The online forum was a support group for alcoholics, and the computer programmer evidently placed so much trust in the 200 other members, that he openly confided in them. Whatever your feelings about this lurid story, the issue that emerges is that of trust. Perhaps the impersonal nature of the online forum obscured the fact that he was communicating with real people who would, in all likelihood, do the right thing by alerting the police. In most cases however, the impersonal nature of the Internet is a barrier to trust. Consumers are very concerned about giving out their credit card information over the Internet, and the newspapers love to tell stories about credit card fraud and criminal misdeeds.
People are understandably wary, and very slow to reach for their wallets.
According to Forester Research, security fears is the biggest obstacle to online commerce. In cyberspace, trust is an elusive commodity, in very short supply. When doing business on the Internet every business must confront the crisis of trust. The accessible nature of Internet publishing technologies meant that a little David could produce a website that is just as smart and attractive as a corporate Goliath. The Internet was never really very level, and the tilt is getting even worse.