Make the web better for everyone [Spectral Lines]

The Web has serious problems: peddler of unreliable information, haven for criminals, spawning ground for irrational conspiracy fears, and tool for destructive people to broadcast their violence in real time and with posted recordings. No doubt your list of Web pathologies is different from mine. But surely you agree that the Web disappoints as much as it delights. Now the hard part-what to do about it? Starting over is impossible. The Web is the ground of our global civilization, a pillar of contemporary existence. Even as we complain about the excesses and shortcomings of the Web, we can't survive without it. For engineers and technovisionaries, the solution flows from an admirable U.S. tradition: building a better mousetrap. For redesigners of the broken Web, the popular impulse is to expand digital freedom by creating a Web so decentralized that governments can't censor it and big corporations can't dominate. However noble, the freedom advocates fail to account for a major class of vexations arising from anonymity, which allows, say, Russian hackers to pose as legitimate tweeters and terrorist groups to recruit through Facebook pages. To be sure, escape from government surveillance through digital masks has benefits, yet the path to improved governance across the world doesn't chiefly lie with finding more clever ways to hide from official oppression. More freedom, ultimately, will only spawn more irresponsible, harmful behavior. If more freedom and greater privacy won't cure what ails the Web, might we consider older forms of control and the cooperation of essential public services?