"Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation... will also look at ways to help people decide if sites are trustworthy and reliable sources of information."
So this is pretty cool and at least tangentally related to my suggested area of research. They, (meaning people interested in the creation and good use of the WWW) are interested in ways to convey trust and reliability in a website's information. He notes that the way cults can be formed and grow in numbers on the web is becoming a problem and with the free flow of information on the web its easy to see that this will only continue if nothing is done. For example. it has been suggested that the web has increased the number of pedophiles because they can find (among other things) other communities of people who feel the same way they do, and are accepting.
The free flow of ideas and information is generally a good thing in my opinion; I have good faith in most of humanity and don't believe that it's right to censor or judge all information on the web. BUT Where this it related to my research is that I'm (hoping) to look at the ways web applications should or shouldn't be considered trustworthy. For things like online banking, how do you make it secure for the user in a way they feel it is secure and know when its not. How do you balance security with usability? What really makes the bank a website you trust or are we all just going on blind faith? All these sorts of questions. Its pretty cool to find an article with someone as important as the creator of the internet viewing online trust as a big upcoming issue.
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