[ No. 11 ]

Shrink rapt

by Kim Norton

Feeling depressed? Contemplating a sex change? Worried about your obsession with necrophilia? 'The Cybershrink will sort you out'. Just email him your problem and 'If you feel that you have received value for the consultation', he'll send you a bill for his time at a rate that is '20 per cent less than face-to-face fees'.

Cybershrink is one of a score of cyber shrink sites on the Web and one of thousands offering advice on everything from cancer cures to how to do your own electrical rewiring. One wonders just how many of these sites actually make money out of their services. For example, what percentage of Dr Cybershrink's satisfied customers end up snail mailing their dollars to him? The real concerns, of course, are whether or not this advice is sound and safe, and, if some form of 'policing' is necessary or even desirable.

As long as you don't breach copyright or trade name laws, virtually anyone can own a Website and call it what they like. Most ISPs are not going to check out someone's claims of being a technician, lawyer, doctor, scientist, vet or counsellor. In anycase, there's just no simple way of validating credentials or qualifications -- yet! The main search engines aren't likely to catch you out either. Do a search using the key words 'marriage advice' and you're likely to come up with everything from government agencies to registered foundations to pranksters and con artists. Everyone and everything is equally meaningful and meaningless on the Web.

If it's difficult for the discriminating to discriminate, it's near impossible for the undiscriminating to avoid being misled or misinformed somewhere along the line. It's especially easy for the lonely and isolated to become rapt in the idea of having their own cyber shrink to dispense a little low cost, no obligation counselling. Many are drawn in by the offer of free advice only to later realise that this was simply a hook for selling a product or a ploy to capture and on-sell their email address to marketing companies.

Some cyber advice is certainly life threatening. A group of British doctors recently did a study of the medical information available on the Web. For research purposes they narrowed their investigation to advice on a common ailment among children -- high fever. Their report on the 41 sites they investigated was recently published in "The British Medical Journal" where they concluded that 'only a few gave complete and accurate information'. Three actually recommended aspirin, a medication which should never be given to children under 15.

Doctors and other professionals clearly have a vested interest in the development of Internet advisory services. Apart from the public health issues, rogue practitioners of any kind who offer instant answers and discount rates are serious competitors. This makes it almost inevitable that interest groups such as doctors, lawyers, counsellors and technicians in any field will eventually lobby for greater regulation on the Internet and support an increased Web presence for government agencies and registered professional organisations.

One of the early entrants in this movement is www.lawstuff.org.au -- a legal service for children which has been set up by the National Children's and Youth Law Centre. Children with questions about their legal rights are encouraged to email their queries to the site through LawMail. Questions are answered by qualified volunteer solicitors within 10 days via email, telephone or snail mail. The advice is free, confidential and easy to access, thereby steering children away from any bogus information they might gather from chatrooms, newsgroups and other Websites.

For the main part, professionals have kept their distance from the Internet, preferring a 'wait and see' strategy. The occasional research paper or advisory site are probably only the beginnings, however.

One of the most likely developments is the establishment of search engines that are dedicated to discrimination -- sorting out the dodgy operators from those that are safe. Doctors and lawyers, for example, who want to set up shop on the Web might have to produce some kind of credentialling in the same way that you have to produce mandatory forms of identification to open a bank account in Australia.