Browsing Licence
What if people must pass a test to own a smartphone or to browse social media?
Okay I know it seems a bit extreme. But that thought led me to imagine how the web would like to look if it had been treated like the way we use our own car.
Why would we need clear rules?
In Bali, Indonesia, you don’t need a permit to drive a motorbike, as a tourist you just need to show your passport. There isn’t really a traffic code. I saw an entire family, including the dog on a motorbike once. But there is the police, therefore there should be laws. But well, go to Bali and see for yourself.
Indonesia (~270 Mio citizens) almost had 30'000 persons killed on the road in 2017. That’s 1 for 9'000 peoples ratio in this country approximately.
Compared with Switzerland, 8.5 Mio citizens, part of the road traffic convention. The number of road death is rather low with 187 in 2019 (it’s still 187 too much.) making more or less a ratio of 1 for 45'000.
There are probably other factors linked to those numbers, but I think laws and regulations on the road is the main reason why those numbers are so different.
Also, you might have heard the idea of having a vaccinal passport due to the pandemic. It would have been crazy to talk about this before 2020, and yet now that there is a danger for ourself and our economic system, we are trying to find rules and create regulations to avoid that danger. And as you might be aware, the web can be a dangerous place for those who don’t know how to protect themself. I will come back to that later.
Traffic code
Okay, so let’s take a step back and start our comparison. A century ago, they weren’t that many cars. The first speed limitations seemed to appear in 1949 with the Geneva Convention on road traffic. And it’s in 1968 that the multilateral treaty of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals has been signed in accord with the UN. Even though there were cars already before 1950, harmonisation and clarification of the rules came at some points.
There was a reason to create rules on road traffic. Maybe it was the number was growing too much. Maybe it was killing people. Or maybe some people anticipated those facts. Speed limits were designed to reduce the risk engendered by a fast driver, therefore enhancing his own security and security of others.
Even though it might be too late due to its wideness, I like to think that the web will have the same fate at some points. It somehow already exists, Cybercrime legislation based on human rights exists in most countries. But the Internet is not a country. Or it is a very big one. And the web as evolved much faster than cars, so the current infrastructure is not quite enough.
Besides these infrastructures, Social media platforms have their own guidelines usually articulated around benevolence and freedom of speech.
But the concept of freedom of speech is blurry and might not be tolerated the same way from a country to another (whether we like it not), and it becomes tricky when to decides to block someone with a large influence.
Actually, we blame users a lot for the way they use social media or embrace new tech without a lot of awareness, or on the contrary with total awareness to manipulate others… They should be blamed, but shouldn’t the social media or big tech company behind it blames as well? Back to cars, when an accident occurs, do you blame the driver for going too fast or the constructor for creating a fast car? And why not both?
It’s obvious that while people must be more aware of the dangers of the web, digital companies should find a way to help them reach awareness and become a better user.
Besides some common ground rules, every social platform should provide rules specific to themself, with clear consequences (not just a tap on the wrist) if not respected. While curation is the main challenge today, maybe filtering users even before they land or having paying plans to access certain functionalities like on Twitch, or with a permit.
Introducing a browsing licence.
To drive you must have a permit. Yes I know, some countries do not require it but let’s focus on the 101 countries which are part of the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. You don’t let your toddler driving your car. In Switzerland, the first motorised vehicle you can drive is a tractor or a moppet at age 14. Then at 18, you can pass the exam to get a licence if you want to drive a car, like in most countries in the EU.
So let’s imagine we should pass a test to get a “browsing licence” before accessing the web. There could be some awareness courses before accessing Instagram or identifying fake news. All this could start a school with a Digital Education class.
If it’s not against human rights to require people to get a driving licence to drive safely and avoid casualties, then I don’t see why it should be to access the web which is currently chaos. I invite you to watch the social dilemma if you don’t believe the internet has become a scary place.
It’s easy to be an anonymous hatred ass behind a screen. It’s because there is not a lot of consequences for being one right now — I’m mainly thinking about mean Twitter users.
Though, one big challenge with having a browsing licence would be the notion of control authorities would have on users. The web has been taken for granted by users and it would seem to be a crime or an attack to the freedom of speech to ask them to get a permit or banned them from a social media because they did not follow the rules (this is already happening). And with the data-privacy sh*t going on a limit should be drawn somewhere.
Is that complete non-sense?
Is this article stupid? Maybe, you tell me. But we need to recognize the negative effect digital products can have on us.
The web can be dangerous to those you don’t know how to use it and how to protect themself from it. While the ideas in this article could be seen as a bit extreme, it should be the role of everyone to become more aware of how toxic screens can be for us. And that’s why even if I’m not exactly rooting for it, this article is not a complete fantasy.
By the way: I am not a guru. While most articles might be more seen as “just a thought”, I am simply sharing my vision and feeling on our digital era and its impact on our daily life.
