Are we heading in right direction in internet age?

In the world of Internet, nothing remains static and permanent for too long. It's the dynamics of the medium that makes it revolve around money, fame and fortune more than 24 times a day. It is the changing reality and the ever-moving reference points that has made this medium, at least for some people, surreal, unrealistic and unsure. Unlike the conventional businesses, Internet doesn't seem to be visibly resting on a strong foundation. But figures tell a different story and points to flaws in our perceived notion. Surprisingly, the Industry is generating more money, employment and technological innovations than any industry has done during the last two decades.

There are more innovations, patent registrations, law suites and money exchanging hands in the industry that speaks volume about the vibrancy of the industry. There are buy outs, merger and acquisitions which were probably unheard in any conventional business few years back. What makes this medium so vigorous and vibrant? Sure, for one, it doesn't have a reference point or rule to play its game with. With every move, the rule of the game changes and you innovate new rule to beat the earlier ones. It's therefore not surprising that there are so many law suites and arbitration in courts related to copyrights, intellectual property rights, privacy laws where the new medium is facing litigation.

Recently Facebook came out with clarification on sponsored stories ads where users' Likes were treated as endorsements by the social media giant for its advertising clients. In liu of treating its users as guinea pig customers, the Facebook has agreed to compensate them with over $10 million. Sometimes back Adobe is said to have paid $3 million for its invasive Flash cookies. Google did a similar act with Buzz debacle. There are many incidents of similar kind where ethical Internet practices were by-passed for temporary monetary gains.

If there are disappointing and failed attempts of Internet's misuse, there are good initiatives by some of its stakeholders, who themselves were embroiled in similar cases of violation. Google, taking a combative stance against a YouTube conversion site, has issued warning for extracting MP3 audio and making it available to users from YouTube videos. According to a statement issued by Google, the said site is pulling some 1.3 million visitors every day. This surely is a violation of copyright law.

These are some serious issues that the Internet community is facing and a quick and prompt solution doesn't seem to be forthcoming. There are other issues of data safety and security and data poaching that needs serious consideration and adequate strategy at the global scale. A piecemeal approach and a knee-jerk reaction to these challenges are sure to fall short of meeting the expectation of stake players, imperiling the medium's long-term sustainability.

Internet is a great facilitators in today's complex lifestyle, but is also vulnerable to vagaries to assault, hacking and misuse of its valuable data. The number of law suites and litigation has shown considerable rise during the last one decade after the medium had stabilised and smart marketeers had realised the value of this new medium.

A great leap in media accountability was recently noticed when the UK justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, came out with a landmark statement on the misuse of Internet and safeguarding the freedom of expression of its people. Clarke said, "The government wants a libel regime for the Internet that makes it possible for people to protect their reputations effectively but also ensures that information online can't be easily censored by casual threats of litigation against website operators. It will be very important to ensure that these measures do not inadvertently expose genuine whistle blowers, and we are committed to getting the detail right to minimise this risk."

This is a landmark statement taking care of all the stakeholders and users. It's sad that none of these statements came from monitoring agencies in the US which has been in the vanguard of the Internet evolution. The UK realised the government cannot out rightly hold a website, an Internet service Provider or a user responsible for alleged misuse of freedom of expression. But at the same time,it wants to ensure that the freedom is neither abused or misused.

Considering that a website is a publisher and is responsible for the content on it, even if it's generated by a third party, should enjoy defence against libel if it cooperates in identifying the user who made the defamatory posting. It also gives rights to websites for not removing the objectionable material immediately, provided it's open to review and identify the misuser. It has also given due thought to Archiving of objectionable content as being not republished every time it's downloaded.

These are some of the observations which will go a long way in setting the tone and flavour of Internet usage in the right direction. A fair, balanced and responsible Internet usages and freedom of expression are pillars which will strengthen the sustainability of Internet at the global scale and opening of new windows of opportunities ahead.