What is the Internet? In truth it doesn't exist as an entity... it's a series of computers, servers and repositories that are all connected through networks and wires. Are there rules and laws that govern the Internet? How can there be? When people own the content on every piece of data that can been found.
No government or international Internet agency exists to tell people what they can and can't post and put online. But what about the horrible things that I've seen and heard on the Internet? Who deletes the racism, sexism, morally and ethically innapropriate content and rhetoric that exists? Who is responsible to monitor and restrict content? And what laws and rules exist to protect us from, well, ourselves?
Who polices the Internet?
No one, and everyone. Some countries are trying to institute laws and governing bodies to monitor and hold people accountable for their online words and actions. Americans scream, 'what about my privacy and my free speech?' while the European Union created laws that clearly say they don't care about either of those inherent freedoms when it comes to the Internet (De George, 2001). So how are we still getting emails from a Nigerian Prince? Well, Nigeria isn't in Europe and they don't have the same laws that others do, so it's not a crime. Is it ethical to swindle people, usually the most vulnerable of society, out of their hard-earned money? Of course not! But without proper laws that are internationally recognized and agreed upon, there isn't much chance that the Prince is going to stop asking anytime soon.
As Grabowski and Robinson (2021) point out, "There are nearly 200 countries that have their own, often conflicting ideas of how to run the Internet, so establishing global governance would require settling on shared standards and values, which may be impossible because of differing histories, social sesitivites and political realities".
So where do we even start? Schultz (2012) suggests that ethical problems on the Internet are mainly based on social and individual principles. He outlines what he believes to be the necessary individual and global principles "based on Kant's categorical imperative and Rawls social contract principles of justice".
Would this have stopped ISIS in 2014 from posting videos of them beheading James Foley and Steven Sotolof to the Internet for all to see, including their family? (I'm not going to reference or cite these videos, but here is the report from CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/19/world/meast/isis-james-foley/index.html). Probably not. Even though the FBI took the vides down that were hosted on US websites, ISIS just put them back up by utilizing other countries servers, and we're back to the question of CAN the Internet be policed?
I don't think it's possible 100% of the time, but I read an article by Maloney (2018) who summed up the problem titled, "How to Make the Internet a More Decent Place and Not Be an Accidental (or actual) Asshole Online", and while it was speaking to individuals, this should apply to everyone using the Internet. Unfortunately, this isn't the case, not with terrorists, not with Nigerian Princes, nor even with our children who are being forced to work online throughout this pandemic.
Ethics? Morals? What are those? Depends on who you ask... I get so overwhelmed and disgusted with the Internet and Social Media, I want to break up! but sadly, here I sit on my computer posting to a blog that no one will police or hold me accountable for.
Beth
REFERENCES
De George, R. T. (2001) Law and Ethics in the Information Age. Business & Professional Ethics Journal. Vol. 20, No3/4, pp5-18. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27801257
Grabowski, M. & Robinson, E. P. (2021) Cyber Law and Ethics; Regulation of the Connected World. Rutledge. https://www.routledge.com/Cyber-Law-and-Ethics-Regulation-of-the-Connected-World/Grabowski-Robinson/p/book/9780367462604
Maloney, D. (Jan 19, 2018). Imagining a Better Online; Is it possible the Internet will be a garbage fire hellscape forever? And if so, what then? Medium.com https://medium.com/s/internet-law-and-ethics-101/how-to-make-the-internet-a-more-decent-place-and-not-be-an-accidental-asshole-online-fa83a9aa0cf8?p=ecab90e30a8c
Schultz, R. A. (2012). "Ethics and the Internet" in Values and Ethics for the 21st century. BBVA found on https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/ethics-and-the-internet/
Accountable in as much as there is a grade assigned...
ReplyDeleteBut I agree with your bottom line. I would suggest that Kelly in THE INEVITABLE saw the unfettered web as a positive thing ... but as noted in this article - https://news.northeastern.edu/2018/05/22/we-know-youre-not-reading-all-those-new-terms-of-service-emails-you-might-want-to/ - the EU enacting GDPR did cause web companies worldwide to update terms of service. But as also noted, did any of us pay attention?
They’re not wrong… who reads those things??
DeleteThe laws really don’t matter if there’s no way to enforce them. There needs to be international standards, but look at the world right now, Amy agreement would need a miracle.
The amount of hate on the internet is incalculable. I believe it is facilitated by the fact individuals can hide their identities with so much ease. Maybe changing the system to make it less straightforward to conceal one’s identity could be an improvement. (If that is at all possible, of course.)
ReplyDeleteOn free speech: Yes. It’s great. However, it has become an excuse to be hateful. Maybe we (Americans especially) should re-examine the idea of free speech. I don’t believe it is unreasonable to have free speech while simultaneously cracking down on hateful speech. Unfortunately, our society’s moral compass has gone awry, and our general common sense seems to be taking a break.
Here is an article that briefly discusses Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: https://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/who-should-police-the-internet/
Maybe an update is long overdue.
Thanks,
Dan
Dan,
DeleteI see your point, but there are plenty of people willing to stand right in front of you and hurl hate words at you; Westboro Baptist Church comes to mind.
I don’t know how anyone is going to agree on anything internationally.
I think the problem with all of these topics is morals, ethics, discipline and consequences aren’t taught at home any longer. The morality of society as a whole is what pushes agendas and causes society to fall into disarray and disillusionment.
Beth
Loved your examples of how the internet has so much terrible content. It is crazy in an ironic way that there are indeed censors working full time checking your posts from Facebook - checking to see if I just called you personally crazy (which would be grounds to boot me off) or just that the world (in general) is crazy (which is okay). Here are a few of the things that aren't allowed on Facebook:
ReplyDelete"Nudity or other sexually suggestive content.
Hate speech, credible threats or direct attacks on an individual or group.
Content that contains self-harm or excessive violence.
Fake or impostor profiles" (https://www.facebook.com/help/212826392083694).
So, that seems pretty fair but how and when to apply it is so key.
When the Taliban was preventing people from getting to the airport in Khabul, the information online was not getting through because it was being censored. To save people and help them escape, people were told not to use Facebook but instead other social media such as... I'm not going to go further because my point about censoring is just that it is now being led by social media companies (see P.W. Singer, LikeWar, Masters or the Universe chapter starting on page 218) that do not necessarily share the same values and the social media companies are not held to the same standards as news organizations.
L.,
ReplyDeleteYou’re so right! However, social media platforms are still owned by a person, or people, and they can set the guidelines and standards of conduct. Just like I can say whatever I want here… as long as blogger.com says so.
Other countries are notorious for controlling an entire population’s access to the Internet… I think the Internet should be free, but then again, look at my references to beheadings that were posted before any of these checks were in place.
Someone else said that BALANCE was the keyword of the week, and I would wholeheartedly agree.
Beth