Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet

Citation

Sturges, P. (2003), "Web of Deception: Misinformation on the Internet", Online Information Review, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 216-217. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520310481517

An addition to the fairly small number of books that offer to assist the Internet user in sorting the high quality wheat from the cyber‐chaff is welcome. The editor, Anne Mintz, declares her intention to help the reader deal with misinformation, libellous gossip, child pornography, fraud and thievery, assaults on privacy, disruptive viruses, global terrorism and other criminal activities. Even the non‐user is made aware by media comment that this type of material lurks close to the surface of the Internet’s resources. Indeed, surveys suggest that a certain minority of non‐users actually avoids going online because they feel that this would involve exposure to serious risk. No one seriously doubts that there are problems, but how to respond is less obvious.

The book consists of a series of chapters by experienced and knowledgeable authors spanning academia, professional practice and the online industry. Mintz’s introduction and Paul Piper’s opening chapter both seek to characterise and categorise the problem, and in doing so set the pattern for the whole book by citing plentiful real‐life examples. The content of the book falls into two sections. First there are six chapters concentrating on particular areas of difficulty: medical advice, business information, privacy and security infringements, charity frauds, business frauds and legal advice. Then there are four chapters that deal respectively with evaluating Web sites, problems with searching, how a search engine works, and how to respond when damage is suffered from misinformation.

As an example of the specialised chapters, we can take the treatment of “The identity/privacy target zone” by Stephen Arnold. He cautions the reader from the very start that there is effectively no security on the Internet except perhaps for the most cautious and vigilant of users. He then goes on to show in some detail the risks of undertaking commercial transactions over the Internet, how companies monitor individuals’ business for marketing purposes, and the way in which identities are stolen and misused. He advises a response based on common sense and the judicious use of encryption. The other chapters in this section provide a similarly informative treatment of their topics.

In the final four chapters the editor’s intention that this will be a practical book comes into its own. The scary stories of the earlier chapters are supplemented with detailed information on how the problems arise, and how the innocent user can find some protection from the bad intentions of others. A careful reading of these chapters should not only help the reader become more secure, but be a better searcher too. This is undoubtedly a useful book. The style is, however, often journalistic, and sometimes the writing is clumsy. The use of headings and subheadings is unsystematic and occasionally not very explicit. Despite these slightly annoying features, Web of Deception is a thoroughly worthwhile exercise and achieves much of what it set out to do.