On internet hoaxes and democratic education

Hoaxes, Urban legends, Chain letters and Spam are among the persistent
ills of the internet. Recently I have been receiving quite a bit of this
"genre".  In some occasions, I have responded somewhat bluntly. My
apologies if I have hurt someone's feelings.

However, my concern with this kind of communication goes beyond plain
irritation. As annoying as these mails are, in my eyes they signify a
much deeper problem.

I think we all agree that participating in a democratic society requires
accepting responsibility for your actions and words. When sharing
information with the community, this means that you have reasonable
basis to believe that this information is indeed true. Suppose I would
call a few of my friends and tell them that I heard that so-and-so has
been involved in criminal activity, and therefor should not be trusted
with community funds. You would expect me to have hard evidence for this
fact, or else would consider my actions severely unacceptable. Now,
suppose that when considering several sites for our school, I circulated
a rumour that a particular site is located above a unique geological
formation, which guarantees us an oil well in our back yard, which would
fund our school for the next 100 years. In this case, not only would you
see my conduct as inappropriate, you would also politely suggest that I
seek urgent help.

Why is it, that when we go into "cyber space", we let down all social
and cognitive defences?
Do you really think that there are computer viruses which, when you say
cheese, jump out of your computer and bite your nose?
Do you really think that Bill Gates has pledged to send you 240,00$ if
you will but a sock on your ear?
And do you really think your kindergarten friend knows about a "serious
deadly internet worm that spreads faster then light" but Ha'aretz, NY
Times, and all the anti-virus companies haven't heard of?

Now, I know what some would respond: "What's the harm? I sent you some
information. You judge it, and if you don't believe it, hit the delete
key." Well, the same argument goes for all the "real world" examples I
gave. Would you accept it there? Probably not. Because in the real
world, if you say something, YOU are responsible for your words, not the
receiver. Well, its time to realize - this is the real world too. The
same norms apply here. The only difference, is that verifying is much,
much easier. Usually, a 5 minute trip to google or wikipedia would do.
Which means that you have absolutely no excuse for spreading
disinformation and other junk.

A happy new year to all,

- Yishay


-- 
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Yishay Mor
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