Web freedom lies in eyes of the beholder

The honeymoon period is over and it's time to remove our rose-tinted spectacles when surfing the Net to see it in the true light of day. Whoever thinks the Web, by its very nature, is a source of unalloyed goodness, even freedom, should seriously think again. It's no better or worse than the people who people it.

Recent revelations about how government agencies in the United States are controlling opinion using "sock puppets" and "astroturfing" are reminders of what a seriously misleading place the Web can be.

As the term suggests, sock puppets are not real people, but online personas or avatars that are controlled by individuals who work for Centcom, which oversees military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.