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Can We Rely On The Web?

  • CNN, Friday, January 22, 2010 4:15 PM
Is the fact that Twitter was offline for 90 minutes on Wednesday morning further proof that new digital technologies can't be trusted when it comes to life-or-death matters like search and rescue efforts, or one's basic security? Not at all, says Anil Dash, director of independent nonprofit Expert Labs. Rather, the glitch demonstrates that we need to reconsider our reliance on so few digital gatekeepers.

"There's no reason that organizations or individuals who want to use the Web to relay critical information have to rely on Twitter or Facebook or Google or any other giant of the technology industry in the first place," Dash points out. Rescue organizations and charities should simply be able to use the Web sites they already have to deliver those messages ... And wasn't that the promise of the Web in the first place? Weren't we going to stop relying on individual companies as gatekeepers for communication?" The broader message is that the Web is bigger than any one site or any one social network, and, as such, can be relied on going forward.

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