Online world rallies around Haiti

The crisis has brought out the goood – and bad – in the tech community

The recent earthquake and subsequent crisis in Haiti has brought out both the good and bad of the techworld.

Shortly after news broke of the extent of damage to the country, numerous sites and campaigns were launched, both legitimate and otherwise.

Google has adorned its front page with a special link to a number of donation boxes for various relief efforts. Additionally, the company has pledged $1m to relief efforts.

In an effort to educate users as to the magnitude of the damage, a special Google Earth module has been released. The application compares satellite photos of the Haitian capital before and after the quake.

The Red Cross is encouraging users in the US to make donations through SMS by texting the word HAITI to 90999. By Thursday afternoon US Pacific time, the campaign had reportedly raised upwards of $5m for relief efforts.

Not everyone is looking to do good in their efforts, however.

The US Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has issued a warning to users over a number of scams utilising both spam messages and fake web sites looking to dupe users into sending money. Scammers have also begun using Google poisoning tactics to cause the scam sites to appear at the top of search results.

The organisation is warning users to be wary of any unsolicited emails or unfamiliar sites claiming to be from aid organisations. Users looking to donate are being advised to only give money to known and trusted charities.

The Federal Trade Commission has also posted a checklist intended to help users spot scam charity operations.