Propagation of Misinformation
E-Epistemology and Misinformation by Peter G. Neumann, “Inside Risks” 155, Communications of the ACM 46, (5, May 2003).
final, published, pdf version available to ACM subscribers.
This article is worth re-reading. It touches on
so many issues that are relevant to how people find, evaluate, and use information. Privacy, urban myths, Copyright restrictions and proprietary information, the hidden web, and more.
The propagation of misinformation has long been a problem in conventional print and broadcast media, but represents another problem that is exacerbated by the speed and bandwidth of the Internet. In general, widely held beliefs in supposedly valid information tend to take on lives of their own as urban myths; they tend to be trusted far beyond what is reasonable, even in the presence of well-based demonstrations of their invalidity.