EU official: Blogs may "considerably pollute cyberspace"

From our "oh, please, spare us" department comes word of EU hand-wringing about user-generated content.

Says Estonian Socialist (believe it or not; you'd have thought Estonians were tired of Soviet socialist overlords) Marianne Mikko:

"[Blogs]are in position...to considerably pollute cyberspace. We already have too much spam, misinformation and malicious intent in cyberspace."

Mikko's solution is chilling -- she's happy to compel bloggers and podcasters to register with the authorities.

"I think the public is still very trusting towards blogs, it is still seen as sincere. And it should remain sincere. For that we need a quality mark, a disclosure of who is really writing and why."

We already have a word for this. It's China.

Don't assume these are the views of one lefty nutter. Ignorance and misunderstanding of social media and user-generated media seems equally widespread on the right. German Liberal MEP Jorgo Chatzimarakis says:

"imagine pressure groups, professional interests or any other groups using blogs to pass on their message. Blogs are powerful tools, they can represent an advance form of lobbyism, which in turn can be seen as a threat."

A threat like News Corporation and Disney, you mean? Surely not.

Fortunately, the Mikko/Chatzimarakis report is unlikely to affect EU policy. But you have to wonder Estonia and Germany send such ninnies/nannies to EU Parliament.

Read more here.

Posted by Allan Jenkins on July 9, 2008 at 05:06 PM in Citizen Journalism, Is Tedious in the House?, Online Media, Social Media | Permalink

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