What to do?!

I first read Sock puppets on steroids, which is a great article under a hilarious title. I have first-hand experiences with these, as I'm often friend requested, follow-requested, or liked on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by these bacon-officianados. I always reject and block them immediately, but wonder what purpose they serve. I assumed that they were hackers or others carrying malicious software, or even somebody trying to connect with unsuspecting people in an attempt to manipulate them. I stay far away from those kinds, and even comb through the people I DO know to keep my information private.

I also regularly get emails or texts claiming to need access to my bank account immediately. Some texts seem surprisingly similar to ones that could be generated by my bank account if say they suspected my account had been compromised. I don't reply, but the lines are beginning to blur; how do I know what is real? I got a call on my phone from a real person at my real bank saying that my account was compromised and that they've locked it until further notice and that I should contact them immediately to confirm this. The amount of hoops I had to jump through to identify myself, even though they contacted me, set me at ease. The number and name of the person who called matched the research I found about the security department of my bank.

False positive or negative reviews are very similar to predatory publishers. We have to learn to filter for ourselves in order to make informed decisions on products or research based on what we know to be reputable and true. The common thread holding these and the past readings together is the importance of our ability to discern quality. Things are not as they seem, even when they appear to be originating from a reputable source. The Newt Gingrich stint could've easily gone unnoticed; even though he's a politician, one wouldn't immediately assume that he'd fabricate his Twitter follower count. While I find that I've taken sensible precautions to prevent these trolls from interfering with my social media presence, it's also easy to be duped. It's pretty challenging to create a fake, real-life walking human. It's very easy to do hiding behind a computer screen. I wonder if somebody should have a role in eliminating these fake profiles, or if that violates some sort of basic creative rights. Do we try to curate the internet, or is that censorship? If we don't, what can be done to warn people? I run in circles where people are aware of these dangers. My dad has been writing computer software and selling and maintaining networks for the past thirty-three years, so if I ever do have an internet-related question, he's already an authority on the issue. I'm lucky, however. Not everybody gets this kind of protection, and I'm sure that many people are tricked and violated in the social media realm with or without realizing it. I guess this whole post has provided me with the space to spin out some thoughts, but I'm not sure that I have a strong stance on or any knowledge about what to do to help others. Perhaps one day, just like society is (in theory) protected by law enforcement, we will have some sort of protection on the internet. I'm sure that it would be met with massive resistance, but it is probably necessary to protect the next generation of internet falsities.