Annotation software

In May 1999, Third Voice launched its annotation software.  The software allows web surfers to post public commentary (which can be seen by all other Third Voice users) on any website.  As explained in a Wired news story, "The free [Third Voice] browser utility 'snaps onto' the side of a Web browser window, inviting users to post their views on news, products, and politics. The comments look and feel like Post-It notes stuck onto a Web page. If posted as public notes (private notes are also an option), comments can be seen -- amid highlighted areas of text and footnotes -- by any other user that has installed Third Voice. Readers can comment on each other's postings, leading to what Third Voice calls 'inline discussions.'"  (For a more detailed explanation of how Third Voice works by Third Voice critic Jeremy Bowers, click here.)

So while Third Voice alters the overall appearance of a site somewhat because the commentary becomes visible on the page, the source code of the original website nonetheless remains completely intact, and readers without Third Voice see the page in its original form.  Jonathan Zittrain, Executive Director of the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School, says that Third Voice is like "a removable plastic transparency laid over the Mona Lisa. Paint a mustache on it, show it to the world; the pristine work beneath remains untouched and readily available."  But when a site has generated a great deal of commentary, it can become so covered in Third Voice boxes that is practically unrecognizable.  For example, when Third Voice users visit the White House web site, they will find a page largely obscured with Third Voice boxes (to view this page you must click "Download Here" on an interim page).  And because Third Voice does not censor or restrict its users in any way, the commentary contained within these boxes does not always relate to the subject matter of the web page on which they are posted.  What was originally intended as a means for readers to critically discuss the content of web sites has developed into a more general communication venue:  less than half of the content posted on any given web site is related to the content of that site.  Rather, most of the space is used for informal chatting, unrelated rambling, or posting links to pornographic web sites.  Web authors are concerned that unsaavy web surfers will believe that irrelevant rantings and links to pornography are actually connected with their site, effectively altering the content of their sites.