Vint Cerf: People power must 'censor' the web

Internet guru Vint Cerf has called on citizens to accept responsibility for determining the accuracy and truth of information published online.

In his foreword to the latest Reporters Without Borders report on the state of internet censorship, The Internet Under Surveillance - Obstacles to the Free Flow of Information Online, Cerf decried internet censorship by governments, and put the onus on citizens of the world to not only keep that censorship in check, but to ensure the information that is on the internet is truthful.

Cerf supported efforts to expunge things such as child pornography from the internet, but warned "free citizens must exercise due diligence to assure that their governments are not hiding political censorship behind a putative moral facade".

"Citizens must do their best to guard against government censorship for political purposes," continued Cerf. "At the same time, they are responsible for trying to distinguish useful and truthful information from bad quality information and must therefore exercise critical thinking about what they see and hear…moreover, where disinformation or misinformation exists, thoughtful citizens have a responsibility to draw attention to the problem, possibly even to provide information to counteract the bad data."

"Free flow of information has a price and responsible Internauts will shoulder the burden of paying it," he said.

The report, which details the state of internet censorship in 35 countries, ends with a warning by Claude Moisy, a trustee of Reporters Without Borders, that the upcoming United Nations World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December this year may be hijacked by countries seeking to take advantage of the summit's goal to narrow the "digital divide" to suggest rules that would allow them to curb the free flow of information on the internet.

"Some call for recognition that the internet can be used for ends that are incompatible with international stability and security and that can harm a country's unity, infrastructure and economy," said Moisy. "This is perhaps not entirely false, but it can be used to justify all kinds of censorship by paranoid regimes.

"The grave danger today is that the chaotic way the internet has expanded gives governments sometimes legitimate excuses to try to restore some order to it," said Moisy, listing reasons such as preventing it being used by terrorists, organised crime, money-launderers and paedophiles.

"Others do not want commercial and personal copyright to be rendered meaningless by the free exchange of original material the new technology makes possible. And some want to ensure growth of the Internet does not increase the domination of one language and culture," he said.

James Pearce writes for ZDNet Australia