By Andrew Chatterton
This week saw Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, saying that he was increasingly worried about the amount of misinformation spread across the internet. It’s hard not to feel some sympathy for Sir Tim, who I’m sure didn’t envisage the future of his great idea being based on porn and gossip.
The very nature of the web means that anyone can write whatever they like on any subject they want. But should this actually be allowed? Some of the opinions and thoughts on the web wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a ‘proper’ newspaper or magazine, so why, in a medium with a potentially unlimited readership, should the web be any different?
Sir Tim suggests that websites be given a label for trustworthiness once they have been proved reliable – but who is going to issue these labels? Who’s going to decide what is valuable, trustworthy information and what is rubbish? The Government? George Bush? Me? OK, probably not me, I grant you, but my point is the same: who is unbiased enough in their judgement to make this call? I would suggest no one.
However, voicing your opinion on the web, especially if someone else thinks that you’re spreading ‘misinformation’, can already have nasty repercussions.
Sheffield Wednesday supporters have over the years had a fair amount to complain about, and might think that the internet offers the perfect place to express these fears and questions. Indeed, forums that bring together groups with a similar interest is more what Sir Tim perhaps had in mind for the web – but the Sheffield Wednesday board has had other ideas.
Comments on a fans forum have led to their lawyers demanding to know the names and email addresses of 14 people who had posted. The comments they had made were deemed to be ‘false and seriously defamatory messages’, and threatened proceedings included ‘claims for injunctions, damages, interest and legal costs’.
So what was the misinformation spread that had caused such offence? “What an embarrassing, pathetic, laughing stock of a football club we have become”. Not exactly terrifying abuse is it, just a fan’s opinion – but is it misinformation?
Neither story paints a great picture for the future of the web. China is a good example of what can happen when one group’s control of the internet can seriously restrict citizens’ rights, but on the other hand, the use of the internet for terrorist or paedophilic activities obviously has to be acted upon.
In an online world of endless opinions but no easy answers, has Sir Tim in fact created his own Frankenstein’s monster?
Comments