The
Internet is a very useful resource, no matter how risky it is to use. You can get information on almost any topic,
from the philosophy on life after death to what qualifies “Jediism” as a
religion [or not]. The Internet is also
home to games, video hosting services [such as Youtube, Dailymotion, Pandora,
etc.], and forums [which ANYBODY can create].
It also serves as a useful teaching tool, providing access to notes and
journals from any number of projects that have been done in the past or to give
students a place to share their thoughts and expand their minds [such as in my
blog]. And then there are people who use
this resource for….less than appropriate activities such as pirating [of
software and data, commonly songs and movies], slander and libel, and other
such things. Despite this, the Internet
remains a useful tool to share information and data. Of course, this freedom of information comes
at a cost: security and privacy.
The
Internet was originally created as a sort of file share system between
computers at long distances so that researchers could exchange information
without transporting their boxes upon boxes of notes and experimental
data. In the 1950s, the Internet was
developed to allow this exchange to take place, connecting various servers
together to allow people to access other peoples’ research. Since then, the Internet has evolved from
being used exclusively by scientists and researchers to being used commercially
by the general population. Now anyone
with a hookup can access information on ANY topic [using things such as
Wikipedia, databases, or just random websites], play ‘flash games’ or watch
videos for entertainment, or conduct business.
This
kind of information sharing device allows people such as me to ‘blog’ [“a
frequently updated personal journal chronicling links at a Web site, intended
for public viewingӈ
As defined by Bing] and post our very
biased opinions on our chosen topics or allow businesses to be run from a
distance. This blog was created to fulfill
a requirement in a class I’m taking in college, as I’ve stated before. This example shows that the Internet can be a
very powerful teaching tool, in this case more of an independent study to
improve my writing style and give me practice developing my ideas and putting
them into text. It’s harder than I
thought it would be, which once again proves its effectiveness as a teaching
tool.
As I
mentioned before, this freedom comes at the price of privacy and security of
information. When a user accesses the
Internet through a portal such as Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Internet
Explorer, that portal tracks all movements that the user makes. Whether or not you adjust your privacy
settings to your liking or you delete your browsing history, a copy of the
information is retained by the provider.
Of course this information is normally secure, but courts can order the
disclosure of this information for use in a court case.
But a
way to counter this is the use of anonymity.
Keep your personal information secret in non-business interactions and never use your real name in such places
as chat rooms or online forums where rather undesirable people can gain
access. Such crimes as identity theft
ensues from such interactions.
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