Living With the Internet and Online Dangers, 2010 Edition

Living With the Internet and Online Dangers, 2010 Edition
Author: Corey Sandler
Living With the Internet and online dangers

Here’s the thing: In cyberspace, nobody is watching. Also, everybody
is watching.
How can both things be true at the same time?
Let’s start with the definition of cyberspace. It is not somewhere
you go to, like a library or a coffee shop or the mall or the comfortable
couch at a friend’s house. It is not your computer, your cell phone,
the cable or the wireless device that connects you to the Internet, or
a Web site. It’s actually not a place or a thing at all.
Cyberspace is where the messages and words and instructions you
send and the answers headed back to you meet, interact, and change
tracks from one destination to another.
When you pick up your cell phone and call one of your best
friends, where does that conversation take place? One side is in your
hand because that is where your phone is located; the other side is
wherever your best friend is standing or sitting. But the conversation
is happening somewhere in between, in a stream of codes sent by
radio and wire: cyberspace.
The very same thing applies when you are exchanging an e-mail,
an instant message, a text message, or a video message with your
girlfriend or your boyfriend. The place where the communication is
taking place is out there in cyberspace.
When you are speaking face-to-face with someone—you still do
that from time to time, right?—the connection is direct. You can see
the person with whom you are conversing, and he or she can see you.
And, for that matter, if there are other people in the room, they can
see or hear you.
But most of the time when you’re on the Internet or sending a text
message from your cell phone, you’re clicking away all by yourself.
No one is watching both ends of the conversation at the same time.
No one is looking out for your privacy or your security or even verifying
that the person who is sending you a message is 1) exactly who
you think it is, or 2) even a person, for that matter.
And now we come to that other, seemingly contradictory fact:
Nobody is watching, and everybody is watching.
Although cyberspace is the most modern of ways to communicate,
it is also in many ways the Wild West. There are all sorts of snoops
floating around out there in cyberspace. They may be merely annoying,
like your little brother who tries to listen on your phone call just
to be a pain. They may be nasty jerks who want to infect your computer
with destructive viruses. Or they may be criminals who want to
steal your money, ruin your reputation, or cause you personal harm.
The biggest problem of all in cyberspace: It is almost impossible to
know if someone is listening in or watching where you travel on the
Web. Some cell phone calls can be monitored directly or indirectly,
and it is also possible to obtain a list of whom you called or who
called you. E-mails and text messages are harder to crack—unless
someone has managed to steal or guess—your user name and password;
if you leave your computer unattended or do not use a sign-on
password, any passing friend, family member, or stranger can read
your mail.
And then there is this: In most situations, when you use your computer
to visit a Web site, the operator of that site (and sometimes even
an unrelated snoop) can figure out your computer’s location and even
a bit about your Internet account.