on The Reliability of Information in Cyberspace

Elucidating the problem

The advent of the electronic age and the introduction of this new electronic space, the World Wide Web, is much celebrated, not least because of its ability to make readily and easily accessible vast amounts of information. Because the web promises to furnish one with an infinitely wide range of information and always delivers, many have developed a heavy reliance on it for research.

However, the fact that there is contained within the web a large information base, in no way guarantees that all information held there is accurate. The web’s power to tempt and seduce the information-hungry is such that it is able to obliterate its flaws. Once happily engrossed in the activity of swallowing all that one has gathered, who bothers to waste precious time on questioning the stuff one is ingesting? And once that hunger is satisfied, why wonder about what one has just consumed?

The heavy reliance on and trust imbued in it by web users might result in highly undesirable consequences. If someone reads and believes the information he obtained from the web that the King of France is going to visit England soon, he might only be embarrassed later when he finds out France is not monarchy-ruled; however, if investors respond to false information on the web regarding Singapore’s economic situation, panic and consequently, transfer capital out of the country, this could see currency and stock markets plummeting and precipitate an economic crisis.

It should never be taken for granted that all information found on the web is reliable. This is the problem: there is so much information available on the web, but not all of it is reliable. One has to be discerning but then again, how does one ascertain the reliability or non-reliability of information found on the web? Is this even possible? If not, are there solutions?