Me: Did you hear about Popular Science’s decision to ban comments on their website?
Internet: Yeah, I saw it. It seems a little silly to me. Doesn’t science depend, much like myself, upon a free exchange of ideas? Why would you want to get rid of that?
Me: I know what you mean and I don’t agree with Popular Science here, but I do sympathize with the editors. Online comments, especially anonymous ones, can be damaging and hurtful and flat-out wrong. A world with less of these types of comments will be a better world.
Internet: But you still didn’t want them to get rid of comments, right?
Me: Right. They should have done what YouTube and The Huffington Post are trying to do, which is create more accountability in their comments sections without squashing the free exchange of ideas. Popular Science wants to protect “bedrock scientific doctrine” from random commenters online, but this is giving commenters way too much credit. The study Popular Science cites says that online comments cement people’s pre-existing opinions, not that they readily change them.
Internet: OK, that’s what I thought! So free ideas are better than filtered ideas.
Me: Well, yes and no.
Internet: What do you mean ‘yes and no.’ I think in binary, remember? Black and white. Things for me have to be either/or, not both/and.
Me: Yeah I know, but it is not so simple.
Internet: What’s not simple about it? Isn’t free access to information a good thing?
Me: It is, which is why China’s recent decision to allow Internet access with no censorship within a free-trade zone in Shanghai is a good thing and why Vietnam’s decision to increase censorship is not so good.
Internet: So it is settled then. Free Internet for everyone!
Me: Not so fast. Free information can also be a dangerous thing. If information is not controlled, then it can lead to many unintended and harmful consequences.
Internet: Like…?
Me: Like the removal of free speech or free inquiry, the spread of propaganda, and most importantly, the reach of online pornography. The negative impact that online pornography has on kids is proving to be devastating, so to combat this the UK recently proposed to block household access to pornography by using family-friendly filters. A household can choose to switch off those filters, but they must go out of their way to do so.
Internet: But those things aren’t my fault; I don’t control what people put on me, so why do I seem to get blamed for all that is wrong in the world?
Me: I know it is not your fault, but you are in part responsible. By providing easy access to information you are complicit in spreading what is bad in the same way you are helpful in spreading what is good.
Internet: So what would you have me do? Shut myself down? If the US Government is anything to go by, we know that would not be such a good idea, people are not happy about it.
Me: Yes, we certainly don’t want to follow the model of the US Government here, but I wouldn’t worry about that; we are way past shutting you down. You are too big for a few rich white people to shut down. But if you ask me ‘what would you have me do?’ I would say that we need to build more accountability into the system, much like YouTube and The Huffington Post are attempting. The most dangerous thing that the Internet offers is anonymity. If we can reduce this then we should.
Internet: Nonsense! Anonymity is the beauty of the Internet. You can be whoever you want, whenever you want!
Me: My point exactly.
Flickr photo by lmararie
