iNet Web Blog

A fellow freelancer bud of mine recently wrote a blog Web Industry – Lack of Ethics and Morals. I was going to respond with a comment to his blog, but I figured I had a little more to say on the issue of “Lack of Ethics and Morals” on the Internet. Is it really a ‘lack of’, or is it that the Internet just hasn’t fallen into place like society has yet? We have to remember that the Internet is a reflection of us, we are a society, and how have we been settling into life on this planet? (No, I’m not going to get all philosophical!)

I’m a strong believer in the integrity of the internet. So I am going to take my web designer hat off (producing the product) & put on my directory owner hat (marketing the product).

My mate from Man with No Blog & I were recently having a discussion on the death of directories. (BTW…Directories didn’t die, they got saturated in crap from automatic submissions on directories who seem to not know what a filter is, and don’t think directories are dead by any means) But I digressed … Ethics & Morals is why I stand by human edited directories rather than automatic submissions. Content is dictated by the ethics & morals of those reviewing website submissions, therefore better quality of directory in most cases.

I will still allow sex sites (because the last time I looked sex wasn’t illegal in Australia), but gambling sites & sites selling pills or dodgy medical practices aren’t allowed. I allow file sharing & music download sites (I see nothing wrong with sharing music, etc), but I don’t allow listing of sites that look like they are selling knockoffs of products or pirated CD’s & software.

This is where the Australia Govt’s ethics are questionable. Gambling sites are not permitted to be advertised on Aussie sites, yet the filter black list isn’t full of them. So it’s OK to be told not to list gambling but sex is OK …. however… they are predominantly filtering sex. Go figure! So much for church run Govt – do I hear moral contradicitons?

Back on track again…. The Internet is going to have no more morals & ethics than we have in real life society, because we put it there. I can see so many similarities between offline professions & societies and online professions & societies .

• web designers = interior/exterior decorators & landscapers
• web architects = architects
• web optimisation = tradies
• SEO = used car sales
• etc

However, unlike offline society, our clients are still not used to the world that we (as webbies) live in. Education will only help so far. Time is going to be the biggest educator now. As a young girl I wouldn’t have bought a car from a salesman without someone better capable to deal with them. Yet the web industry arrives new on the scene, with as much bad press as good, and says Trust Us. As an industry we have to earn that trust, and like society that will take years.

So as a web designer/producer it is my responsibility to carve paths onto the Internet & let them naturally form different aspects of the online business & societal structure.

As a directory owner I want to provide the right environment in which to market them.

I go to the markets & boot sales when I want to buy what Crazy Charlie found fallen off the back of a truck, or yesterdays treasures. I go to the city or select stores when I want something better. Or I go to a craftsman when I want the best.

Moral & ethics are everywhere, you just have to find them… and sometimes they cost more.