Don't take your eyes off the super-highway

The Internet is, undoubtedly, a brilliant and wonderful thing. It has revolutionised the world. It has brought high street retailing into our homes; it has had an impact on inflation by opening a new marketplace; it has allowed niche interest groups to flourish across borders; it has increased global discussion of issues, values and norms; and it changed the way we deliver and consume current affairs, news and politics.

The birth of what web-wonks call "Web 2.0" which is actually just Tim Berners-Lee's creation made accessible and useable for the masses rather than a small group of nerds, has increased the influence of grassroots political activism in an unprecedented way. In some respect it is as significant as universal suffrage was in the 20th century.

Each nations of the world is at a different step along this path that has been warmed by the white heat of technology. Some are further along it than other, and all are following in the wake of the US experience of its use in political campaigning. The UK is moving faster and faster towards the US position but with the speed of the journey comes perilous bends, steep hills, and tight corners that can sometimes fly by without anyone initially noticing them.

In the UK this explosion has come during a time when the Left has held electoral dominance. As a result the Right has, so the truism goes, become dominant. There are of course many on the non-party political allegiances Left who question this dominance but, if dominance is to be measured within terms of the spillage into the old media world then it is the Right, not the Left (at least for now) that is making the running.

However, with the positive nature that increased influence and power has given the Right, comes also negativity that should not be forgotten. And yet it is being ignored. The speed at which the trajectory of new media is travelling at this moment means those sharp corners and hairpin bends are blurring past, and there dangers are not being taken on board.

The Internet is like a postcard in the mail. It is an open book of information available for all to read as it travels across the world. When you send a postcard though you don't put your bank details in it, you don't put your home address on it and say "I hope no one has burgled us". You talk about things that are bland which are of no interest to anyone other than the recipient because you know that anyone might be reading it.

This reality of the Internet though appears to be lost on so many people. Forgetting this open nature of the Net when it comes to politics, especially party politics can be deadly. Especially in the new media age where websites considered to be influential in the party political arena are being monitored daily for stories.

In the old world, internal discussion and criticism had a tendency to remain so. It requires deliberate leakage for it to appear, and often, by the time it appeared it was such old news that it was not worth printing in any big way. It was a story yes, but it was a passing reference in a column about something else. A sentence rather than the story.

The Internet has changed all that, the immediacy of publishing means that even the slightest sign of division, of arguments, of even fair-minded and honest discussion can be turned into a "row" and become a story in the present rather than a snippet of history of insignificance.

Yes the Internet is wonderful, but its darker side should not be ignored. You don't, as they say, wash your dirty laundry in public. The Internet is that public arena and internal discussions, which or may not be rows, are the dirty laundry. This post is warning to the Left and Right, to Labour the Lib Dems and the Tories. Yes, you can harness the power of this medium to your benefit, but if you're don't drive responsibly and keep an eye out for those stop signs and chicanes it could destroy you when you least want it.