Modern Technology - Fact or Fiction?

I have been involved in the IT field since before anyone ever heard of a PC or the Internet. I have watched, designed, developed, managed, and actively participated in an ever changing IT system environment. I have experienced both the good and somewhat less good effects of our ever changing technology base. We are now able to publish and comment on information in real time with the entire world as our audience (at least those with access to the Internet) and that is a great achievement. However, this ability to rapidly exchange information also allows disinformation to be published and distributed just as fast. It is possible to inundate the Internet with false and misleading information that some people never question. The statement "I found it on the Internet!" does not guarantee that the information you have collected is true at all. In fact I think the biggest problem today is that people do not even realize how faulty and unreliable some of the data returned by a simple Internet search can be and fewer still put in an extra effort to verify their original source. There are individuals and groups that specialize in seeding the Internet with enough data on any topic for the specific purpose of manipulating the search engine results that everyone uses today.  This type of information seeding is often used by political groups, governments, corporations, specific issue interest groups, and people who just like causing trouble. This type of faulty or biased information input can have serious consequences and I do mean serious. From teenage alienation and suicide to the volatile international and religious arena.

 I have not had the Internet available as a resource for all my life. Once upon a time I had to actually use hard copy books, newspapers, TV, and Library services to gather information for both educational, professional, and personal interests. Today we have people who have grown up relying totally on the data available on the Internet and it bothers me that our future generation is being spoon fed incomplete, corrupted, and biased data on a daily basis and making important decisions based on that data.

In my mind it is the manipulation of social issues that present the biggest problem. At times the world seems like it is divided into two sides on every issue. (Left/Right,Liberal/Conservative, Me/You,  Us/Them, North/South, etc..) And these type of divisions are causing all kinds of problems, both big and small. This type of division often means that people of both sides of an issue only post or read things that support their own beliefs. I am hoping that we will be able to devise a method of rating content based upon the proven reliability of the data source. Systems like these already exist on some sites that offer commercial transactions (eBay) but there needs to be some way to expand and popularize this type of confidence system on the Internet as a whole. It's probably wishful thinking but you can always hope. Until then I can only hope we don't get drowned in the unreliable and faulty data being accessed by the world's population.