While we may think we can brush aside information that we recognize is without merit, unlike a computer we aren't able to delete it and those less than choice tidbits color our analyses. Our store of information is also subject to subjective manipulation.

In a classic 1970s experiment, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus found that subjects who witnessed a simulated car accident and were asked how fast they thought the cars were going when they "smashed" into each other gave higher speeds than those who were asked how fast the cars were going when they "hit" each other (66 kilometers per hour compared to 55 km/h). The "smashed" subjects were also more likely to report having seen broken glass at the scene, though there was none.

Just changing one word produced different perceptions of the same event. Further, psychologists have shown that they can alter people's beliefs about their own life histories.

Regrettably, companies have begun to recognize that they can distort public opinion by using phony online comments to market products. In October, Samsung was fined about $340,000 by Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission for reportedly asking third-party marketing companies Peng Thai and Dolly Company to write forum posts that praised its devices and trashed its competitors. Peng Thai and Dolly were fined $102,153 and $1,703 for the same offense.

The Internet has become a worldwide public forum. Now we must find ways to make this forum both civil and honest. Until we do so, there is always the fear that youngsters like Qiqi could become victims of online junkies. If scientists and researchers with their tomes of knowledge cannot ignore the impact of online comments, how can a poor teenage girl or boy ward off its dark, cold claws?

The author is an adjunct professor of law in the Tsinghua University/Temple University LLM program.

(China Daily 12/20/2013 page9)