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It's our greatest weapon. But the Internet is also the playground for generators of fake news and plausible sob stories that could easily take you for a ride
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ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD: Information on the Internet can at times take you for a ride
What information can you not find on the Internet? True or blatantly and obviously made up, there's space for everything and if you're not careful you might buy into a lie just because it showed up on an impressive-looking website. Casual browsers are not the only victims of the hazards of the Internet. Recently, the website of a leading Indian newspaper in English published a bizarre story about actress Aishwarya Rai on their online edition.
Sourcing material from the website thespoof.com, the reporter wrote The Spoof jest as a straight news piece: Rai "is slated to appear in a special version of the American show "Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV" episode in which she will contest with a 380 pound woman." On another show, In Blind Date, "... Aishwarya will date Lorenzo — a former stripper, who... wants to form a love connection and score on the first date." Never mind that the reporter didn't see the disclaimer at the bottom of the story or notice that The Spoof site itself claims it is "the leading satire newspaper on the Internet providing an irreverent and satirical slant to the current big news stories", it's amazing that they bought into a story listed on a site called Spoof!
As blogs like Sepia Mutiny caught on to the gaff and disparaging comments began pouring in, the newspaper's website quickly pulled down the story. But it's not just hapless hacks who fall prey to the intrigues of the Internet. Daily mails flood the Inboxes of unsuspecting surfers and email users.
More believable than Ash taking on a wrestler. These Inbox-flooding emails contain seemingly real stories; sad stories, stories of oesophageal cancer and prostate cancer (or both), of dying men wanting to donate money to Latin American charities, of young orphaned boys asking for help for a better life (and a resident permit in your country, which you should please try to arrange) and so on. It's hard to believe your Inbox is flooded with emails from people wanting to give you money and all they ask is just a lousy contact address for you. But contact information is valuable in constructing databases, so you need to be especially discreet while navigating the Net.So while most people use the Internet even for such basic functions as tracking old friends down don't be surprised if you're told your sixth grade best friend is now tracking chimpanzees in Kenya — the Internet is brimming over with unverified information.
HEMANGINI GUPTA
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