Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: The Hazards of Developing the Internet
mog asks:
"I am currently starting a large research paper
for my senior High School English class, and
have chosen the topic "The Hazards of the Internet."
Obviously this is intended to mean the dangers of the
internet, but I have chosen to interpret it differently.
My interpretation is that of the dangers encountered upon
the development of the internet.
I am looking for any information anyone can supply me about
the Intellectual Property issues, Monopolies / OSS movement
issues, and the general issue of standardizing internet
protocols."
This question is interesting for the fact that you're writing a "Hazards of the Internet" paper at all. What kind of in-class material was taught before you were given the assignment (if any)? I can just *hear* what 99% of the teachers and administrators at my catholic high school would have had to say about the internet...
Also interesting, I suppose, will be all the otehr student's answers to this -- it'd be neat to see how many of them buy into the mass media's "internet is evil" stereotype and talk exclusively about Columbine/Duke Nukem/Porn/Nazi Web Sites/etc. After all, this is the generation who should know better, having had the net around during their formative years.
----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Posted by d106ene5:
I would focus on the pseudo-monopoly held by NSI and its ramifications for internet development. This story certainly has the juicy details to make for an interesting paper.
While open-source software has played a role in developing the net (TCP/IP, BIND, Sendmail, etc), I don't think the connection is particularly interesting in itself. In the early days of the internet, the open/closed source debate wasn't as apparent as it is now.
That's an easy one. /. about theos.com. The OpenBSD developer was sued by Theos Software for having theos.com domain even though he registered it before the company even existed. Of course there are also people who register a domain with the only purpose to sell it to someone else.
;-)
A few month ago news.com had a nice story called "Microsoft's Holy War on Java" summarizing what happened. That alone should be enough for a sizable paper.
Then there's also DHTML and the much-hyped XML. Both of them allow a certain company to proprierarize standards.
As for intellectual property and stuff, you can write about the domain name rules. About a month ago there was a story on
You could also write about spam...
hope that helps
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
On a similar note, I would like to add the following. When I was in High School (many, many moons ago), I used to write relatively more technically oriented papers for some of my classes (English and Social Studies). Now that I think about it, I used to do the same when I was in college (e.g., history classes). This went over like a drunken sailor in a monastery. The teachers (and in many instances, the other students) would essentially say, that is great but is it really that important?
In hindsight, this illustrated to me the vast cultural and intellectual differences between the nerds and the rest of the world. Most ppl do not care about technical issues despite that fact that they are very important when it comes down to the pragmatic issues of implementation. Ignorance of the technical issues allows one to just wave their magic wand to make things better, to make problems disappear. Unfortunately, the problems (as perceive by the masses) will not disappear unless you understand aspects related to implementation.
Hence, to the High School student: Educate the masses! Write your paper! Ignorance is a terrible thing to waste.
I too will be interested in finding how the other students stereotype the internet.
Yeah - I'd second the recommendation of "Silicon Snake Oil". I don't necessarily agree with everything Cliff writes, but there are certainly a lot of good points made.
The social aspects of online communication are, I'm sure, well known to most slashdot folks, but certain things do need to be looked at, or at least thought about. Is it good for people to do all their communicating from behind a terminal rather than in person? Is it really healthy to prefer spending a day on your own browsing the web or MUDding to going out with friends
or walking in the hills?
Myself, I'm fascinated by the difference between people's writing styles on Usenet, IRC, whatever, and the way they are when you meet them in real life. Can the constant switching between online persona and real-life personality affect your
image of who you really are, or does it improve
your self-image by letting you explore aspects that you wouldn't usually explore in reality?
Don't get me wrong here - I love the Internet, I've been around it for the best part of a decade, I wouldn't want to be without it, but sometimes I wonder whether the "digital utopia" that so many are touting is really going to bring that many benefits to society, or whether it is, as Cliff said, snake oil, or smoke and mirrors.
And yup, I know this is supposed to be a technical discussion, but there's more to the Net than just routers and hosts.
I go to Arapahoe High School in Littleton, CO (about 6 or 7 miles from Columbine) so this internet thing is getting a lot of attention around here.
/. community sees these things in black and white, but it just isn't so. Especially if you read at -1.
Fall semester last year, I needed more social studies credit to graduate. I added an economics class. It was easy, stupid, and boring, so I quit. Instead, I arranged to do an independant study. The topic: "Law and the Internet" (it had to be social studies credit, remember.)
Over the course of the semester, my day to day thing that I did for the study was basically to read and participate in slashdot discussions and sometimes go roaming around the internet for more info on my specific topics (I didn't even have to give continuous updates. It was a sweet deal)
My topics were encryption, censorship issues (porn/hate sites) and intellectual property. I learned waaaaaaay more just doing the day-to-day slashdot thing than I ever would have in school. I also liked getting several angles on each issue. Yes, I know that people think the
For the study, I wrote 3 or 4 rambling katz style essays and finished off the semester with a powerpoint presentation in our school's brand new forum with a huge video screen and speaker system. The teachers (and principal) loved it - especially the powerpoint presentation. I snuck in some non social studies related stuff by including in the presentation a complete explanation of public key cryptosystems, complete with animated diagrams. And they actually understood it! (I wasn't too heavy on the math) That whole experience was definately cool.
I think you will be plesantly surprised by the whole experience when it is over and done. I was. In my presentation, I'm sure I said things the administration didn't agree with, but they were very impressed anyway, because I made the case pretty well (I presented each of the 3 issues from 2 or 3 sides, and then took a stand and argued it.)
It made a bigger impression than I could have imagined. By the next day, every teacher in the school had heard about it, and were actually congratulating me, even though they weren't there! They have looked at me differently ever since.
So anyway, to wrap up, I say put enough effort into this that it will be something that you can be proud of. It will be fun and your teachers will probably be genuinely surprised and impressed.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
I guess one of the biggest issues concerning the Internet is the ease of copying digital media, and the concomittant problems of ownership, compensation, and distribution rights.
Take for example mp3s and their relatively easy access. What is intellectual property worth when production costs and such dilute the value? In terms of costs of bandwidth, file size, song quality, and the unquantifiable/unqualifiable pleasure or utility, how do you determine value? Economically, digital media is worthless because of oversupply; not that it isn't worth owning, but because there is so much(infinite, really) available that prices drop to download times and internet access issues.
How should/will the music industry respond to that? How should money, profit, distribution, etc be handled? Is it good or bad?
Same issues with movies, like the rogue Phantom Menace CDs floating around. Or video games. Or applications. Is anything truly worth $400 when it only costs some time, a couple of burned CDs, and ISP connection charges? Is Microsoft actually cheating us by charging us $400 for their Office Suite when it costs mere dollars to download? Or are we cheating Microsoft for not paying the price *they* choose to set?
How does market economics and dynamic change, when the Internet can literally make interaction personal and 1:1 as well as nameless, faceless, and substanceless?
Have fun. This is my $0.02
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Actually I already graduated. I mailed my Ask Slashdot about 2.5 or 3 months ago, and it just got posted.
Hmm, its June 3, your a senior in highschool, and you are starting your large research project now? Let me guess,
A) You screwed around during the school year and were told "do this huge project and you'll pass".
or
B) You aready failed, and are in summer school, so you can do the same.
Now, I'm not meaning to be negative, (in high school I ended up in categorey A a few times, in college, categorey B) but what you need to do is "impress" the person grading your paper.
So, make their head spin. Do some research on the "neo-tribal"* theorys, and write it up good and scary, guaranted "A+".
* "neo-tribal theory"
The idea that with the proliferation of massive information (and the joint proliferation of filtering software and "portal" sites) viewers see only what they wish to see, and social sub-groups become more and more insular.
ex. White power nuts go only to white power web pages, now for ALL their news, so they have no challenge to their perspective.
Just a Thougt.
-- Crutcher --
#include <disclaimer.h>
If you want to hide personal income from the government (disclaimer: this is illegal in the US, and I don't recommend that anybody do this), you want to keep income-generating activity out of databases at all costs, preferably out of paper books as well. E-Commerce makes it easier for the government to track your economic activity.
Besides, even if governments can't track the personal income of its citizens, the government will not collapse. One can certainly run a government without income taxes. My home state of New Hampshire gets along well without one (we tax entertainment and property, and the state owns a monopoly on liquor sales)
--The basis of all love is respect
A Harvard Law student presented it under his own name in 1968. Resounding applause from faculty after the speech. Then a big sucking sound when he told them who the original author was.
See how that goes.
The ship sank. Get over it. (This sig was cut out from another's shirt and painstakingly hand-posted)
Go to your primary sources. I was looking through my Penguin Portable Thomas Jefferson the other day and found this which you might find useful. If you do use it and want the correct citation, email me. DoktorMel Rogue English-teacher geek
-- The Sage does nothing, and nothing is left undone. --Lao Tzu
I was given the impression in school that the interview was an acceptable means by which to acquire information. If you are writing a paper on the development of the Internet, why would you not consult people who actually do some of the work? /. would seem to be an incredible resource in that regard.
I'm sure that the people that are complaining here are the same people that complain in some way about every topic. I know I shouldn't respond to trolls and flamers, but I just couldn't resist in this case.
I hope you do well with your paper.
Don't forget DA's. The problem is not quite as bad is it used to be, but for a long time there was a persistent fear that some local DA seeking cheap press coverage would discover computer pornography *gasp*. Worse, said pornography could be illegal locally (a surprising number of states still ban pictures showing explicit penetration), so the DA's "shock" had real teeth to it. The fact that the images, pre web-browser, looked like MKH!K#Hlkh`l1lKCHQE$@ unless you knew multiple magic incantations was irrelevant.
Today there isn't the same problem with rural American DA's, but now sites may have problems from other countries complaining about the content.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. -- H L Mencken
Memories of an old professor of mine who said that my writing was "like a string of Christmas lights" -- too many little bright spots, any ONE of which could have been a paper topic, and not developed enough. I finally "broke the code" on the last paper I wrote for him, and got an A- despite turning it in late.
"Hazards of the Net" is a very broad topic. At that point, I wouldn't even be sure what you meant -- physical hazards? net-addiction? FBI arrests of teenage hackers? security system breaches? something else entirely?
Focus on something particular.
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
First off, I'll "third" the recommendation.
Beyond that, something else good to look at might be the old
And as for my own thoughts/personal experiences on Net-as-social-circle (warning, this could get LONG):
I made many LOCAL friends on the 'net my first two semesters at SUNY Geneseo. One of my floormates and his old friends had put together a MUD, and soon I was "living on" it, and so were a lot of other people at my school. It also gave me a way to keep in touch with a friend from my previous school who was in Michigan.
I later branched out, started hanging out on BBSes, and I have literally talked to someone on every continent including Antarctica (OK, so that was my uncle, who was doing Navy research there). I have at least six net-friends in Australia who swear that the first thing they'll do if they win the lottery is send me a plane ticket. I've been sent TimTams, and I have sent Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups. I was one of two American sysops on an Australian BBS (and the other also went to my school).
I've found Web pages that have made me smile and say, "So I'm not the only one who thinks this! Maybe I'm not crazy after all
Now all this is lovely, but the Net has had a down-side. I was online when I should have been in class or doing work. My grades suffered, etc. However, in my particular case, all the Net was doing was giving me extra delivered-to-the-door opportunities to "hang out" with my friends and read interesting information, two things I did too much of WITHOUT the Net. (I also had problems doing library research because I would invariably get distracted by something else.)
In my experience, there seem to be three kinds of (for lack of a better term) "net addicts":
1. The ones who (for instance) had a tight circle of friends in high school or through something like CTY that then scatters everywhere, and who use the Net to try to hold on to those friends, sometimes at the expense of making friends or finding things to do in their real, physical location.
2. Info-junkies. (I admit, I fall into this category.) Generally, people who have a fairly obscure or specialized interest or set of interests. They'll search the net for every scrap of info on their chosen categories, spend tons of time on Usenet debating the finer points of their interets, etc. They generally get "hooked" because there aren't enough local people who share their obsession, or else all the "locals" are online as well. (This has been me with various topics: Amber, the band Rush, and Norse pagan/Viking history, to name three recent ones.) The net.goths might be a good example of this as well.
3. (IMHO, the most dangerous.) The folks who are genuinely using the Net as a way to avoid dealing with people face-to-face. Can be an outgrowth of either of the above. I've also seen this with some of the les/bi/gay teenagers I've talked to online, especially if they come from conservative households and are scared to come out. The Net becomes the only place that knows their "secret," and basically becomes a security blanket. Alternatively, I've seen this with people who just don't like themselves and are putting forth a new "persona" online.
Now with all three types, there can be problems as far as avoidance of reality. But the first two are easy to at least cut down on -- find compatible local people (over the net if you must!) and make an effort to spend time with them.
The last one is the one that scares me. A.J. Chodan (my real name) isn't THAT different of a person from fable2112. Or at the very least, there is nothing within fable2112 that *isn't* also part of A.J. I'm long-winded and opinionated IRL, too. (And that said, I'll shut up now!)
"Somebody exploded a letter-bomb today
I live in the Philadelphia area and there's a weekly Tech section in the Inquirer(Philly Newspaper)
Yesterday they had an article about the 'Dark Net'. That was the actual term used by the Author. He went on for a while about how software companies have chased all the evil warez people off the web and then they've all moved to the Dark Net where they can trade their illegal software with impunity. After reading the article a couple times trying to figure out what he was talking about I noticed a single reference to FTP which is apparently the Dark Net.
The author seems to believe that anything done on FTP couldn't possibly be legal because the web is so much easier.
There were also some references to 'other software' and non-standard (non-web) protocols that make it simpler for pirates to trade stolen software at higher speed. All I can think of is Hotlne, but there's no reference to any real information. The entire article seems to be based on some vague notion of pirates being everywhere and being the only people who use high speed connections.
for more info you can read the whole article on the Inquirer's website
"Understanding is a three-edged sword"--Kosh