Reading Response 1

Reading the article about web hoaxes provides a great deal of eye opening information about the dangers of the web. There are many different types of dangerous web site hoax methods out there and all of them are dangerous in their own right. While some sites that just mimic other as a spoof or joke and are not necessarily very threatening, there are extremely scary websites out there that and referred to as counterfeit or fictitious sites. These sites are more harmful because they are created with the intent to give out incorrect information or to get web users to provide personal data such as medical records or business information related to bank accounts. People will then use this information as a way to steal the user’s identity and possibly spend every penny they own before they could ever know what is going on. Counterfeit sites can not only be harmful on a personal level but also on a much larger scale as shown from the example in the article which talks about putting out false information out large companies buying each other out which then causes big changes in the stock value of those companies.

Before reading this article I did not realize how capable people out there are of easily obtain private information. From now on I know that I will be much more selective about which websites I give out my information to and the scariest part about that is as the creators of these web hoax sites become more advanced in making their websites appear to be the real thing, it can be very easy to give out information to the wrong people without ever realizing it until it is too late. Hopefully we can soon figure out a way to weed out this malicious sites and protect internet users against them.