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Friday, August 5, 2011
The advent of the computer, I-phones and twitter has brought a whole new set of challenges
We saw how in Iran the protests spilled out on to the streets and there was only one link that made it happen: cell phones…they organized, announced protests and people were so fed up with their fundamentalist Islamic theocracy that they took to the streets to protest. A theocracy that is as repressive as the one in Iran could not possibly stand up to modern day technologies; so what did they do? They first came down very hard on protesters, even killing a few and then they closed all cell phone services…that took care of that rebellion.
Totalitarian governments are very insistent on keeping all these devices and even internet access so that their populations are kept ignorant of world events and their own misery. Cuba and North Korea are good examples. The Chinese have some access but this is intensely monitored and there are things you can't say or do while surfing the net there.
But there was another one that followed and this one was successful: The people of Egypt, fed up with a dictator that had been in power for decades, organized and protested. Regardless of the heavy hand and the efforts to suppress it, the protestors prevailed and today we see a pathetic Mubarak facing trial for murder and excesses of power during this effort to repress the rebellion.
There are other venues no less controversial; for example, Facebook has for the most part been a useful tool for people to communicate, but it also can lay bare some of the human frailties of the users. Commonplace on Facebook are very mean spirited and libelous comments that have even driven some people to suicide. We refer these as CYBER BULLYING and there is no clear solution…as long as hatred and meanness is present in humans there will be bullying. The schoolyard bully has now been replaced by a state of the art telephone like instrument and those who are crass and without principles will also use it to belittle, spread lies and even as in the case of Sarah Palin, carry out a very perverse agenda.
Just as we had the Bible salesmen in the 30’s, the snake oil, cure-all tonics of the late 1880’s; we now have the same type of individual and corporations that will try to carry out unspeakable assaults and blackmail on the ordinary person. They often hack and invade your computer with viruses that will only be eliminated if you purchase their “VIRUS PROTECTION” program…only to come back a few months later and attempt to make you part with your money again with an offer to “UPGRADE”.
Then there are those unsolicited chain letters, you know the ones…from some deposed prince or African Chief who wants you to send him your bank account number so he can deposit millions of dollars. Or a very official sounding e-mail telling you that you just won the British Lottery.
The overall impression I get is that we are very far behind in instituting regulations and having the government offer a certain degree of consumer protection. We are long overdue for CYBER LAWS AND REGULATIONS…because if we don’t, even our government and financial institutions will be vulnerable…perhaps even causing some major catastrophe.
