Internet Hoaxes

All over the internet are different types of hoaxes, from spam that you receive in your email inbox to fake news being spread across social media. With the accessibility of the internet to most all people and the easiness that comes with creating a website, hoaxes are all over the web. One of the most widely used websites for research can contain hoaxes at anyplace and anytime. Wikipedia is one of the most used web encyclopedias because of its wide range of information, but one thing that hinders the website is the ability for any user to edit the information. Even though I get a lot of my information from Wikipedia, it can be dangerous because of all the false and misleading information being displayed on the website. Sites like Wikipedia may seem like good places for research but in reality they could exhibit the most obscure and false information.

In my personal experience of using the internet, I haven't ran across a lot of websites that turned out to be hoaxes. The most common hoax I come across when using the internet is spam email. But thankfully, Yahoo and Google do an excellent job of collecting those emails in a separate folder marked spam. Just a quick look at my spam folder and it has collected emails titled "The Best Way to Build Bulk", "Save up to 85% off" and other spam emails that are a little less PG. Other hoaxes that I have ran across have been on twitter. Since I am a soccer and when the transfer window opens from June till September, I am always reading rumors and hoaxes about certain players being traded or sold to certain teams. This comes with any sport and sites such as twitter or facebook, where such rumors or hoaxes can spread like wildfire. Overall I try my best to stay away from any sites that I may believe to be a hoax.

After doing some research about internet hoaxes, I came across a very funny and interesting hoax. It was said to have been an advertisement claiming that the iOS 7 update included waterproofing. Considering the iOS7 was simply a system update to your already used iphone, people still believed the hoax. Some that actually believed the hoax, proceeded to test out the new upgrade by dropping their phone into water. Even though this almost sounds fake because the amount of stupidity required to believe an update would waterproof your phone, it was not, as it was reported by major news outlets such as ABC, Telegraph and Business Insider. I have included the link below.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fake-apple-ad-claims-ios-update-waterproofs-iphones/story?id=20369832