Oh, what a tangled web.(Internet commerce and consumer protection)(Consumers Union In Action)(Column)

Type "travel," "deals," and a destination into certain Internet search engines and you'll get a long list of web sites to explore. You may think they're listed in order of relevance or best prices; actually, some such sites pay for a high ranking. But that's not revealed to consumers.

Looking for medical information online? Be careful. In recent investigations, federal officials have found more than 800 web sites and newsgroups with questionable information about six major diseases--and few sources to back up the "facts." Other sites could better explain their listings. At the high-profile www.drkoop.com, founded by the former surgeon general, the site's "community partner" hospitals are described as "well-respected healthcare organizations across the country." They also pay to be listed, a fact not obvious from the site's disclosure statement: "Partners license trusted dr.koop.com heathcare information...."

Then there are investor-oriented web sites and chat rooms, where "experts" talk up investment opportunities. Trouble is, these experts may not reveal that they're paid by companies to rave about those companies' stocks--a practice that led the Securities and Exchange Commission to file charges against 44 stock promoters.

The World Wide Web may offer a wealth of information, but it provides one of the poorest examples of public disclosure. The traditional "walls" between editorial information and ...