There are two forms in which I choose to search for information on the internet…one being a search from sites like google.com or yahoo.com and the other being that of a search using an academic database. Both can be very helpful in obtaining information yet one gives me a sense that the information I am looking for is more trustworthy than the other.

My first choice is generally doing searches in google.com . It is what I am most familiar with in regards to internet searches. While searching the terms “privacy and security on the Internet” I found many of the sites were businesses trying to sell a product rather than give me information about privacy and security. These companies boast many claims about winning this award or that award. I could spend all day trying to identify what company or organization was issuing these awards and their validity. Also, these website links are to the most current version of their products so the recency is data from 2012 and was usually based on information gathered from the previous year. Since these were generally reputable companies all claiming they are the best, I do understand that the product being sold is most likely quite good. However, the claims they all seem to make about being the best is all relative to where they are basing their information to come up with these conclusions that are sold to the public.

A new kind of internet search for me is using an academic database. This type of search seemed to give me more background or history of privacy and security on the Internet. The basic search results yielded articles from academic journals and periodicals. The references were vast and very detailed, easy to follow back to the source in which the articles were written. Details about the authors were also readily available without much searching. The information obtained during these