False Information

Even though we can find information about mostly anything on the Internet, it does not mean that all this information is correct or up-to-date. It depends on many factors such as, who the author is, when the information was posted or what the author's intentions were!

Sometimes we receive Emails with such false information. Some tell us that by eating something we can get serious deseases, some tell us that by doing something we can be healthier...and so on. Usually all tell us to forward the Email to all our contacts. Such Emails are 99% of the time Hoaxes or Scams. A Hoax means the intentional transmission of false information.

You can easily check on these by entering the Email subject in a search engine (such as Google) and looking them up - you will normally find information about such hoaxes, explaining how the information is false.
You should find the following list of websites useful:

• http://www.hoax-slayer.com/
• http://www.snopes.com/
• http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/emailhoaxes.php
• http://www.scambusters.org/scamcheck.html
• http://www.hoaxbusters.org/

You can also take a look at the Top Five Signs that an Email is a Hoax.

There are also websites which give false information on purpose. Some for example are racist websites which try to distort facts. Others websites give false information just for fun but may easily trick you into believing they are serious! The teacher can show you some of these sites or give you their addresses.

To be safe from such false information we should never believe Emails we receive that tell us to forward them to all our contacts. We should also check who the author of any website we visit is - the author can be a person or an organisations such as a University. We should also check when the website was last updated - as information becomes outdated very fast nowadays!

Tell us what you think about false information found on the Internet.