Welcome to the Internet, a wonderful place that it’s inventors envisioned as a system to put full encyclopedias of knowledge at your fingertips.
Best of Intentions
Modern technologies offer us a wealth of enticing services all delivered by your ability to access the internet. Some people have compared the internet to a superhighway of information.
The lofty ambitions of the scientists who created the world wide web were to deliver authorative references to research, permit collaboration between research teams and to deliver a scientific reference to scientific papers and later, class room notes and even full course textbooks.
Enter the Dark Side
However, commercial corporations looked upon this ability to communicate and sought to use it for profit purposes. Unwary public servants were swayed by the promises of economic revolution, and allowed the internet to become a commercial enterprise.
The influence of the corporations assured favorable regulation for corporations who quickly purchased media components so they could have a share of the upcoming wealth. Many checks were written, many favors were cashed.
The Worm Turns
Several years after the commercialization of the internet we see that it has become a communications medium delivering ignorance and celebrating public folly. Anonymous trolls dispense vitriolic arguments unrelated to any intelligent discourse that dilute the value of public forums. To the point that we now expect public forums to be packed with hate speech and slander.
Instead of enriching our lives the internet has now become a dark hole full of hateful monsters that intrudes into our lives, and our children’s lives, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. So how do we counsel our children to not be affected by the well of ignorance that the internet has become? We shall explore that in further chapters.
We like to think that only bad people have anything to fear from authorities. The naïve user assumes that if they do nothing wrong, they will never have to defend themselves from any investigations. Experience proves otherwise. Totally innocent people have had their lives intruded by authorities following false leads in digital cases. Your identity can be used to commit a crime without your knowledge and you can be investigated for things you never even knew existed.
Don’t Be a Victim!
Did you know that criminals can intrude your computer through the internet and then use your system to commit acts against other computers. Of course, when the digital evidence is examined, the authorities will come to you. Even if you are totally guilt free you can be intimidated and harassed. You can be fined or denied service by the determination of a company or agency who you never get to see or talk to, in a hearing you do not even know is happening. You need to protect yourself, even if you are a straight-arrow, obey the rules person. We shall discuss that as well.
Tell Your Friends to Watch This Space!
We have come to rely on this invention, but we have to understand its risks if we are to use it wisely.
And safely.
Stay tuned, I will have more to say soon.
Today You Can Make A Better Tomorrow 