Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet

Citation

Wood, S. (2003), "Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet", New Library World, Vol. 104 No. 7/8, pp. 322-323. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074800310488103

Ask a sample of Internet users and the majority will claim to be confident users of the medium; the Internet is also becoming the port of call for information seekers, whether for personal, business or academic purposes. However, asking Internet users about how they evaluate or verify information they find on the Internet often elicits a negative response. Concerns about the reliability of information on the Internet are growing; the UCLA Internet Report (UCLA Center for Communication Policy, 2003) published in January of this year indicated that 52.8 per cent of users believed that most or all information is reliable – a decline from 58 per cent in 2001. Non‐users also reported much lower levels of belief in the reliability and accuracy of information on the Internet.

Misinformation and concerns about inaccuracy and quality are therefore real barriers to Internet adoption reaching predicted levels. The relevance of a text such as Web of Deception is timely in offering a discussion of key issues and practical skills that can be brought to this area. This text, edited by Anne Mintz, guides the Internet user or service provider through a number of key issues, focusing on key areas such as health information, privacy and e‐commerce, before introducing some practical elements in developing evaluation criteria and search issues, finally focusing on remedies for correcting misinformation or tackling information providers.

The themes of the different contributions to this edited text work well together and offer a cohesive approach to the subject. All the authors use real life examples from the Web to illustrate their theme. The contributors make their points about the problems of misinformation in a measured and realistic manner, offering balanced views, whilst clearly demonstrating that there are real problems that need to be addressed by all Internet users.

The text usefully starts off with Paul Piper’s attempt to try and make sense of the types of misinformation on the Web and to break them down into categories; he guides us through categories of counterfeit, malicious, product, fictitious, parodies, hacks and disinformation. Piper tries to be as balanced as possible in bringing up a wide range of examples from pro‐white groups posting malicious information about Martin Luther King to the fake WTO Web site set up by anti‐globalisation protesters. The problem here is about the value systems we may place on these activities and the role of free speech on the Internet: is the Martin Luther King Web site hateful racist propaganda and worthy of censorship, whereas the WTO site is a legitimate political protest against a global organisation? This book does not attempt to tackle these moral and legal issues that arise on the Internet, but perhaps a chapter pulling these issues together under the heading of “Internet ethics” would be a useful addition.

This is also a text that can be dipped into if you have a particular professional specialism: health information professionals will find the chapter on medical misinformation by Susan Detwiler particularly useful and will perhaps be able to use many of the themes for developing training for users on Web site evaluation. Not having worked in the health sector I found this chapter particularly interesting and it certainly increased my awareness of the scope of the problem in this sector. The statistic that 52 million US citizens have used the Web to find health information is particularly illuminating. Detwiler writes with authority and excellent knowledge on the topic. The URLs in the footnotes are also worth further investigation for those wishing to find out more in this area.

Writing from a UK perspective, the chapters on privacy and legal issues are less relevant. While the Internet is clearly a global phenomenon and we all visit sites in the USA, the legal nature of these issues will have greater interest for US readers.

The most valuable and must‐read chapters of the book are “How to evaluate a Web site” by LaJean Humphries and the “Searching quagmire” by Susan Feldman. The former is a short and concise overview of all the key factors to consider, focusing on many “obvious” issues that too many Internet users often overlook. The latter chapter focuses in on misinformation issues from a searcher’s perspective, discussing how we can verify the validity of search engine results, looking at issues such as search placement and pay per click. Feldman also points out that inexplicable results often come about due to confusion about the way search engines work. This chapter then leads into a handy chapter explaining how search engines work – although this information is available in many other resources, it is a succinct and understandable guide in comparison with some of the more technical texts and Web sites.

The final section is one of the weaknesses of the book and misses the chance for a more detailed overview and discussion of the issues in the book, plus an opportunity to look at the future of the Internet related to misinformation.

A text of real value that I can definitely recommend, as it plugs a clear gap in the market in this area. However, I would add that not all chapters will be relevant to non‐US readers because of the legal nature.