Much content online is at best questionable. But the very fabric of the Internet itself is a crapshoot. Visit Whitehouse.com (www.whitehouse.com) and you may be in for a surprise. Whitehouse.gov ( www.whitehouse.gov) is Clinton's place; Whitehouse.com has porn. GWBush.com (www.gwbush.com) isn't a site for the presidential hopeful. It's actually a wicked satire designed by guerrilla e-group ®™ark (www.rtmark.com) featuring tidbits like, "Life begins at 40! Gov. Bush will raise the age at which juveniles can be tried as adults to 40."
Some URL confusion is less clear-cut. Consider the URL www.windows2000.com, once a private "education portal" owned by Bob Kerstein. It's easy to assume Kerstein squatted on Microsoft's turf, but Kerstein put up the site in January 1996, long before Microsoft's product was conceived. "It's a problem for both Microsoft and myself," Kerstein admitted. "I'm optimistic we will come to an agreeable resolution. They've been very fair with me." At press time, Kerstein had exchanged the URL for Microsoft's www.bob.com.
Microsoft is perhaps the most common URL target. Another classic site is Micros0ft.com (with a zero instead of the second "o"). It's actually an advocacy site for open source that's been at odds with Gates and Co. in the past (now peacefully resolved). And watch out if you're a poor typist. Mistubishi.com is taken, as are Amazoon.com and Yohoo.com. While not yet the case with any of these sites, it would be a simple matter to set up a bookstore or a search engine or a scam shop under the guise of a respectable company. Watch out, or your typo could cost you, big time.
The Truth Is Out There
So how do you cut through the online nonsense and get to the meat of the Net? It's easier than you may think.
For starters, anything "anonymous" usually isn't worth a second glance. For buying advice, consider only opinions that have a name, and preferably a face, behind them. Always check credentials too. Productopia and Epinions have different but equally valid approaches to solving the online anonymity problem.
And of course, as with anything you type: Don't forget to check your spelling.
