getting easier thanks to sources such as Wikipedia. (http://www.crisscrossed.net/2010/01/08/when-do-we-trust-an-information-source)

Example, we can search everything in internet for our assignment. But not all we get from internet is right. 

We can discuss about wikipedia, wikipedia give a lot of information but wikipedia have a shortage. people can edit the information in wikipedia and change it. So don't everything in there, we must search other references. 

Another example is internet fraud. 

The Internet is a useful way to reach a mass audience without spending a lot of time or money.  A website, online message, or “spam” e-mails can reach large numbers with minimum effort.  It's easy for fraudsters to make their messages look real and credible and sometimes hard for investors to tell the difference between fact and fiction.  That's why you should think twice before you invest your money in any opportunity you find online. (http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm)

We must be careful because many criminal incidents on the internet. Such online shop that ask your credit card number. We must know that online shop really trustworthy or not. 

many more criminals on the internet.

Here are a few suggestions on ways to keep your personal information and money more secure when you go online:

Beef Up Your Security. Personal firewalls and security software packages (with anti-virus, anti-spam, and spyware detection features) are a must-have for those who engage in online financial transactions.

Use a Security Token (if available). Using a security token can make it even harder for an identity thief to access your online brokerage account. 

Be Careful What You Download. When you download a program or file from an unknown source, you risk loading malicious software programs on your computer.

Use Your Own Computer If You Can. It's generally safer to access your online brokerage account from your own computer than from other computers.

Don't Respond to Emails Requesting Personal Information.Legitimate entities will not ask you to provide or verify sensitive information through a non-secure means, such as email.

Be Smart About Your Password. The best passwords are ones that are difficult to guess. 

Use Extra Caution with Wireless Connections. Wireless networks may not provide as much security as wired Internet connections. 

Log Out Completely. Closing or minimizing your browser or typing in a new web address when you're done using your online account may not be enough to prevent others from gaining access to your account information.

(http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/katrina/protectyourselfonline.htm)

personally, I don't trust everything from internet. If I search something, I usual search from many sources, so I can choose the best.

Rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide and fast on the Internet

From the comic above, that was clearly tell us that was a rumors, lies and innuendo. 

I agreed on what it says, rumors, lies and innuendo spread far, wide and fast on the internet. Do we have to believe on all the news that come out from the internet? In my opinion, i do not think so. I would rather to go check to another website, to get some more articles that have the same topic then read it properly. Check who is the author of the article and try to determine who is responsible to the article, whether it is individual, organizations, government, media organization, university or institutions.

Another example that we cannot believed it directly is the advertisements that always pop up when we open the random website. Same like that, it also a form like a quizes that we asked to send an sms to answer the questions then got an iPhone. It is just kind of nonsense.

There is an example from my friend that have been a victim from online shopping in facebook. He bought a blackberry, then after he pay and tell them about the payment, he gives his address. He waiting for the confirmation from the seller, and after 4 days the facebook account is dissappear. See, how the online shop can get money easily, that is why we have to be very careful.

In conclusion, we cannot fully trust on the internet sources because many of people who created the fake websites for their business without thinking of people feeling. So maybe we can make sure the website is really authentic or not. Beware guys !

Nur Fitriyani - 1092701216