The internet made a bold promise – that people anywhere on the network would be equal. It suggested we would interact with people worldwide. The reality is that the routing, searching and dissemination is tightly controlled, monitored and targeted.

This online news site is one I enjoy and which attempts to be global and informative. Of course it makes editorial decisions but I am happier with their world view than most other publications online at the moment.

I have mentioned it before but this is another shout out for:

https://restofworld.org/

Taken from the coverage on BBC of a birth certificate apparently damaged intentionally while a Passport application was being made for a UK passport:

“The BBC has contacted the Home Office for comment, and was directed to Mr Cleverly’s reply on X to the original post.”

So this is how official communications are carried out by a government – a post on “X” (still prefer to say Twitter…). The state of it.

Home Office investigating after ‘Israel’ crossed out on baby’s birth certificate – BBC News

28th January each year. They kept it pretty secret.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Privacy_Day

This shall – undoubtedly – grow…

• Two people this weekend in my feed (TikTok and Instagram users) lost all their archive of posting – and they produced a lot of content – in a system where exporting was not a clear or easy process
• How do companies get away with selling – for cold, hard cash – a service and have no means of redress or feedback – and increasingly no trial period
• If I pay for a service – why do I also still get adverts – this seems to be something I notice happening with Amazon Prime – and they then say “pay another 2.99 to have the adverts removed”- I already pay for the service!
• If it ain’t broke – they keep on fixing it! New ‘features’ and ‘extensions’ seem to be de regueur. They invariably block out the original clarity and try to compete for all your business in a jack-of-all-trades method which we never wanted in the first place

The world seems more cruel and more desperate. Read Jaron Lanier’s approachable book on the impact of the “new media” and a lot of the warnings which appeared grandiose now seem understated. See: https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/jaron-lanier/ten-arguments-for-deleting-your-social-media-accounts-right-now/9781529112405/

What I cannot fathom is whether it is collective stupidity or are we destined to be driven by base, ancient fears which we are unable to overcome. Whatever it is we have let the genie out of the bottle and unless people can become mature enough, incredulous enough, to handle the weaponised information thrown at them then the future looks bleak.

AI is potentially going to make all and any information gathered from the NET impossible to believe. Maybe the day of credible, purchased reporting and old-fashioned journalistic integity are about to be welcomed to a new dawn.

Maybe.