Democracy and the web
The ConDem Coalition is using the web to give a voice to the people and find out what we want. But is this really empowering? Does the web help or hinder in this instance?
The grandly titled "Your Freedom" website set up by the coalition government says it is "part of the most radical shake up of our politics for decades". One of David Cameron's selling points was that he planned to cut out the legal red tape by repealing unnecessary and useless laws, and one aspect of this site is to ask people which laws fall into that category. Some responses, such as "Repeal the Sunday Observance Act of 1833" are providing exactly what the site asked for. However, a lot of the suggestions posted don't really meet the spirit of the question.
There are postings from people saying "Repeal the smoking ban", not because it is obsolete or ineffective, but because they simply don't agree with it and think this is a way to get it changed. Others seem to think it is just a suggestion box for new legislation or policy, so we have "bring back abattoirs", "get rid of wind farms, go nuclear" and "allow free parking for 20 minutes in city centres". A cycling supporter has posted "allow cyclists to use pavements" whilst an opponent has suggested "introduce road tax for cyclists." One suggestion calls for legalisation of cannabis, whilst another calls for a tax on cannabis. Not surprisingly there are calls to ban the burka and gay rights, and to bring back grammar schools and fox hunting.
Can such an exercise ever be useful? Does it at least give an indicator of what people want, a voice they didn't have before, or is it just a pretence so that politicians can say they are listening to us and claim populist support where it suits them? I think it would be a mistake to think these suggestions are in any way representative of what the public as a whole wants. The most popular topic, "legalise cannabis", has been endorsed by less than a thousand people, a tiny proportion of the electorate, and we cannot even be sure those thousand people are all British citizens entitled to vote. With a site like this, it is easy to establish many fake identities and look like there is a lot of support for one person's idea, or to propose the same idea in many different guises.
We also should remember that this is not a cross section of the population. It is the opinions only of people who are aware of the site and have the means and time to post comments. What about those people who don't have the money to afford a computer or the single parents who juggle their time between working and taking care of their children? For that matter, how many of you reading this newsletter were even aware of the "Your Freedom" site before you started this article?
The danger of "web democracy" is that a small but vocal minority finds it easier to represent its views as that of the majority.
23rd July 2010
This article comes from the SKILLZONE email newsletter, published monthly since January 2008, and covering topics related to technology and the internet. All articles and artwork in the SKILLZONE newsletter are orignal content.