In a strongly worded post*, Dilip raises some uncomfortable issues here starting with What happens when bloggers post lies, whether knowingly or not? What happens when they post rumours, whether knowingly or not? What happens when they post unsubstantiated assumptions, whether knowingly or not? What happens when they call others names?
Here is a report from textually.org on how rumours spread through sms hampered a health survey in Bahrain… Word went round that the volunteers conducting the survey were forcibly injecting unsuspecting people in their homes. As a result hundreds of householders literally slammed the door on surveyors, who were just trying to find out how best to help them, volunteers said yesterday.
And of course all of us have received scores of messages on email ranging from the mildly absurd to the really scary (or potentially scary, if they did not come from unidentified people who claim to have your best interests at heart)…
Does it look like technology only makes name-calling and rumour-mongering easier – accountability be damned?
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*for Dilip, that is, I have only seen his Buddhaesque calm so far!
Charu, your last question is the point, really: does technology only make name-calling and rumour-mongering easier? And what can we do about it, if so?
But I didn’t think of it as a rant!
sorry Dilip, I did not mean rant in any derogatory sense – i meant it more as a ‘displeased strong statement’… I have changed it on the post…