The internet makes us all better people, according to Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor and investigator for the OpenNet initiative.
The people who created the internet didn't do it for money, he told the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford, but because they were fascinated by it. This enthusiasm, and not a desire to make huge amounts of money, is behind many of the most successful websites.
Sites such as Wikipedia, he argued, depend on web citizens who want to protect the worth of the website and act as moral buffers.
"Wikipedia is always 45 minutes from total destruction," he said, "besieged by thousands of spambots wanting to fill entries with adverts of Rolex watches."
Zittrain went on to use the example the Star Wars Kid - a viral YouTube video of a boy pretending to fight with a light sabre. It went up without the boy's knowledge. Wikipedia created an entry and hosted a debate about whether to include his real name. The press already had, but the Wikipedia team opted not to.
"This story makes it possible for us to see that all of the data online reflects our experiences and emotions, and we can have an ethical moment when we decide how we want to treat it," he said.
Other speakers contributed more tales of online morality. Imogen Heap said that when an unscrupulous journalist tried to sell a promo single of hers before its release date, she mobilised her Twitter fans. They pushed the auction up to £10 million, forcing eBay to cancel it.
根據(jù)一位名叫喬納森。特瑞的哈佛法律教授兼主動(dòng)開放網(wǎng)絡(luò)調(diào)查員的說(shuō)法,因特網(wǎng)使我們?nèi)砍蔀檩^好的人。
他告訴位于牛津的全球TED協(xié)商會(huì),因特網(wǎng)的創(chuàng)始人不是為了錢去做這個(gè),而是因?yàn)樗麄儽灰蛱鼐W(wǎng)迷住了。大部份最成功的網(wǎng)站背面蘊(yùn)藏著這種熱情(不想賺大錢的欲望).
他說(shuō),像Wikipedia這樣的網(wǎng)站,信賴于那些想要保護(hù)網(wǎng)站價(jià)值同時(shí)作為道德緩沖器的網(wǎng)民。
他說(shuō):"Wikipedia 距離徹底毀滅總是只有45 分鐘","它被想要填滿勞力士手表廣告的數(shù)以千計(jì)的兜售信息平臺(tái)所包圍。"
特瑞繼續(xù)使用星際大戰(zhàn)小孩的例子--一段過(guò)濾過(guò)病毒的YouTube視頻,一個(gè)假裝用閃亮的馬刀戰(zhàn)斗的男孩,沒(méi)有顯示關(guān)于男孩的信息。Wikipedia創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)條目(發(fā)起話題),并發(fā)起了一場(chǎng)關(guān)于是否應(yīng)該公開他真實(shí)名字的辯論。新聞媒體已經(jīng)公開了那個(gè)男孩的名字, 但Wikipedia選擇了不公開。
他說(shuō):"這個(gè)故事使我們?cè)诰查看所有反映我們經(jīng)歷和情感的數(shù)據(jù)成為可能,當(dāng)我們決定如何應(yīng)對(duì)的時(shí)候,我們能有一個(gè)從倫理上考慮的時(shí)刻。 "
其他人發(fā)表了更多關(guān)于網(wǎng)絡(luò)道德的看法。伊莫金。黑普說(shuō),當(dāng)一個(gè)不道德的新聞?dòng)浾呦朐谧约旱臅霭姘l(fā)行之前賣掉一個(gè)單行版,她會(huì)動(dòng)員她狂熱的支持者,他們會(huì)把拍賣價(jià)哄抬到1000萬(wàn)英鎊,迫使 eBay 取消它。