Third Voice Could Change Web, Analysts Say

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May 18, 1999 (1:48 PM EDT)

By Malcolm Maclachlan,

Third Voice may have stepped into an uncertain legal landscape Monday when it launched software that lets users post their comments directly on the Web.

Anyone who has an opinion about a news story, for example, can write comments that will be visible to any other user of the software who visits the page. All comments are stored on servers at Third Voice, and overlaid on the Web page once it pops up on the user's browser.

Although the idea behind the software is to tap into Web users' love of creating their own content, the company may also be opening up new issues about libel and copyright online.

Third Voice CEO and co-founder Eng-Siong Tan said he expects his company will eventually be subpoenaed when someone uses the system to badmouth a company. Third Voice will turn over user information only if subpoenaed, he said.

Yahoo has faced subpoenas from several companies that have sought the identities of people who have posted negative comments about them on Yahoo message boards.

The system could also give more power to people such as Ken Hamadi, a disgruntled ex-Intel engineer who runs a site critical of the company called Face Intel. Hamadi recently lost a suit to Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel and is now barred from sending e-mail to Intel employees. However, using Third Voice, Hamadi could post remarks all over the Intel website, visible to anyone using the product. Microsoft, United Airlines, and Starbucks are also the subject of regularly updated, highly critical websites maintained by devoted groups or individuals.

Tan said he hoped companies would use the software to exercise their right of reply by responding to criticisms.

Because all comments are made by Third Voice users, rather than the company itself, it will be largely protected by common carrier status, said Chris Shipley, editor of the Demoletter newsletter. Furthermore, she said, a technical solution to block Third Voice comments from a site would be very difficult to create.

"Maybe the most intriguing possibility is a major player with deep pockets would acquire Third Voice to shut it down," Shipley said. "It could be worth a lot of money to prevent the whole world to comment on some information."

Because the company stores the comments on its own server and users opt to see them, Third Voice is also likely protected in the copyright arena, said analyst Barry Parr of International Data Corp. (IDC), in Framingham, Mass.

However, a more troubling issue, Parr said, is whether the service would be overrun by the sheer volume of messages. The service will likely attract large number of spammer's, he said, just like Usenet and e-mail before it. The level of spamming could be especially bad, he said, given companies will essentially be able to place messages on competitors' websites.

The Group function could be the service's saving grace, because it lets a limited group of individuals have private conversations. Parr said he would also like to see a Kill File function, which one could use to filter out spammers and other annoying parties.

If Third Voice is able to make the system work, Parr said, it could become as popular as ICQ.

"This is the coolest thing I've seen in a long time," said Parr. "It really makes you think differently about the way things work on the Internet. Of course, the last thing I felt that way about was PointCast."