THE FREE PRESS OPINION Page A8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2000 PHONE 564-0005 "The theory of a free press is that the truth will emerge from free reporting and free discussion " Walter Lippman THE PRINCE GEORGE FREE PRESS PUBLISHER LORNE DOERKSON editor Shane Mills ADVERTISING MANAGER RICHARD SKINNER 1773 South Lyon Street, Prince George, B.C. V2N 1T3 Phone: 564-0005 Fax: 562-0025 EDITOR@PGFREEPRESS.COM ADSALES@PGFREEPRESS.COM Questions about Amanda’s death This story starts with the death of a four-year-old Prince George girl. Where it will end is a mystery to most. Since Amanda Jean Simpson’s death in November, the blame has shifted around with abandon — it was the ministry’s fault, it was the mother's fault or it was the boyfriend’s fault. It seems everybody was at fault and no one is taking responsibility, at least publicly. Ronald Poison is the now ex-boyfriend of Amanda’s mother. Charged with aggravated assault after Amanda’s death, those charges were stayed and Mr. Poison took a leave from Prince George. He’s resurfaced as he makes a bid for visitation rights with Amanda’s three siblings. Jerry Walton is the mother of Amanda and was working at the time of her daughter’s accident. But the Ministry of Children and Families refuses to return her children and are going to court to prevent that from ever happening. She is, understandably, upset. Then there is the ministry, once again in the spotlight and doing its best to deflect attention away from the deficiencies inherent in having a huge bureaucracy deal with human frailties. On Tuesday, the ministry admitted it has visited the home of Jerry Walton over twenty times and have now decided she is unfit to care for her children. Too bad a four-year-old girl had to die before the ministry could get its act together. This case is taking on a surreal feel, as all sides claim the moral high ground and the remaining girls are shuffled around like pawns on a chess board. We don’t know where the children should go, though it seems like a new home would not be unwarranted. Their father, their aunt, their mother and Big Sister (the NDP government) all want to care for them, which at this point doesn’t leave us very confident. In honour of Amanda Jean Simpson, is it possible this time we do the right thing? Protect the children and do not worry about covering our butts. The Prince George Free Press is A POLITICALLY INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AND SUNDAY. All material contained in this publication is protected by copyright. Reproduction is expressly prohibited by the rightsholder. Disorderly ’net unmasked This recent rash of hacker attacks is probably the best thing to happen to the internet The reason the so-called “denial-of-access” attacks that hit major U.S. internet sites last week are a good thing is because they point to a major problem with e-commerce. It’s not secure, plain and simple. But maybe now people will take the problem more seriously. Last week’s hack — which, by the way, was more of a practical joke than a serious threat to the economy — shows that security flaws exist and that even major players in cyberspace have been negligent about implementing effective security measures. Attacks sucli as these should shake us out of our complacency about the great good thing that is the internet. A groundswell that started with the computer nerds has been picked up by a growing number of business professionals all chanting the mantra of the new economy. E-commerce would be the greatest advance since Henry Ford figured out a way to increase production by putting his workers in front of a conveyor belt and boring MCALPINE VIEW Cam McAlpine them to death. And the internet would host the new production line. This e-commerce sermon was simply the by-product, however, of the first precept of the internet gospel: that the ‘net would presage the greatest democratization the world has ever known. Which is a load of bunk. All those trillions of bytes of information never before available to the common person are virtually useless to that same common person, who has neither the time nor the inclination to wade through it to discover whether it is in any way legitimate. Human beings need order We need structure, hierarchy, authority We need somehow to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. And the internet is still mostly chaff. So, in the same way that we have come to depend on reliable sources for information — the newspaper instead of the mimeographed pamphlet, for instance — and on reliable institutions at which to do our business — name brand banks instead of Vinnie’s Loan Shark Service — we will come to depend on the legitimacy and credibility earned only through hard work, good business practices and vigilance against security breaches on the part of e-commerce merchants. Until then, the internet is more like an unmapped continent, with all its unseen dangers and unknown pitfalls, than a democratic, orderly society in which to conduct civilized business. Cam McAlpine is the former editor of the Free Press. His column appears Thursdays.