The Regulation and Oversight of the Web – It Is Necessary

Implications: The regulation of the web is no surprise. You can thank those people who abuse the benefits of the web and thank those folks who have gone out of their way to create privacy issues by harassing consumers. But the issue is more than just telemarketers. Between annoying telemarketers, criminals, and pedophiles, no one can the say the web is safe. Some kind of regulation and law enforcement action are needed to enable the web to be a place that people feel safe using. This is not an issue of avoiding the calls and emails of annoying telemarketers. There is a much bigger concern.

Analysis:

If you are an engineer or a zealous Internet supporter and you disagree with me, flip through your local newspaper and I am pretty sure you will find a story of how someone has either been swindled out of their life savings, some crooked online retailer has been selling defective products or some freak has been stalking children. Please no comments about how the Internet is here to stay, it must free for all, and regulation is wrong, because if real stories of identity theft and pedophiles stalking our children are not enough to convince you then frankly nothing will and you are missing the big picture.

The web is a great place to do business. It is unfortunate the annoying business practices of predatory marketers and retailers have ended up on the web. But we should not be surprised. Where there is money to be made, there will be the unscrupulous businessman or woman.

Even if the unscrupulous were not on the web, the proliferation of personal information has ended up in the ends of legitimate business people and the criminals. The criminals are the obvious people you know to avoid. However, the legitimate business person is now gathering information about your habits, your dislikes, your likes, your spending habits, your travel habits, and your eating habits. Some people don’t care if this information is known. In fact more people than you can imagine don’t care if you know this kind of information because as far as these individuals are concerned the benefits of the web far out weigh the disadvantages and troubles the web has brought. Some of the opponents of the web are concerned about identity theft.

No matter how good the intentions were of the industry’s biggest ISPs and online retailers, there have been issues of identity theft and theft of personal information. Disgruntled employees and even active employees out to make a fast buck, have done nothing to promote the image of a safe Internet; some of these people have been arrested for selling personal information about individuals. I applaud the efforts of ISPs and online retailers to safeguard personal information. I also applaud the efforts of legitimate marketers to better serve consumers with things like location based advertising, concierge services, and online discounts. But let us face facts; there have been enough incidents where legitimate companies have had information stolen from them to warrant legal protection for the individual. There have been enough Internet related incidents to give me the heebie-jeebies. The FTC exists for a reason today. What makes any of us believes the Internet has suddenly made advertisers “angels”?

The two sides of the issue have valid points to defend their respective positions – one for regulation and one against regulation. The best way of dealing with the potential troubles brought by the abusers and troublemakers of the web is by regulating it. So long as the abusers feel they can do whatever they want with impunity than they will continue to victimize consumers.

The challenge ahead is to avoid a huge swing in the pendulum, where we find ourselves moving from safekeeping the rights of individuals and protecting individuals from harm to going way overboard on the regulation resulting in inhibiting the growth of the web.

Regulation is necessary but it must be done with care and intelligence by the government. Strange, the thought of the government trying to do this correctly is also enough to give me the heebie-jeebies.

It is not a perfect world and the solutions will not be perfect, however, some protection is better than none at all.