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This content was created for TIE Membership by Lennie Symes ||
 * ==Web Literacy for Educators== || [[image:http://membership.tie2.wikispaces.net/file/view/Tie_logo.gif/193089062/Tie_logo.gif width="205" height="109" align="center" caption="Tie_logo.gif"]]

Forward Links
Hover the mouse over a link and the URL behind the link is displayed in the lower left corner of the browser:



This is an extremely handy tool for looking at suspicious pages.

Web designers or emails can redirect your links easily by creating a misleading link. For example, click on these links below: [|http://www.tie.net]

[|South Dakota's Custer State Park] Hover your mouse over the links above without clicking so you can see where the link is directing you before you click. Note how the first one, even though it says www.tie.net, actually takes you to the state Department of Education. The text of the second example does not specify a URL, but the text misleads you to believe it is a link to the state park when in actuality the link directs you to USA Today..

This is a common trick for "phishing" sites, where the email message has a link that looks like it goes to your bank web site. The link text may say __www.usbank.com__ but the actual link goes to a website created by someone else to look like the bank site. People unknowingly type in account numbers and passwords at this bogus site, and then their account is compromised.

The lesson to be learned: note the link's real URL before you click.

Back Links
To validate a site, it may help to know what other websites have links that point to the site. Search engines can help with that with the Link: prefix. For example, to view what websites point to TIE, in a search engine type link:www.tie.net This displays a variety of sites, including the SD Department of Human Services, that have links pointing to TIE.

Now for your activity. **Using the Link: prefix with a search engine search, find out what outside websites point to your school website.**