Truth in Websites

So what is truth on the Web? Inventor Tim Berners-Lee suggests that we rate truth on the Web. He is concerned that the Web is promoting cults. Trouble is the methods that have been tried, social rating systems, are actively scammed today. Digg is an example. So who is the arbiter of truth? Ultimately the courts? In what country? The obvious example of Scientology is mentioned. Their lawyers will read this post. In New Scientist:

" ... The creator of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has made an odd request: for a kind of rating system to help people distinguish sites that can be trusted to tell the truth, and those that can't.

Berners-Lee was speaking at the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation, which aims to ensure that everyone in the world benefits as the web evolves.

In his speech he referred to the way fears that the LHC could destroy the world spread like wildfire online. As the BBC puts it, he explained that "there needed to be new systems that would give websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable sources." ... '