No one owns the Internet
The question that I am getting lately is, what’s to become of the internet, now that the dot coms are falling? Well, the first thing I would say, is that only the cheaters and the controllers are falling. Everyone else is doing fairly well thank you. What they failed to realize, is that everyone is equal on the net. In fact, owning it is an impossible task, and is contrary to the principles of the internet. The net belongs to the people and people will decide what goes on there by their use of it. And if I may be so bold, I would suggest that the internet will be an “anything goes” medium forever, and although this brings up some disturbing possibilities for some people, having all that content on the net forever, they will always have the choice to go somewhere else.
I read today that some people are of the opinion that email will die because of Spam. Oh Really. Email is one of the most useful tools on the internet, and one of the reasons it is so successful. If you are receiving a lot of unwanted email, or spam, then do not use the remove option at the bottom. Instead, try blocking the sender. It is a fairly easy fix. Email can do you no harm if you keep on top of it. Check for the latest updates for your email program, and learn how your email works. I would advise staying away from commercial email programs like Incredimail because they are often bundled with spyware like Gator. Spyware tracks your internet usage and sells that information to spamers who then send you personal email that relates to the websites you have visited. This is called profiling. Clever but irritating.
We are now in a time when we have the world at our fingertips, and like David, anyone with inside information, can bring down giants with a single stone, or mouse click as it were. I would say that the giant corporations out there better get honest.
Fortunately the internet is more than just dot coms. It is still about information and communication. That is why I believe the more regular people who share the internet, the more useful the net becomes. In fact, because of computers and the internet, regular people finally have a voice. That is the really interesting part of mass communicating via email, and the internet. For the first time in history, regular people can influence public opinion, good or bad, without waiting to see if your letter to the editor will be printed.
One the other side, what about an expectation of privacy? Do we have any now? Will we have any in the near future? There will always be some people using the internet for criminal intent. All the more reason to use a firewall to keep intruders out of your computer. I can’t stress this enough. If you do not have a firewall, then someone is going through your computer when you are on line. Also, do not let Windows remember your passwords for you, and do not give people you chat with any personal information.
The newest threat appears to be social engineering. This is accomplished by stealing information about someone and assuming their identity, applying for credit cards, new identification like birth certificates, etc.,. This is rare but it does happen. As always, be careful who you buy from.
The latest stat on the number of people on the net is 540 million. This is expected to double in the next 11 months. With that many people online, the odds are, you and I won’t be bothered anyway.
Take care
George Horton
george@kcnb.ca
www.kcnb.ca