It is true, Internet is a perfect way to express yourself and your opinions: Blogs, forums, chats… so many places where you can share your views of the world, anonymously. Since internet exists, many asociations could spread their opinions around the world, for an example. This however becomes problematic when opinions reach websites that should be objective, such as Wikipedia.

In my opinion, Wikipedia is a great project, in which everyone can share his knowledge. When I have a doubt or want to know what something is, my first reflex is to look for it in Wikipedia. The objectivity claimed by the online Encyclopedia gives people trust, because they take it for granted that every article was written by a person with no other attention than contribute to the world’s knowledge, even if their accuracy can’t be proved. But, there is a problem if some authors aren’t objective anymore, but are ready to falsify informations in order to influence people’s opinion.

This was for an example the case during the last French presidential elections this year. The datas regarding the two candidates, Segolène Royal and Nicholas Sarchozy, were changed many times during the day in order to influence the votes. Wikipedia had to take measures in order to stop these changes. Pages regarding the Irak War and G.W.Bush were also a source of problems for the free encyclopedia.

Yes, it is true, Internet gives the mass the ability to express, organize, even mobilize itself, as it is easier to organize protests and strikes, or to denounce injustice, through the Internet. We also have seen what happened to the monk’s protests in Burma: When the government realized that the internet revealed the truth about the situation in Burma, he made everything in his power to disable the national internet connections. So, it is true, the Internet is able to make the masses stronger. However, it makes them also easier exposed as well.

Companies and organisations pay a high price in order to get informations and e mail adresses. Through forums, discussion groups or websites with specific thematics, it is easy to get informations about who is interested in what. When companies or organisations get the e mail adresses, it is easy for them to target the persons probably interested in their products, and then send them e-mails proposing special offers.

To conclude, I think that the Internet influences the world in it’s way. This wonderful media is used for good as well as bad purposes. But isn’t it like everything else in our world?