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The British developer of the world wide web says he is worried about the way it could be used to spread misinformation and "undemocratic forces". The web has transformed the way many people work, play and do business.But Sir Tim Berners-Lee told BBC News he feared that, if the way the internet is used is left to develop unchecked, "bad things" could happen.
He wants to set up a web science research project to study the social implications of the web's development.
Web Inventor Fears For The Future [news.bbc.co.uk]
I think the web is already being used for misinformation. As social networking expands into new areas and grows over International borders the opportunities for misinformation in a wider field abound.
Trust is going to become a bigger issue in social networking.
Then I believe you are very misguided, as is anyone who would try to defend the rights of criminals to "say whatever s/he likes".
"If you offered to let me off this time on condition I am not any longer to speak my mind... I should say to you, "Men of Athens, I shall obey the Gods rather than you."
Socrates on trial, 399 BC
"In a free state, tongues too should be free."
Erasmus, 1516
"He who destroys a good book, kills reason itself."
John Milton, 1644
"Monsieur l'abbé, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write."
Voltaire, 1770
"If any opinion is compelled to silence, that opinion may, for aught we can certainly know, be true. To deny this is to assume our own infallibility."
John Stuart Mill, 1859
"The principle of free thought is not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought we hate."
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, of the US Supreme Court, 1929
"Goebbels was in favour of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're in favour of free speech, then you're in favour of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise."
Noam Chomsky, 1992
Misguided, the lot of 'em. And I lose.
