If I was asked to sum all the Internet problems into one word, it would be accountability, or lack thereof.
Let me give you three examples:
Example 1: Take Robert’s Cash Blog I posted last week, they appear to be a happy family who is eager to share their money-making secrets to the world. Now if Robert’s family hasn’t made appearances here, here, here and here, the story would be a lot more believable. There is no question that the picture of “Robert’s family” is fake, and the product is a ripoff.
Example 2: Google the phrase “Google cash kit“, which is the scam product Robert sells. Click on any of the “Sponsored links”, it will take you to a website which either confirms the scam or tries to sell you similar products.
Example 3: Let’s assume I decided to invent “Google Cash Kit II”, the better and improved version. Here is what I need to do: a) register a domain name: JayCashBlog.com ($10 a year), b) find a host ($10 a month), take/find some pictures (free with my camera or Flickr), get some videos (free with my webcam or Youtube), create a webpage to put everything together(free with WordPress), and advertise it(Facebook, Twitter, etc., Free). The total cost per month? $11. The total time of launching the whole thing? Less than a week.
The online shopping process isn’t the problem, and the low cost entry barrier and advertising channels aren’t the problems either.
The real problems are:
- When it comes to “easy” money, we can’t count on people to do the right thing.
- When the reward of scamming people is far greater than the risk of getting caught, people see it as opportunities.
The cost and effort required for figuring out the true identity of the person who runs an online scam is generally too high. Most of the time, it’s simply not worth the hassle.
I think here is what we need to do in order to make the Internet even better than it is today:
- An easier method for verifying one’s true identity.
- An online community where everyone’s identity has to be verified and known in order to join.
- A group of people who is willing to join that community and lead the movement.
[Update 6/6/2009: Looks like Twitter is starting to looking for a solution.]
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