I'm feeling my Editorial side coming out tonight, so here it goes...
I consider myself to be an anomaly in many ways, mainly due to my computer-geek status. I started with computers at the age of 9 (now 38) and even now, I find that all of these "computer literate children" we're raising really aren't as literate as I imagined they would be 20-30 years later. They are able to use a computer much more than my own counterparts back in junior high and high school did, but there are still not that many who above a "computer user" level as far as I can see. The ratio of geeks-to-normals did not seem to change in the last 30 years by very much.
Now, I have watched my kids progress "online" and create their internet "identities" (as much as they change on a weekly basis, that is) and I'm really concerned, for the first time ever, about how much information people put online about themselves. In fact, I'm convinced that there are quite a few predators who are scouring the Profiles of teen and pre-teen users of such services as ICQ, AIM/AOL, MySpace, MSN, Xanga, and many others... keeping a database of information they put together about these kids, so they can use it for their own personal (probably perverted) reasons.
As an example, I will use a very close relative of mine.
Based on the "Online Surveys" that this relative takes and posts into her profile on MySpace, you would literally be able to take her identity, get any and all records about her from any institution (posing as one of her parents if needed), and even stalk her despite the fact that you may come from somewhere two thousands miles away. Compiling information about various users of these social-networking engines is quite easy, and some of the info even comes from their friends profiles! Once again, since I am an anomaly, I happen to know these things, am able to watch these things, and even do some things to help (though not much, short of getting this relative offline) because of the type of person I am ... someone who looks at computers from the view of a programmer, technician, network administrator, power-user and, of course, parent.
There are times I envy the "normal person", who can use their computer and be amazed at the wonderful things it does (instead of constantly dissecting the mechanisms that make them work), but when it comes down to it, I'm very thankful that I have a step up on the vast majority of the population. But.. I fear for those of you who are the "normal people". You have no clue, or think "I make them do this or that to be safe". You aren't safe. Neither are your kids (or mine, for that matter).
When a teenager answers and posts an online survey that tells personal information, then another, and another... before you know it, you have five to twenty surveys, over a course of hours, days or possibly weeks, which literally define your child. Pictures, personal information, geographic references, mannerisms, where they go during the week, what they like to do, what attracts them... it's all there. And most of these kids are like you or your kids. They're "normal people".
And out there, they run into the deviants who may have the skills to track, find, rape, kill or otherwise destroy the lives of these "normal kids".
For this reason, I still think a "license" (just like your driver's license) should be required to use the Internet. Freedom of access is one thing; taking responsibility for your actions online is another. IP spoofing and blocking should not be allowed. You should pass a basic skills test before using the internet. There should be a centralized database (just like DNS) where your license information is kept and a federal-level government entity would maintain the entries in your country of citizenship. That entity would be part of the worldwide Internet Policing entity, and would be allowed access to your records.
This is a very unpopular stance to take (especially in my circle of peers) but I don't know of a better way. If the internet is to remain 100% free and clear, then I should be given the same open and free capability to seek revenge on any person who causes harm to any member of my family if they used any information from the internet to do so. That seems only fair... (sounds a lot like the 'old west', eh?) It seems logical that this will never happen, so I think Internet Licensing should begin as quickly as possible. And, if a country does not setup their local agency to pe part of the Worldwide Internet Police (WIP), then they should be removed from the network as a whole. If that means there is an open, unrestricted Internet where you take responsibility for yourself (and your kids), and a secure, policed Internet where companies, parents and individuals are held responsible for their actions, great!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Regarding your comment that the geek to average person ratio hasn't changed much in the past 10, 20 or 30 years, I would have to strongly disagree. It's only been 8 years since I graduated high school, but now I take classes with high school students again at ATC (joy), and there's a significantly higher number of kids that are interested in computers. Granted, that's probably because they're COMPUTER classes, but by whatever measure you define "geek", there are certainly a lot more at present than there were even 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, if you define a geek as someone who has more than two computers, a web page, and has a passing knowledge of at least one programming language, my guess would be that at an average high school 10 years ago would have perhaps 5. These days, an average school would probably have at least 20, and quite possibly more.
However, I also believe that people are taking the word "geek" entirely out of context by applying it to PC gamers, script kiddies and other people that just spend a lot of time online.
It's sad to see that most kids aren't getting a good fundamental "geek knowledge base". For example, most high school geeks (not meant disrespectfully) probably know what an IP address is, but probably could not explain what a subnet mask does.
This is a shortcoming that I've noticed just in the past 10 years. When I was in HS, I knew 16 year olds that at that time probably had more core networking knowledge than CCNAs I know today - and that's just SAD. But the worst part is the kids I talk to today don't even care to learn about protocols or media types or any of that stuff. They're content living up on the application layer. And that's fine (and expected) of a normal, 16 year old highschooler. But these kids want to be network admins, or programmers, or IT managers when they grow up. They probably wouldn't have too much trouble with IT managing, because previous experience has taught me that truly anyone can walk in off the street and get a job doing that, but anything else and they're going to find themselves going back to school to learn all this stuff they're not paying attention to.
Ok, so apart from my rant, onto your topic of identity theft. I think that my position as a person who's done work for some of these e-businesses with "questionable motives" gives me a unique perspective. Most, and I stress MOST, of the online sites are only interested in short-term revenue in the sense that once they get your information, they sell it and then file you away in their database. I can't speak for the sites that actually track your activity, but it's amazing the data you could find in these databases. Just one of my clients who will have to remain nameless has a database going back about two years containing personal information, including name, SSN, address, phone #, e-mail address, and sometimes credit card info, for 44,000 people. Of course all the info was given willingly by each person, but I doubt any of them has any idea that their info is being stored online.
I can only imagine what the "bad" sites collect, and then do with the info. But, regarding your title's implication of some sort of licensed Internet use, I think it's a good idea would get behind it if someone made an initiative. So much of the "bad" on the Internet could be avoided simply by making individuals personally responsible for their actions online.
Apparently I didn't scroll down far enough to read your last two paragraphs where you talked about Internet licensing. Surely you must realize that IP spoofing, etc isn't something that can be allowed or disallowed, it's just a fact of life that IP has weaknesses because it has no built in security.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of some sort of governing body, but dislike the idea of it being related to an ACTUAL government in any way. Something akin to ICANN, or the W3C would be a better choice. And I also think there should be only one, perhaps with subbranches, instead of one for each country.
The largest and most immediate problem this could be useful for is SPAM. I've discussed the possibility of using some sort of licensing model to prevent spam at length previously. The solution seems simple enough: require every mail server on the Internet to get a certificate from Verisign, or some other company, and use it to sign every outgoing e-mail message. Require compliance within a two year window, at the end of which, all servers would reject unsigned messages. If you lose your certificate, you'd have to get it replaced and revoke the old one, or you'd be liable for any messages someone sends with it.
The personal license is something I don't think will happen any time soon. For one, competency requirements would never be implemented. Service providers simply wouldn't allow it because it would eliminate half of their revenues. Plus, it's fundamentally wrong, and probably unconstitutional or something as well, to deny someone access to information because they don't know how to use a computer.
Manda's bitching at me to come to bed. To be continued... <3