THE FALSE AND OFFENSIVE INFORMATION

The internet has become a major source of information for many people.
However, online information has usually not gone through the same checks
as newspaper articles or books. There is a higher risk that some of the facts
or quotations from a particular source in an article are false. If people base
their opinions on information they find online, they could be basing it on
untrue facts.
Many students now growing up with the internet are so used to being able
to access answers at the click of a mouse that they forget not all
information on the internet is completely accurate. It is amazing how many
students believe that Wikipedia is the ideal go-to resource for any academic
question, when in fact the famous online encyclopaedia is compiled by
anonymous members of the public and is in no way guaranteed to include
only accurate information submitted by academic experts of any kind!
The ability for anyone to be able to publish anything online without barriers
resulted in a large amount of information wich could be incorrect and also
be criminal, offensive or discriminatory. This sort of information would not
usually be widely published via offline channels, but with the advent of the
Interne can be accessed by anyone. A lot of propaganda from extremist
groups such as religious zealots or Neo-Nazis it is accessible like never
before. Enabled by 21st-century technology, extremists have optimized the
use of Internet chat rooms, Web sites and e-mail chains to spread their
violent messages. Various reports have linked a sharp rise in paedophilia,
inappropiate content such as pornography is available to anyone, including
children. the Internet it is an easy and often anonymous way to share such
material with the world. The ability for anyone to publish anything online
could clearly do considerable harm to society.