False Information on the Internet free essay sample

Nowadays, there is a lot of information that are provided on the internet that is not accurate and some find it as a false statement. This trend has created various kind of impact especially on the researchers who relies much on the internet and tends to believe everything that has been published on the screen as they make the internet as their first sources. The impact will be on their result of research and it will change their belief as well. For example, when an internet user read some information on the internet regarding to a world disaster, they will then spread it and chaos may occur among them. People who receive such information have to face the consequences while a person who spreads the false information got nothing to lose. This study is not just the awareness of using the false information but also to aware those people who use the internet to publish any false information on the internet. We will write a custom essay sample on False Information on the Internet or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page How their act will bring harm and damages in any way to human being. 1. 2Problem Statements The awareness of false information on the internet has various benefits in any aspects such as education, economy, communication and many more. For example, in education aspect, we find that most students do their research on the internet instead of books. Therefore, they need to be teaching how to avoid from facing such matter and relying too much on the information that are provided on the internet. Besides that, students can be taught on how to be familiar with information that is whether the information is false or fact. However, this teaching can be challenging as students have been used the internet as a source of information since the internet have been expose to them. Therefore, it is important that students understand and aware of the false information on the internet because it has in some way influenced all of this nation’s all industries, and it will continue to permeate the issues of tomorrow. According to an in-depth study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (1991), 23 percent of the public find factual errors in the news stories of their daily paper at least once a week while more than a third of the public, 35 percent see spelling or grammar mistakes in their newspaper more than once a week. The study also found that 73 percent of adults in America have become more skeptical about the accuracy of their news. Due to the false information on the internet, many people believe something that did not happen and will not happen. These two events are one of the information that is not true at all. There are people who do not read the paper in the morning any more. They are reading the e-paper. Even in the morning they are sitting in front of the computer and not talking to each other while drinking a cup of tea. In the future there will be more and more e-papers and the newspapers will disappear. Some are beginning to talk to their computer but they are not any more able to talk to each other. While chatting in the internet you are frequently using abbreviations, uncompleted sentences and so on. This leads to speaking disabilities in everyday life. (Ukowitz, n. d) As for the person who is always distributing false information on the internet, they will get their consequences. According to Cyber Law of Malaysia, false information is a person who makes, orally or in writing, signs or furnishes any declaration, return, certificate or other document or information required under this Act which is untrue, inaccurate or misleading in any particular commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or both. In addition, Davis (1991) stated that anyone can put anything on the internet and seemingly does. Often, one cannot be sure of the reliability of the information provided. Reliability diminishes exponentially as information is passes from user to user and e-mail list to e-mail list until it acquires a degree of legitimacy by virtue of its widespread dissemination and constant repetition. However, according to Seib (2001), the easiest way to fix a mistake is simply to erase it and replace it with correct information. That is a temptation unique to electronic publication, since there is no â€Å"original† version in the print or video archives. This is fine for readers who come to the site after the correction has been made. But failure to post a formal notice of correction implies that there was never an error, and that is less than honest. Consistent with this problem, there was a case of inaccurate information that affecting people thought on the news that had been published on the internet. According to O’Leary (2002), what may be hard for mainstream journalists, to understand is that, in crisis situations, the social functions of rumor are virtually distinguishable from the social functions of ‘real news’. People spread news via the Net for the same reason that they read their papers or tune into CNN: they are trying to make sense of their world. Many researchers have done this topic and are quite known among the internet users. However, in Malaysia, the research is in a small amount of it. Thus, this study will increase up the interest of the researcher to study and explore more on this issue. Understanding the problem which is false information on the internet is an important key for the students to ensure that they can get the best information and sources. Due to this problem, this study seeks to investigate the awareness of false information on the internet that among the students in Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College (KLIUC). 1. 3Research Objectives Main Objectives: (i)To investigate the awareness of false information on the internet among the students in KLIUC. Specific Objectives: (i)To identify the reasons that lead to false information on the internet. (ii)To examine the problem and how to avoid from getting a false information on the internet among KLIUC students. 1. 4Research Questions This study was design to address the following research question: 1. Does the student in KLIUC aware about the false information on the internet? 2. Does the student in KLIUC still depend on the information that is provided on the internet even though they know there is false information on the internet? 3. Does the student in KLIUC contribute themselves in this kind of activity which are publishing false information on the internet? 1. 5Significance of the Study It is hoped that this research will be beneficial for: 1. The researcher, that it will gain her knowledge deals with information about a various reasons and consequences due to false information on the internet problem among students. By conducting this research, it will also help the researcher to understand whether the respondents are aware of this matter or not. 2. To other researcher, this research will also help the other researchers to add their knowledge about false information on the internet among students. Besides that, this research will also help them to get some information in order to expand their ideas regarding to this topic. This study has added to our knowledge concerning false information on the internet by emphasizing about the proof and example that can affect the research finding. . To students, this research will gain their knowledge regarding to false information impact on their studies which is it will affect their research and assignments. Based on the information, the students may be able to identify false information on the internet and to overcome this problem to get a smooth research on the internet. 4. To readers, this research will enlarge their knowledge deal with the false informa tion on the internet so that they can avoid when they want to find information from a certain sources. In addition, they will aware and otified of the existence of false information act in order to protect themselves from being a victim. 1. 6Scope of Study (i)This study is a concentration on the problems that already recognized and faced by the researcher. (ii)The respondents consist of the students from KLIUC only. (iii)The location of this study will be conducting in Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College, Kajang. 1. 7Definition of Terms †¢False information According to Floridi (n. d), information as an instance of semantic information it must be true, meaningful well-formed data. False information that is misinformation is not actually information. †¢Internet Huber (1995) stated that we can describe the Internet as a system operating in a certain environment. The internet can be described as a communication system, consisting of certain components between which certain interactions are observable to an observer. The environment provides a structural coupling between the Net and its support from the environment. The environment â€Å"holds† the system and provides the relevant resources and supports to maintain the systems functions. †¢Awareness According to Duval (1972), awareness can be defined as considers the conditions which cause the consciousness to focus on the self as an object. Thus, it shows that how students these days depend too much on the internet as a source of information. It is easy for them to be a victim of false information that is published on the internet. Despite that, they can also be one of them who publish the false information on the internet intentionally. This research is design to address the reason why false information on the internet occur and exist. 2. 2 Literature Review This literature review examines the reasons that lead to false information on the internet. They are the need for speed, the desire to attract hits, political gains and attraction to scandal. The definition and the concept of this research are defined from the previous research and cases that are related to this study 2. 2. 1 The Need for Speed As Seib (n. d) notes, in the current information age, the deadline for reporters is always ‘now’ (p. 142). As we all know, information on the internet is always the latest. Therefore, they can always publish any information on it even though the information is untrue or false as people depending too much on the internet they forgot to go through it and compare it to the local newspaper or article or even books. Thus, the reason why false information exist is because it is 24/7 compare to other sources. Despite that, according to Drudge’s Site, it focuses instead on immediacy and believes that the Web encourages this type of reporting (Hall, 2002, p. 148). Therefore, the reason why this people or in specifically journalist published false information on the internet is because people put pressure on them. It doesn’t matter whether the information is true not, it has to be there. 2. 2. 2 The Desire to Attract Hits Competition among Web sites is also a cause for some false reports. Web sites must fill the desires of consumers, or risk losing those consumers to other sites that either get the information first or are even more sensational in their reporting. Hall argues that journalism on the Web has promoted the idea that news is ‘infotainment’ and more at the mercy of the demands of the marketplace than to its audiences (Hall, 2001, p. 155). Thus, we can see that they published false information on their website just to attract people to read it. They never bother about the consequences that the readers or we can also call consumers can get if they read it. The simple thing to say is that whoever publishes any false information on the internet is the attention seeker. 2. 2. 3 Political Gains Political issues can be also one of the reasons why false information on the internet exists. People even students themselves eager to know what is the ‘hot’ story regards to their favorite politician. Recently, there was news where a 12 years old boy tends to join a democracy of Anwar Ibrahim’s trial. Despite that, not just the readers but the politicians himself tend to post any false information of their opponents just to get a vote or an attention. There was a cases that related to this study where even after four investigations came to the same conclusions about Vince Foster’s death, certain political groups were still spreading false reports in order to promote their own cause. For example, a fund-raising letter sent out by anti-Clinton groups asked for $1,000 donations in order to support the â€Å"Clinton Investigation Commission† which would investigate the claim that Foster was murdered (Piacente, 1997). 2. 2. 4 Attraction to Scandal Nowadays, people would prefer something that is interesting instead of fact. News, and specifically news on the Web, is often led by scandal and the concept of the spectacular rather than issues of depth (Hall, 2001, p. 137). As we can see, people tend to spread an information that we might found it false at the end of the day instead of spreading an information that we know it is a fact. The competition between sites on the Web and the ability for consumers to move rapidly between those sites furthers the need for reporters to lead with scandal in order to catch consumers’ attention. This desire for the spectacular, along with an emphasis on scandal, often leads to other false information or reports on the internet. . 3 Theory Related to Study 2. 3. 1 Media Dependency Theory Media Dependency Theory is a theory proposed by Sandra Ball-Rokeach and Melvin DeFleur in 1976 which stated the more dependent an individual is on the media for having his or her needs fulfilled, the more important the media will be to that person. In this research, the media depe ndency theory supports the explanation of how people depend too much on the media as a source of information. Therefore, they tend believe anything that is published on the internet even the information is untrue. . 3. 2 Internet Theory Internet Theory is a theory studied by Hans Dieter Huber in 1995 which stated that internet is a system and also a medium of communication. In this research, the internet theory supports the explanation of how internet can be a medium between people and information. It shows that people use the internet as to seek for any information they want to such as news, entertainment, education and many more. is more focus on people’s perceptions and also opinion on the issue which is false information on the internet. It is not just about the amount of person but also the idea of that person on the awareness of false information on the internet. This study is focus on ‘why’ does the issue occur. Besides that, this study is also to analyze the respondent’s feedback on the false information on the internet. This study is also to analyze the differences point on view on the study among KLIUC students. This study will be using both the open-ended and open-ended questionnaire based on the type of question that would be asked. 3. 2Population and Sample 3. 2. 1Population The research will be conducted at KLIUC, Kajang. The students had been chosen as the respondent for this study. They will be given a questionnaire about this topic. The total populations of KLIUC’s students are about 3,500 students. 3. 2. 2Sampling The sampling procedures are using the purposive sampling which the respondents have an equal chance to being selected to participate in this research. This sampling is selected because this research focused on the view of the overall students in KLIUC on the awareness of the false information on the internet. 3. 3Data Collection Procedure A structured of questionnaire will be developed as the mode of data collection. The questionnaire is personally delivered to the respondents by hand and the respondents will be given about 15 minutes to answer the questions. Participants will be approach and on their voluntary as there will be no incentive for completion offered. In addition, information will be collected to support the data through literature review.