Landing in the gutter: September 14, 1998 issue of New Thinking

September 14, 1998 New Thinking:
Landing in the gutter

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September 14, 1998

Landing in the gutter

By Gerry McGovern

From one giant step for mankind to one big mistake for a man.

I’ve heard it said that it was the landing on the moon which gave television centre stage in the home. After that monumental event there was no question but that you were ‘missing something’ if you didn’t have a television.

It looks like the Internet’s ‘landing on the moon’ event has arrived in the form of the publication Kenneth Starr report on President Bill Clinton. From now on, if you don’t have an Internet connection you will be seen to be missing something.

While such an event is great for people like me who make my living from the Internet, I cannot help but wish that this pivotal moment had a little more nobility and grandeur attached to it. Certainly on one level the Starr report is a sordid way of popularizing anything.

I have to admit bias here and apologize for making a political point rather than attempting to remain objective. However, President Bill Clinton has been instrumental in helping bring peace to Ireland. A conflict often seen as intractable has been moved forward in a very positive way by his unselfish and unwavering support. His actions have provided a better future for many Irish people. (Of course, the same peace-making President was responsible for bombing Sudan and Afghanistan…)

To President Clinton and the American people, I believe I can speak for the vast majority of Irish people everywhere in saying, “Thank you.”

Bias admitted, in my view Kenneth Starr – not to mention the media pack that hunt our lives - is like a modern Witch-finder General. He is someone who has spent four years and USD50 million to dig and keep digging everywhere and anywhere and to find something – anything – to nail the President of the United States. Let us hope that Kenneth Starr is not let lose on any of the rest of our lives, because I feel that there is enough in most of our past lives to shame us.

It is interesting that the Internet has become a temple for the new Inquisition. It won’t be the last time. Those of us who use the Internet regularly have already begun to leave a trail. It will just take a search engine to check – year by year – what we said on what discussion group. As the Internet progresses and more elaborate tracking and profiling techniques are developed, an astonishing range and depth of information will be gathered on our life styles.

In 2008, you won’t need four years and USD50 million to do a Kenneth Starr on someone. Compile a set of data, delete the vast majority of it that yields nothing useful, leave just the juicy bits. Mould them until they paint just the picture you want, feed the Internet grapevine with some appropriate leaks and, hey, you’ve got your man/woman!

It’s not all bleak, of course. The big corporate leaves a big trail on the Internet. Whereas an ordinary citizen would rarely have the time or money to research a case against an organization that had wronged them, with the Internet they have much greater ability to do so.

Either way, this is the age of information and the Internet is its world stage. The Internet has indeed landed in the human consciousness, settling deep in the realms of human frailty. Now, be careful the information trails you leave behind you.

Gerry McGovern

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Those of us who use the Internet regularly have already begun to leave a trail.