This is the second part of my reaction to Steve Maich's Pornography, gambling, lies, theft and terrorism: The Internet Sucks. Part I is here.

Whether you're after stock tips, or parenting advice, or movie reviews, it's all out there, free of charge, and generally worth exactly what you pay for it.

A Pew study on health information search has echoed Mr. Maich's concern that more and more people turn to the Internet for health advice without a critical mind. However, I can't follow his logic that free information equals to valueless information. Since I don't charge you for reading my post, does that mean what I write is bs?

in an era in which we're supposed to have universal access to more information from more varied sources around the world, there are fewer and fewer reporters on the ground digging up original information. And the companies in the business of providing credible, original reporting are finding it more and more difficult to survive.

Well...I don't know what to say about this...If those companies are getting out of business, who are staying? Oh, he answers. The amateur commentator. After laughing at the digital utopianism, he fires at bloggers.

Google News, Craigslist and the world army of bloggers have devalued journalism just as surely as Napster poisoned the market for recorded music. According to the PEW Internet and American Life Project, there are now more than 12 million bloggers in the United States alone, and more than a third of them consider what they do a form of journalism, even though little or no reporting is involved.

Wait, DID YOU EVER READ the report by PEW? Let me tell Mr. Maich what PEW study says.

The Pew Internet Project blogger survey finds that the American blogosphere is dominated by those who use their blogs as personal journals. Most bloggers do not think of what they do as journalism.

Most bloggers say they cover a lot of different topics, but when asked to choose one main topic, 37% of bloggers cite “my life and experiences” as a primary topic of their blog. Politics and government ran a very distant second with 11% of bloggers citing those issues of public life as the main subject of their blog.

Entertainment-related topics were the next most popular blog-type, with 7% of bloggers, followed by sports (6%), general news and current events (5%), business (5%), technology (4%), religion, spirituality or faith (2%), a specific hobby or a health problem or illness (each comprising 1% of bloggers). Other topics mentioned include opinions, volunteering, education, photography, causes and passions, and organizations. (p. 3)

To be fair, Mr. Maich does reveal the problems related with the Internet: copyright issue, online gambling, and porn. But he does not see [ or at least refuse to admit ] the other side of the coin. Personal journals might be of little value to the most, but it is treasured by those who value them. People may be overly obsessed with invaluable information like gossips about celebrities, but at least they have the rights to choose what to know. Does the Internet suck? Yes, somewhat. It is worthwhile to know how it sucks so we can make it less sucky.