authority on the internet

Authority on the internet is an interesting concept. I quite like the idea that anyone can be an author, even me! However, I also find that somewhat scary as that means some of the information available on the net is not necessarily true. Erika's wikipedia example is a good one. I don't think this will prevent me using information on the internet, but it will make me more careful about checking the source it has come from. I think the changes in authority on the internet are expected and as technology progresses we may find that the hierarchy continues to flatten. Its good for everyone to have a voice on the internet, it would be boring if all we could access was information that had been filtered and put out by an authority such as the government (like China for example). Information should be free to all. Of course it would make things easier if it was accurate, but lets be honest if we want freedom, we won't be able to have total accuracy. we cannot have our cake and eat it too, (although that would be nice)! I personally like wikipedia, but I only ever use it as a starting point or to clarify something, never as an authoritative source. This is because I have been warned numerous times that I shouldn't rely on it for accuracy, but how many other seemingly accurate sources are out there that we haven't been warned about and rely on???
That's the problem with the internet, there's so much information out there it makes it hard to be sure what is accurate and what's not.