Is it time for an Internet Driver's License?

The internet hasn't been around very long. In fact it celebrated its 40th birthday on September 2.

But in practical terms, the internet only began to hit the mainstream from the early 1990s via the World Wide Web. That means the bulk of the online population have been surfing the web and sending emails for less than a decade. It's fair to say this wonderful tool is still in its infancy.

When cars were first introduced in the second half of the 18th century, anyone who could afford one was free to drive it as they saw fit. There were some rules (mainly regarding noise) but because cars were so new, the traffic regulations we all abide today simply didn't apply. It took many years and many terrible accidents for the law to catch up.

In the United States, it was only once vehicle fatalities skyrocketed that legislators decided to step in to implement road rules, safety devices and drivers licenses. The greater good was seen as being more important that the individual's liberty to do as they pleased.

Today, there are thousands of laws in the USA - and right here in Australia - regarding the act of driving an automobile. And there's good reason for it. As a community we want to police who can drive, we want to ensure they know how to drive and we want to ensure our own safety on the road by setting standards for behavior and traffic protocols that ensure predictability.

And it mostly works just fine. There are some exceptions. Some drivers lack the courtesy to keep left, for example - but you could argue that's because the law hasn't yet forced them to act appropriately. And there are drivers who consistently flout the rules with scant regard for their own or anyone else's safety. There are systems for dealing with this kind of nincompoop.

Which brings us to the internet.

I'm not foolish enough to claim that using the internet with no training is as dangerous as operating a motor vehicle - but there can still be tragic outcomes.

There are all sorts of nasties awaiting the innocent. The internet - and for the bulk of its Netizens this means the World Wide Web - is still effectively unpoliced. There are innumerable websites designed to rip people off. And every day billions of viruses and virus-generated spam emails flood the tubes. Each of these viruses or emails may be seeking to defraud or socially engineer a naive user into providing personal details or worse - cash.

And interestingly, it's not all malicious. Consider chain emails and those urban legends that continuously fill your email inbox. It's as though every time a new person is introduced to the internet, they go through the same process of exploration and figure they'll send all this amazingly funny material to friends and family. Thankfully, sites such as Snopes exist to research and explain away most of the alarmist nonsense that does the rounds.

So maybe there's a way to protect people from baddies - and importantly, protect people from themselves. Perhaps it's time to ensure all users have at least a basic understanding of what the internet is and how it works before we let them loose.

It won't just protect them from themselves, it'll help keep the net tidy for the rest of us too.

It wouldn't take too long to go through the essentials of the Web: social networking, viruses and spyware, keeping personal data sacrosanct and why you shouldn't type EMAIL IN CAPITAL LETTERS. It'd be a small cost for new users to bear - but we happily cop that with our driving lessons and tests. There are loads of people who are already net literate - they can teach. We could have people take their Internet Drivers License test online. Heck, they do it for the kids. Probably the one group who really don't need it!

Is it time for the concept of the greater good to take over, therefore delivering us an internet that limits the opportunity for self harm?

Interestingly, Saudi Arabia still won't allow women to drive. There might be a parallel there with my mother, who still can't get her head around why she shouldn't forward chain email.

And just by the way, I don't agree with the notion of internet censorship. But that's a blog post for another day.