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Vancouver riots shape the future of the Internet

document Distributed Knowledge, Open Innovation

Vancouver riots shape the future of the Internet
By Alexandra Samuel, June 19, 2011 7:01 PM

Home-made "Wanted" posters on Facebook. A user-generated "Vancouver 2011 Riot Criminal List" on Tumblr. Tweeted calls for employers to fire people spotted in online footage. These were the online developments that led me to write a blog post for Harvard Business Review about the dangers of crowdsourced surveillance in the aftermath of the Stanley Cup riots. That blog post has become one focal point in a larger conversation about the role of social media in responding to criminal activity. There is clearly a role for citizens in reporting crime and sharing photos or videos confidentially with police (as the Vancouver Police Department has appropriately requested). But are Facebook, Twitter and Youtube the right channels? And do we really want citizens mobilizing online to create a crowdsourced complement -- or in some cases, alternative -- to the justice system? Many have expressed astonishment that I'm even asking these questions. They see an opportunity to ensure that rioters get punished, a way to show the world that Vancouver won't be defined by a group of thugs.

But there's more at stake than our civic reputation. How we answer these questions will have repercussions far beyond our city limits. Social media is still new; take the long view, and even the Internet is still in its infancy. This Internet is ours to shape. We are the founding generation of social media culture, and what we do with social media matters deeply for the long run of our society, on and offline. Some argue that the panopticon has already arrived: we are living in an online world of perpetual disclosure and surveillance. As my friend and colleague David Eaves wrote on his own blog, "To believe that we won't share, and that others won't use our shared information to inform their decisions, is simply not logical....The alternative, a society where people are not permitted to share, strikes me as even more dangerous than a society where we can share but where one element of that sharing ends up being used as surveillance." Like David, I fear a society that limits our ability to share just as much as I fear the online mob. But to posit only these two alternatives is to ignore a third possibility: the possibility that we might individually and collectively choose to use social media in sensible and constructive ways. As much as LOLCats shakes my faith in the wisdom of the Internet, we do have plenty of evidence for our capacity to use the Internet judiciously, kindly and with respect for our fellow humans. Look at Kiva, the microlending powerhouse that has used the Internet to catalyze a global community of support for developing world entrepreneurs. Or think about netiquette, a set of behavioral principles that many people follow, often instinctively. Or simply consider emoticons and hashtags, two simple, nearubiquitous social conventions that have emerged to address the lack of context that can plague online communications. The Internet isn't something out there that we plug into, throwing up our hands and claiming that "this is just how it works". It's not a set of technologies we must passively accept: it's a culture we must actively create. And with social media in particular, we have a responsibility to think about what we are creating. We are establishing the norms for how to talk to people on Facebook. We are setting the example for what is appropriate to share on YouTube. We are modelling when and how to use email, blogs and Twitter. That is doubly true for Internet professionals and influencers, who help shape other people's expectations and ideas about how to engage online. When we shape the future of the Internet, we are also shaping the future of the world as a whole. Today we still live in a world that defines "real life" as what happens offline, but it won't be long before our online lives gain equal attention.

We are transitioning towards a significantly -- perhaps even primarily -- digital society, and during that transition we will go through a series of critical junctures that define our understanding and norms of what can and should be possible online. The first Internet worm, in 1988, gave birth to the field of online security and the idea that you have to take measures to protect your computer and your network. The 1994 defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, in large part due to the strength of online organizing, was when many people woke up to the political potential of the Internet: you can look at that moment as the precursor to MoveOn and the election of Barack Obama. The tragic suicides of two young teens inspired It Gets Better, which has now changed our thinking about how the Internet can help support gay youth and other marginalized groups. The online mobilization to track down the Vancouver rioters is another such turning point. What we do here and now -- and in this case, I mean literally here and now, as in today in Vancouver -- will affect how we understand the role of ordinary citizens in online surveillance. We can decide that we want to not only accept but actively encourage the use of social media as a way for law enforcement, employers and curious neighbors to keep track of suspicious activity (however that's defined). We can decide to use the online court of public opinion as an alternative to the formal legal system, administering shame, social stigma and professional ostracism where needed (as perceived by even one person). We can decide that your online profile and images will reflect not what you have chosen to share but what it is in the public interest to see (whatever that means). We can decide (as many people apparently have) that crowdsourcing law enforcement is no more problematic than crowdsourcing the work of holding government and law enforcement accountable: that using YouTube or Facebook to document the actions of private citizens is no different from using those channels to document the actions of people who are paid and mandated to work on our behalf. Or we can decide that as tempting as it is to crowdsource yet another public function, the justice system carries weight and repercussions that shouldn't be subject to the will of the crowd. We can decide that just as a system of due process constrains the offline pursuit of criminals, it should limit on our online crimefighting too. We can decide that our commitment to privacy and self-determination online aren't just important when they are easy, but are actually important enough that we are willing to to stand by them even when they cost us something.

We can decide that precisely because the Internet is such a powerful tool for mass mobilization, we will be extraordinarily careful about why and how we ask people to mobilize. And right here in Vancouver, we can make a decision about our city. We can decide that we won't let our city be defined by an offline mob, and we won't be defined by an online mob either. Not when that online mob has the power to define the future of the Internet.

Summary
When we shape the future of the Internet, we are also shaping the future of the world as a whole. Today we still live in a world that defines "real life" as what happens offline, but it won't be long before our online lives gain equal attention. We are transitioning towards a significantly -- perhaps even primarily -- digital society, and during that transition we will go through a series of critical junctures that define our understanding and norms of what can and should be possible online.

Description
The Internet isn't something out there that we plug into, throwing up our hands and claiming that "this is just how it works". It's not a set of technologies we must passively accept: it's a culture we must actively create. And with social media in particular, we have a responsibility to think about what we are creating. We are establishing the norms for how to talk to people on Facebook. We are setting the example for what is appropriate to share on YouTube. We are modelling when and how to use email, blogs and Twitter.

Tags: Crowdsourcing, Innovation, Internet, Social, Social Media, Vancouver riots

Posted by Luis Enrique Morales

Jun 20, 2011 05:37 am GMT Viewed 1934 times

Author: Alexandra Samuel Source

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