Shira Obide’s March 8 analysis in the Post’s online edition, “Our trust in technology officially eroded this week,” set off a wake-up call for me.
In the 1980s and 1990s, I edited the higher education magazine Change. The magazine promoted what the Internet and the World Wide Web could do for us: scholarly communication, access to knowledge, low-cost conferences, teaching and learning. more. It all came true, and then some.
Sadly, the “people of the time” gave us an open sewer and enabled the worst among us globally. We are now in a world of cyberattacks, online bullying, denial of service, data breaches, fake images, ransomware gangs, voice clones, spyware, and chatbots. The harm is further amplified by artificial intelligence. Great innovation blossomed, but then went sideways.
The basic rules of the Internet, such as sender anonymity and provider liability, were established a generation ago. At the time, the assumption was that users would act with integrity and that the best version of an online community would prevail. But we’re in a new place now and need a reset.
The time has come for a White House summit like the one President Theodore Roosevelt convened in 1905 to establish the rules that saved college football. Big social networks need to join in the effort, as an act of self-preservation, if not repentance. Perhaps the European Union will force this issue. The United Nations may step up. But we need leadership initiative. There is a wild west here that needs to be tamed.
