Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Web's Greatest Attribute

     
     Anonymity is the greatest attribute and advantage of the Web.  By providing a way to hide user IP’s from websites, no one can obtain personal data.  Users can privately view and share information with the entire world.  This anonymity promotes people’s self interests, opinions, and freedom of speech.  A user can view information and not have to worry about being monitored.  Also, users can share their thoughts or opinions without having to put their personal reputation at stake and most of all, the Web reinforces the freedom of speech!

     However, these advantages are not without a cost.  If people use the Web for harmful purposes, it is harder to identify the criminal due to anonymity.  In addition, users can practice “trolling” which is defined as someone who posts inflammatory messages.  Unfortunately, by giving people anonymity, some people tend to abuse the privileges.  Another disadvantage of the Web is deception.  If a user is inexperienced, they can easily be deceived possibly due to the amount of information or lack of organization.  It is currently very hard for a novice user to identify deceptive information.  Links may appear to lead a user to the correct information when cyber spying is actually occurring.  It is a fairly difficult problem to control cyber crime because it is caused by the Web’s greatest attribute.  Some partial solutions include protocols, encryption, and software protection.  In my opinion, it is the user that must make intelligent decisions when using the Web.  If a user can prevent cyber crime by using safety, then cyber crime is less likely to be a problem.   A novice user should refer to an Internet best and safe practices guideline before accessing any information online.

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3 comments:

  1. What you said here is a perfect example of the real cost of utilizing such a powerful tool like the internet. The options it presents everybody with in virtually every aspect of life is astounding, and as we know the internet is only growing both in number of people connecting as well as information available. However, with the example of anonymity online, uncredited free speech leads right into trolling, which is why I agree that people need to look into practicing safe web surfing. The irresponsibility and gullibility of so many people leads to something easily exploitable and we need to put an end to that.

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  2. I agree with you that users of the internet need to make intelligent decisions when using the web. However when it comes to trolling, the consequences of our decisions are usually out of our control. For example, if we happen to see something posted badly about us due to a troll even if we happen to ignore the troll, it can still be very costly for us. Since there is no fear of authority reigning in on trolls, do you really think they'll fear even the most advanced user on the web?

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  3. "It is currently very hard for a novice user to identify deceptive information. Links may appear to lead a user to the correct information when cyber spying is actually occurring."

    This is a perfect reinforcement for I have been preaching for this entire semester so far: people need to educate themselves on technology so that they don't find themselves victims of crimes on the internet (fraud, ID theft, etc.).

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