This past week our class discussion focused a little on websites published by individuals or groups who conceal their authorship deliberately to disguise a hidden political agenda. These websites are called cloaked websites. These cloaked websites make it hard to distinguish fact from propaganda because these sites usually have a url address that would not be suspicious of being a fraudulent site. Many cloaked website even have .org address's which may give a web user a sense that it could be a scholarly site. Since they also show up in the top search results on search engine sites like Google or Yahoo, cloaked websites are very effective in grabbing the attention and fooling web users. The sites
As cloaked websites were brought to our attention as a dangerous method of propaganda, we also learned how to spot these sites. although authorship is usually disclosed, they can be clues to know that the information presented is false or is trying to convey a different view point. For instance, martinlutherking.org has a link at the bottom to Stormfront's ( a white supremacist group) homepage. However if you didn't click on the Stormfront link could a cloaked website like this one really be spotted. Most people know enough about Dr. King to know that this information can't be the truth, but what if this website revolved around a black figure that wasn't as well known.
The point I'm trying to make here is that myself and my classmates have been studying the ways that new media have been used for several months now. We may be able to point out certain aspect of websites that may not be as obvious to a child or an adult that has little knowledge about types of scams new media can bring. Cloaking can be a very dangerous tool of the Internet, and people should become aware of the misdirection it can bring.
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I agree, when I see the ".org" I almost always assume the website is legit. However, after the past few classes I realized even I need to watch what I consider legit. It is amazing how people can get away with some of the websites we discussed. I guess its freedom of speech.
ReplyDelete-Liz
If I came across martinlutherking.org, I certainly would expect something more official than a StormFront-backed hate site. I think the white supremacist group knows the advantage of concealing and clouding parts of its message in order to draw in unexpecting viewers. The Internet seems to make this task much easier.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I always thought I was in the clear when I saw a ".org", ".edu", ".gov"...etc. I guess that even though these could potentially be resourcful websites that thier intentions are not always pure. No wonder our teachers still make us use texts during research projects. There is so much on the Internet that it's so hard to distinguish between reliable and unreliable.
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