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Singapore (pte035/24.06.2005/16:01) - David Farber, known to many as the 'grandfather of the Internet' because he taught many pioneers of the digital medium, has had a distinguished career as a professor of computer science and public policy. But speaking at a public lecture organised by the Singapore Management University's school of information systems yesterday, Thursday, the Carnegie Mellon University http://www.cmu.edu professor voiced his concerns about the power of the web and the potential it has to 'more harm than good'.
"The next 10 years will be as wild as the last 25," Farber said. He added that the internet was once "something that you (could) do nice things with" and is now a device used by people to do "not nice things".
Hackers, for example, are now working for personal gain and sabotage rather than being content with simple triumphs in finding security loopholes. "It's not a nice environment," Farber said, adding that Internet security will have to be a prime focus for the industry.
Legislative questions are arising for governments, which are struggling to cope with the web's scope. Imposing taxes for online purchases is, for example, one of the things that the US government is dealing with.
"Politicians don't like the internet... they don't like losing control," Farber said. In his opinion there aren't enough tech-savvy politicians in office.
"[IT-related] laws are being made and broken by politicians who do not understand technology," he said, citing the US government as an example.
A panellist at the discussion, Professor Lawrence Wong, executive director of Institute for Infocomm Research, Agency for Science, Technology and Research http://www.i2r.a-star.edu.sg commented on the 'democratisation of the internet' trend, which means that 'anyone now can be a creator'.
"How do we then ensure the integrity of [each piece of] the content?" Wong asked.
Farber is an advocate of free speech and admits that some content on the web will be offensive to some people, but "it's a trade-off I'm willing to live with," he said. He then added: "How do you define what is unacceptable?"
Farber concluded by saying that finding security flaws and fixing them is important for the general security of the network and for those who use it.
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