The internet makes us all better people, according to Jonathan Zittrain, a Harvard law professor and investigator for the OpenNet initiative.
The people who created the internet didn't do it for money, he told the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford, but because they were fascinated by it. This enthusiasm, and not a desire to make huge amounts of money, is behind many of the most successful websites.
Sites such as Wikipedia, he argued, depend on web citizens who want to protect the worth of the website and act as moral buffers.
"Wikipedia is always 45 minutes from total destruction," he said, "besieged by thousands of spambots wanting to fill entries with adverts of Rolex watches."
Zittrain went on to use the example the Star Wars Kid - a viral YouTube video of a boy pretending to fight with a light sabre. It went up without the boy's knowledge. Wikipedia created an entry and hosted a debate about whether to include his real name. The press already had, but the Wikipedia team opted not to.
"This story makes it possible for us to see that all of the data online reflects our experiences and emotions, and we can have an ethical moment when we decide how we want to treat it," he said.
Other speakers contributed more tales of online morality. Imogen Heap said that when an unscrupulous journalist tried to sell a promo single of hers before its release date, she mobilised her Twitter fans. They pushed the auction up to ¡ê10 million, forcing eBay to cancel it.
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