My husband is a librarian and in our house the printed word reins supreme. So imagine our dinnertime conversation when we read something that is clearly untrue.

Yet, that is happening more and more on the Internet. Through irresponsible uses of Blogs, Websites and Message boards, some people get away with writing blatant untruths.

For example, this week I read something that was totally untrue. A website printed a PDF file that referred to a toner remanufacturing company called Clarity Imaging Technology. If you aren't familiar with the remanufacturing of toner cartridges - they are companies who take empty toner cartridges for printers; clean them out, replace broken pieces, refill and sell at a reduced price. Remanufacturing toner cartridges is economical and saves the environment from more than 38,000 tons of industrial grade plastic and metals from landfills every year. (Fact is from the International Imaging Technology Council.)

I happen to be familiar with Clarity, as they are a customer of mine. They have taken the remanufacturing process to new heights. They have several patents which, through the use of magnets and new parts, allow their remanufactured cartridges to produce twice the number of pages as a cartridge purchased from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

Most remanufacturers simply clean, repair and refill. But Clarity only reuses the cartridge casing (all other parts, including the boxes, are recycled) and replaces all of the inner workings with new parts and the new technology. It is still a remanufactured cartridge; however, it works longer and better than the OEM cartridges.

So I'm reading this article which is basically slamming Clarity - saying a bunch of things that aren't true. Granted the PDF file of the article has blacked out the names, however, it takes very little effort to find the complete text. In fact, the spiders searching the web see every word. So an article, even with company names obscured, can cause harm.

And it hits me.

Anybody can do that. What's to stop anybody from saying anything - and hang THE TRUTH?

What happened to integrity? To honesty?

What do you think?