Internet circulation makes identifying original authorship and dating of conspiracy texts impossible

Evidence

Identifying a complete and accurate text of the second Cooper document is diffi cult. Howe’s published version contains elisions. An Internet version is considerably longer and places material in a somewhat different order. It is also more overtly political, with references to the Kennedy assassination, the Rockefeller family, black helicopters, and the trilateral insignia; and it charges that the activities described violate the Constitution, as well as “the human rights of every citizen of the world.” This longer text may well have been written as early as the printed one (i.e., January 10, 1989), but the technology of the Internet makes the date impossible to verify, since postings may be undated or backdated. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 463

Categorization

• QUESTION: The observation that Internet postings may be undated or backdated is a methodological caution about attribution worth keeping in mind for any archival or forensic work.
• XREF: connects to: Copied stories across conspiracy sites create false impressions of source diversity. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 393

Broader Connections

• Copied stories across conspiracy sites create false impressions of source diversity. #corroborates (0.85) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 393