- Online Threats / Illegal Activities – Cyber criminals, drug dealers and other unsocial individuals lurk in chat rooms to lure in unsuspecting victims, as well as the willing, to participate in various illegal activities. Once done so, participants are left vulnerable to police enquires and could even be arrested for their crimes.
- Example: An advance-fee fraud such as the Nigerian Letter, also known as 419 fraud, is a type of scam where victims are convinced that someone is stranded in a country – Nigeria – and that they cannot get their passport back until certain bills are paid. Therefore, vulnerable people are targeted, in some cases through chat rooms, and are then contacted via email to ask for help. A 2006 BBC article stated that at the time this “style of incidents alone cost the UK economy £150m a year - with the average victim losing £31,000”.
- Paedophile Predators – The greatest threat of chat rooms in my opinion is the presence of paedophiles, online stalkers and other repulsive predators constantly looking for ways to exploit the vulnerabilities of pre-teens and young teens.
- Example: Recently in Australia, (June 2011) an alleged US predator Stephen Vosilla was arrested for “going into video chat rooms and talking to minors and convincing them to take their clothes off or do sexual acts and he was recording and taking screen captures of what they were doing.” (As said by Morristown Detective Michael O'Keefe)
- Harmful Addiction – Addiction to chat rooms can cause users to spend hours on different forum at the cost of other life activities. Human behavioural scientists and clinical psychologists have even considered chat room addiction to be almost as damaging as alcohol or drug addiction on the human psyche and health.
- Hacking Threats - Too much time spent on chat rooms can also lead to the possibility of your computer being hacked by the universal threats of semi-automatic spyware, adware and various human-related viruses, or even receiving spam emails via your chat room accounts
- Social Disengagement - Spending hours online in chat rooms can ruin your interaction with people in the real world. Becoming too familiar with online-only friends can leave you detached from outside relationships and make you incredibly social awkward. Therefore, not only personal hindering your life, but this can make getting and holding down a job very difficult.
Social
Dominance of the English Language
Some argue that the exponential growth of the Internet has caused considerable damage to language:
- Firstly, language usage and written proficiency is gradually deteriorating with online ‘slang’ ruining the need for correct spelling and good grammar.
- Secondly, the Internet threatens national borders through the apparent foreign influence and hegemony.
- Thirdly, the Internet threatens to oppress the language of linguistic minorities and the linguistic identity of minor communities and nations.
Although across the globe there are more native speakers of Chinese, Spanish or Hindi, it is English that they use to communicate across cultures, and it is English they teach their children to help them become citizens of an increasingly intertwined world.
Ultimately, it could be argued that English is the ‘lingua franca’ on the Internet (and in the world). Although one widely quoted figure stated that 80% of online content is in English, other sources argue showing figures 5 to 15% lower. However, it is evident that well over 50% of the Internet’s information is in the English Language; hence overall English does dominate the Internets data.
Historically the English dominance on the Internet is understandable as the Internet was basically developed in America, therefore naturally the Internet predominantly spread in the other English-speaking countries of the world. Nevertheless, many have bitter views of the Internet due to the English language:
- The director of a Russia Internet service provider has at one point referred to the Internet as “the ultimate act of intellectual colonialism.”
- Former French President Jacques Chirac was far more apocalyptic stating that the prevalence of English on the Internet is a “major risk for humanity,” which threatens to impose linguistic and cultural uniformity on the world – and as a result the French government inflicted a mandate that all Web sites in France must provide their content in French.
Alternatively, there are some positive aspects of the Internet when concerning language. People in foreign countries can now access online versions of nearly any resource, so if French speakers in non-Francophone regions wish to read the French newspaper they can do so thanks to the Internet.
People unable to speak English are provided with search engines in their own language, in 2008 Google owned around 800 domains, here’s just a few:
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(USA)
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(UK)
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(Afghanistan)
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(China)
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(Nigeria)
Whatever country you are in Google will provide the best results in your spoken language; therefore even if you cannot speak English, you can still search the Internet.
More importantly, online users can now get remote access to government information, educational materials, scientific journals, and, ultimately, the digitized collections of the major national libraries in an array of languages, enhancing learning capabilities.
Of course the Internet cannot prevent the global dominance of the English language but it does provide the opportunities to communicate with other members of geographically dispersed communities. Today more than 100 different languages are used in discussion groups, including not just the major national languages but Catalan, Gaelic, Navaho and Welsh, among so many others. People now have the opportunity to speak in their native tongue with others all other the world who before could only talk in Welsh or Yiddish with older relatives. Therefore, despite the indisputable dominance of the English language the Internet provides so many opportunities for other language speakers.
Web Addiction
Due to the constant use of the Internet in today’s society, such as using emails relentless at work or video conferencing with business partners or teenagers spending ridiculous amounts of time online for social networking, the possibility of becoming an addict is highly likely. There have been several cases of people being addicted to the Internet features such as chat rooms, or to certain websites, such as eBay. Like any addiction, Internet addiction must be taken very seriously as resulting financial and social problems can sincerely destroy people.
Case Study: China
In China Internet addiction is treated as a mental illness and sufferers are sent to military-style training camps where severe discipline ensues in order to rehabilitate.
It was been estimated that up to 10% of China’s millions of web users could actually be addicts and as a result the Chinese government shut down almost 2,000 Internet cafés in 2001 because of the concerns over the influence of the countries teenagers.
As of yet there is no proven way to treat the addiction, however in July 2009 China’s Ministry of Health formally banned the use of electroshock therapy.
An incident concerning one of the Internet addiction training camps happened in august 2009 at Qihang Salvation in China. A 15-year-old boy called Deng Senshan was sent by his father to receive ‘treatment’, nonetheless, within less than 24 hours of being their Deng was out in solitary confinement and horrendously beaten. Deng was later found vomiting and was then taken to a clinic however, having received such brutal injuries (marks were found on his body), Deng unfortunately died.
Of course this is an extreme case, but the fact that China has taken such extreme measures emphasises how serious the increase of Internet addiction is becoming. Society will not be able to function properly if our people are addicted to the web and therefore, this serious problem of a need to be online must be stopped before other countries start following China’s inhumane methods.
Commercial - The concerns with e-Commerce
The past decade has shown a revolutionary increase in business transactions online, however despite e-commerce modernizing the world of business, the developments have also brought along an array of problems.
- Privacy and Security issues:
Privacy of personal information is a highly significant issue for consumers. Each legal jurisdiction has varying laws when concerning consumer privacy, and as a result there are different levels of enforcement. The vast majority of consumers wish to avoid spam and telemarketing that comes with supplying contact information to an online merchant and therefore many merchants promise to not share consumer details for these purposes, or they provide options to ‘pot-out’ of such contacts.
Many websites, like Amazon.com, track consumer purchases in order to suggest other items or websites for the customers to view. Although this can be a useful service, however, if this was done across companies this could be viewed as an infringement of privacy.
The biggest security risk with shopping online is someone obtaining your credit / debit card details and then running up huge bills, spending your money. Although today secure payment methods are many and varied, there are still risks of hackers and malicious software’s obtaining such information. Online merchants need to have high security as hackers many try to illegal breach the software to obtain all the personal details of consumers to not only use their credit cards but also open up new accounts in their names.
The old cliché: ‘If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is’ becomes highly relevant with credit card fraud. Ridiculous bargains and suspicious looking sites should be treated with vast caution, as these could be a front for stealing credit card details.
Misinterpretation and misunderstanding of items bought online is a common problem nowadays, hence a problem with online shopping is that you are unable to physically see and touch the item before purchase: for instance, Items can be of poor quality or items may differ significantly from the description given or clothes cannot be tried on or tested.
Waiting for you items to arrive can be in some cases frustrating. Once your order has been placed, you have to wait for ‘processing’ and finally when it is ‘dispatched’ you have to wait for the courier or postman to delivery it. By the time you actually received your item the ‘thrill’ of shopping is practically gone. Furthermore, there are risks of the item never arriving as it can get lost or stolen, or the couriers could damage your package. Both resulting in a series of extensive phone calls to resolve the problems. Moreover, although some sites may offer free shipping, many only offer free delivery if your spent over a certain amount, meaning buying ‘cheap’ items is pointless as you end up paying more. Buying items that you need immediately is a problem, unless you pay extra costs for ‘next day delivery’, which can be substantially high. Additionally, if you decide to return your item, this requires even more phone calls or emailing and you could also be charged for the shipping back costs.
Diminishing physical stores – better deals online
Another significant problem when concerning commerce is the Internet has diminished the value of certain ‘brick and mortar’ stores, and combined with the current economic climate, has resulted in numerous chain stores having to shut down, such as Woolworths, Jane Norman and TJ Hughes.
In October 2010, over 89% of people had reported that they shopped online and Verdict Research experts estimate that by 2014 online shopping spending will grow by £14 billion (61%) – in 2008 people already spent £14.7bn online. [18]
The increase use of online stores like Amazon, which allows individuals to find goods at the lowest price, means people are benefiting from the so-called “flight to value”. In todays economic climate average people can no longer afford to go out on a massive shopping spree and instead stay at home surfing online for a bargain.
However, another factor of the Internet that diminished the value of stores like HMV is the ability to illegal download music, movies and TV shows. People can no longer afford to buy their favourite songs or films and therefore resort to illegal download them from various websites via the likes of torrents. Hence, HMV is now going through tough times, being very close to closure, if it weren’t for a Russian investor.
