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Thanks to search engines such as Google, even the most inept Net user now has access to billions of pages of news, reference material, scientific research and the like.

There is however, a bit of a problem associated with all this knowledge and information -- not all of it is true or accurate -- in fact some if it is just downright wrong and misleading.

As with any communications medium, the Net has become a fertile breeding ground for rumours and misconceptions.

Sometimes the release of this disinformation is deliberate and takes the form of political propaganda, advertising spin, or an attempt to separate the fools from their money.

Other times it's simply an accident, as appears to be the case when CNN prematurely published the somewhat tongue-in-cheek obituaries and biographies of a number of public figures. This example was uncovered and has been mirrored by TheSmokingGun.com.

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Then there's the type of misinformation born of fear.

Earlier this year, when the America's cup was being raced out of Auckland, rumours regularly surfaced that a terrorist attack was about to be unleashed against the city.

Emails warning city workers, particularly those in the Viaduct Basin, spread like wildfire and the mainstream media even got involved -- if only to debunk the rumours.

More recently we've seen a huge amount of hype circulating on the Net about SARS -- and if you believed half of it you'd have already booked your burial plot and funeral.

So where do you go to check out the veracity of information you've found on the Net?

Well unfortunately there's no definitive source and false reports are often mirrored on multiple websites and, as the CNN examples show, even the big-names in news reporting can't always be relied on to be telling the truth.

However, it's always worth dropping in to Snopes.com and checking to see whether the shocking information you've just come across is a well-known urban legend or myth.

Xtra and the ISP Code of Conduct
The Stuff website today carries an interesting story which reports how Xtra is reluctant to adopt the proposed ISP Code of Conduct.

If you like a bit of irony, you'll love the way that Peter Macauley from InternetNZ has been quoted as saying of the code: "I would suggest Xtra is going to be a major contributor to it. If they are not on board it's not going to work."

Excuse me?

After the fiasco that was Xtra's new Service Terms, who'd let them have any involvement in the drafting of such an important document?

The same story quotes on to quote Xtra's corporate counsel as saying of the new Service Terms document ""Our intellectual property clause is not a core contentious issue. It appears to be, but that's a misunderstanding about intention and effect."

Excuse me? What good is a legal document that is, right from day one, so poorly drafted and worded as to produce such a huge level of "misunderstanding"?

Can you imagine if these same people were allowed to "help" draft the ISP COP?? Shudder!

And of course if any Aardvark readers have an opinion on today's column or want to add something you're also invited to chip in and have your say.

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