The Internet - Threat or Asset?

The Internet - Threat or Asset ?

The new age of technology was born late last century in the form of the silicone chip. Since this early invention computers have progressed in leaps and bounds from the very basic early models to the now very complicated and very powerful computers and laptops of today. In between this growth the Internet developed into a mega market where billions of dollars are traded daily. It is a place where you can pretty much buy and sell anything you can think of. But with the development of such a powerful tool there are always going to be problems such as pornography, hackers, dodgy chat rooms and authenticity of information. But like with any argument you have to way up the good with the bad, the internet provides you with a wealth of information so that you can find out much on many different products, allows businesses to function so much more efficiently, there is also the availability of online learning.

A major threat to the people who use the internet, especially children, is the sex industry. It is very hard to ignore as there are thousands of sites of which many have very unobvious site names. This makes it very easy for children to access accidentally sites which are very inappropriate and can have great harmful effects on a young childs very impressionable mind. It is not acceptable for a young person to be exposed to the intimate world of adult pornography which can include anything from child porn to bestiality. Fortunately you are able to get programs such as “net minder” which protects young children from the filth on the net. These programs are regularly up dated barring more and more inappropriate pages as the net is constantly growing.

A major threat that nearly everyone who goes on the internet faces is the attack of hackers who can pretty much strike anyone at any time inflicting major damage and loss of money. These hackers are able to gain your confidential information using special hacking tools, this means they can get your credit card number that you gave out when doing online shopping and use it much to there benefit. These people are also able to create viruses that have the sole purpose of destroying and damaging your computer software. The “I love you” e-mail that was circulating the web recently is a good example of what people are capable of.

Many people now days us chat rooms and the like to make new friends and meet different people. This in turn can create problems as there is a danger of meeting weird people who may want to harm you. They can make themselves seem to be different from the person they really are, this can be a real danger if someone decides