Technology and Culture: Exploitation

Should people be able to control what is said about them on the internet? Should media be controlled, or is this against the basic rights of people? It can be argued that sometimes the Internet provides people with a great amount of information that isn't correct in any way, but purely the opinions of the person who wrote them. Other things that may be found on the Internet are the harsh reality that people rather hide from revelation. Recently in Argentina, a powerful court judge and Diego Maradona, the legendary footballer, worked together to limit what large search engines such as Yahoo! and Google may show in their results. Maradona had been fed up with the amount of information circulating on the Internet about his troubled past (ranging from women, cocaine and his exile from Italy, where he is seen almost as a god in some areas). Maradona wanted to stop people from reading about his past, and attained this right. If one were to search his name on Yahoo! they would find a page containing a disclamer, stating that the search was unable to be performed at the time. While this seems like an affective result, the reality is that there are hundreds of smaller search engines availible on the net, including in Argentina, that do not have a restriction on this particular case. One can argue that Maradona's case was completely pointless as all the information could easily be found even without major search engines, but I disagree. I feel that what Maradona did in Argentina is exremely important. Although the results were not perfect, Maradona is making a point. Americans may argue that banning the freedom of speech and press but limiting what can appear on the Internet is against the first amendment. This is true, but the bigger picture is this: should journalists and bloggers be able to post anything they like about others without the slightest consequence for lying? I believe that there should be a consequence, but this information should not be fully limited. I find myself somewhere inbetween the two extremes: one being jail time for journalists who casue trouble (this can be seen in countries such as South Korea) and complete freedom to write whatever one may desire. I believe people like Diego Maradona should have their rights, as it is their own reputation and name being exploited and put at risk. To conclude, I feel that what is written on the Internet shouldn't have heavy ristrictions, but rather be completely avoided with a law that punishes those who post things that are false.