While it is customary to consider "information" synonymous with true information, given its societal significance in the modern world, a wider perspective on the veracity and ephemerality of information is imperative. A typology of message veracity contains four types: informational, misinformational, disinformational, and noninformational. Resulting from the interaction between sender and receiver, these types represent the perceptions by both parties of the truth or falsity of a message. An informational message is considered true by both parties; a misinformational message is considered true by the sender but false or irrelevant by the receiver; a disinformational message is considered false by the sender but accepted as true by the receiver; and a noninformational message is considered false by both parties. Difficulties arise in an information society when the number of misinformational and disinformational messages outnumber the informational messages, while a condition of general distrust is created by noninformational messages. The ephemerality of all information poses additional problems. Data are considered to have the shortest life and the least meaning and "information" falls in between, while knowledge is generally considered as having the longest life and carries with it the greatest meaning. Thirteen references are provided. (Author/RAA)