Misplacing Trust in Bitcoin Information Sources

Barney Craggs; Awais Rashid

doi:10.475/123_4

Misplacing Trust in Bitcoin Information Sources

Barney Craggs, Awais Rashid

Department of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

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Abstract

The Internet pervades many aspects of modern life offering up seemingly boundless opportunities to connect, inform and be informed. As the range and number of sources for information online explode, how people go about selecting and interpreting information has become a pertinent area for study, not least in the recent light of the prevalence of fake-news—as people are well known to act upon information they believe to be trustworthy. Where the decision to act incurs risk, an inability to accurately select and assess the credibility of information presents a challenge.

This extended abstract summarizes findings from a study of 57 Bitcoin users. Our analysis shows that this self-identifying technical and expert community was not significantly influenced by confirmation bias (a facet of fake-news). However, the same users also failed to demonstrate a true reliance upon the facts contained in news articles, often deferring trust to the source of the news which could still render them susceptible to fake-news, and, in turn, place their speculation of the crypto-currency at risk.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	MIS2: Misinformation and Misbehavior Mining on the Web
Subtitle of host publication	Workshop held in conjunction with WSDM 2018, Feb 9, 2018 - Los Angeles, California, USA, 2018
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Number of pages	2
ISBN (Print)	123-4567-24-567/08/06
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.475/123_4
Publication status	Published - 9 Feb 2018

Research Groups and Themes

Cyber Security

Keywords

Trust
Bitcoin
crypto-currency
fake-news
credibility evaluation
informational trust
empirical study

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10.475/123_4

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This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Association for Computing Machinery at https://doi.org/10.475/123_4 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 541 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

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@inproceedings{47dc11514f21415d979963c96654fcd7,

title = "Misplacing Trust in Bitcoin Information Sources",

abstract = "The Internet pervades many aspects of modern life offering up seemingly boundless opportunities to connect, inform and be informed. As the range and number of sources for information online explode, how people go about selecting and interpreting information has become a pertinent area for study, not least in the recent light of the prevalence of fake-news—as people are well known to act upon information they believe to be trustworthy. Where the decision to act incurs risk, an inability to accurately select and assess the credibility of information presents a challenge. This extended abstract summarizes findings from a study of 57 Bitcoin users. Our analysis shows that this self-identifying technical and expert community was not significantly influenced by confirmation bias (a facet of fake-news). However, the same users also failed to demonstrate a true reliance upon the facts contained in news articles, often deferring trust to the source of the news which could still render them susceptible to fake-news, and, in turn, place their speculation of the crypto-currency at risk.",

keywords = "Trust, Bitcoin, crypto-currency, fake-news, credibility evaluation, informational trust, empirical study",

author = "Barney Craggs and Awais Rashid",

year = "2018",

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day = "9",

doi = "10.475/123_4",

language = "English",

isbn = "123-4567-24-567/08/06",

booktitle = "MIS2: Misinformation and Misbehavior Mining on the Web",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",

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}

Misplacing Trust in Bitcoin Information Sources. / Craggs, Barney ; Rashid, Awais.
MIS2: Misinformation and Misbehavior Mining on the Web: Workshop held in conjunction with WSDM 2018, Feb 9, 2018 - Los Angeles, California, USA, 2018. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), 2018.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

TY - GEN

T1 - Misplacing Trust in Bitcoin Information Sources

AU - Craggs, Barney

AU - Rashid, Awais

PY - 2018/2/9

Y1 - 2018/2/9

N2 - The Internet pervades many aspects of modern life offering up seemingly boundless opportunities to connect, inform and be informed. As the range and number of sources for information online explode, how people go about selecting and interpreting information has become a pertinent area for study, not least in the recent light of the prevalence of fake-news—as people are well known to act upon information they believe to be trustworthy. Where the decision to act incurs risk, an inability to accurately select and assess the credibility of information presents a challenge. This extended abstract summarizes findings from a study of 57 Bitcoin users. Our analysis shows that this self-identifying technical and expert community was not significantly influenced by confirmation bias (a facet of fake-news). However, the same users also failed to demonstrate a true reliance upon the facts contained in news articles, often deferring trust to the source of the news which could still render them susceptible to fake-news, and, in turn, place their speculation of the crypto-currency at risk.

AB - The Internet pervades many aspects of modern life offering up seemingly boundless opportunities to connect, inform and be informed. As the range and number of sources for information online explode, how people go about selecting and interpreting information has become a pertinent area for study, not least in the recent light of the prevalence of fake-news—as people are well known to act upon information they believe to be trustworthy. Where the decision to act incurs risk, an inability to accurately select and assess the credibility of information presents a challenge. This extended abstract summarizes findings from a study of 57 Bitcoin users. Our analysis shows that this self-identifying technical and expert community was not significantly influenced by confirmation bias (a facet of fake-news). However, the same users also failed to demonstrate a true reliance upon the facts contained in news articles, often deferring trust to the source of the news which could still render them susceptible to fake-news, and, in turn, place their speculation of the crypto-currency at risk.

KW - Trust

KW - Bitcoin

KW - crypto-currency

KW - fake-news

KW - credibility evaluation

KW - informational trust

KW - empirical study

UR - http://snap.stanford.edu/mis2/

UR - http://snap.stanford.edu/mis2/files/MIS2_paper_13.pdf

U2 - 10.475/123_4

DO - 10.475/123_4

M3 - Conference Contribution (Conference Proceeding)

SN - 123-4567-24-567/08/06

BT - MIS2: Misinformation and Misbehavior Mining on the Web

PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

ER -

Misplacing Trust in Bitcoin Information Sources

Abstract

Research Groups and Themes

Keywords

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