Is the Internet a Bad thing?

[KillerPollo]

http://www.infowars.com/articles/bb/AOL_ad.htm

Thanks to the internet, your identity can be stolen, your home invaded and your savings robbed without anyone setting foot inside your door.

Images Travelling down the line image, stick men, revolving head, hand opening window as old couple and std sit at table in background, blue-print of house, house exploding.
 The internet is one of the most dangerous weapons every created. A way for the unhinged to spread evil, free of supervision or censorship.

Atom bomb, lies transmitter, b/w Nazis (3), skin-heads, KKK, Osama Bin Laden, headlines.


A place for mankind to exercise its darkest desires. Images Porn: silhouette, director viewing, close-up , girl looks at camera.

An open market where you can purchase anything you want. Images Products flash up and then baby with price tag.

Orwell was right. Images 1984 footage

The internet has taken us to a place where everything we do is watched, monitored and processed without us ever realising.

Images Kid on hobby-horse, surveillance cameras etc. Voice over Some people think the internet is a bad thing. Images View of old man looking at CCTV camera.

[John Dibble]

Voted good, but it's not really good or bad. The internet is a tool, and like all tools it can be used for good or evil - the user can be good or bad, the tool can't.

[KillerPollo]

Voted good, but it's not really good or bad. The internet is a tool, and like all tools it can be used for good or evil - the user can be good or bad, the tool can't.

I voted good myself. Without it, Any research that I do in school would mean that i'd probably have to spend hellish times in a library.

[MODU]

I voted good.  A lot of the bad things you listed in your initial statement, such as identity theft, could occur before the internet.  You might be too young to remember, but back in the 70s and 80s, there was a big advertising push by banks and credit card companies to ensure that you not only received your carbon-copy receipts from the cashier, but also the carbon sheets themselves, so you could destroy them by hand.  Otherwise, it was possible for someone to pinch a few carbon pages that had a perfect imprint of your credit card number as well as your signature, and go to town, without you finding out until your next monthly bill.

[KillerPollo]

I voted good.  A lot of the bad things you listed in your initial statement, such as identity theft, could occur before the internet.  You might be too young to remember, but back in the 70s and 80s, there was a big advertising push by banks and credit card companies to ensure that you not only received your carbon-copy receipts from the cashier, but also the carbon sheets themselves, so you could destroy them by hand.  Otherwise, it was possible for someone to pinch a few carbon pages that had a perfect imprint of your credit card number as well as your signature, and go to town, without you finding out until your next monthly bill.

Yes, but I thought that through the internet, This has become more of a problem. Oh and identity theft is only a state offence. My dad got his identity stolen once. They tracked down the evildoer, and it traced to NY.
So we call the cops. And a whole case opens up. Turns out there's not much the police could do, because it was "out of state"
IMO the law is making it easier for criminals to get away with such things.

[MasterJedi]

Voted good, but it's not really good or bad. The internet is a tool, and like all tools it can be used for good or evil - the user can be good or bad, the tool can't.

^^^^^

[Gabu]

Good.  While it can be used in a bad way, it also is extremely effective at decentralizing knowledge, such that anyone can access just about anything if they know what to look for, unless they live in a country like China that blatantly blocks 99.999% of websites.  The internet has made lying harder, and will likely make it only harder as time goes by and more people become adept at using search engines.

[David S]

The greatest research tool ever invented. You have at your fingertips access to a gigantic storehouse of information. Its also great for communications, doing business and shopping. Why is that bad?

Sure evil people can use it for evil purposes, but thats true of just about anything. The proper answer to that is to punish the hell out of the evildoers. When a hacker gets a slap on the wrist for creating a malicious code which causes millions of dollars in damage it sends a signal to other hackers that its OK to do it. When government spys on you without a warrant and gets away with it that send's a similar signal to them.

[opebo]

It may not be 'bad' precisely, but it is certainly overhyped.

[opebo]

The world was near perfect in the 1950's before all of this newfangled jizz.

Jizz!  I have a feeling there was plenty of jizz in the fifties, Hawkeye.

[Gabu]

The world was near perfect in the 1950's before all of this newfangled jizz.

If you don't like the internet, why are you posting to it?

[opebo]

The world was near perfect in the 1950's before all of this newfangled jizz.

If you don't like the internet, why are you posting to it?

He is addicted to new fangled jizz.

[Dave from Michigan]

the internet is a great thing, sure people use it for bad things but the good far outweights the bad

[MaC]

like most people say, it's 50/50.  Fortunately it is a frontier for free speech, whereas other mediums have been resticted, regulated, or otherwise stopped.

[Dave from Michigan]

like most people say, it's 50/50.  Fortunately it is a frontier for free speech, whereas other mediums have been resticted, regulated, or otherwise stopped.

for now at least

[Dr. Cynic]

The internet is a good thing. I'd have nothing to do all day without it! Boredom is a far greater fear than having my identity stolen. You won't get anything anyway.

[Redefeatbush04]

The problem with this poll is that you are asking only internet users

[The Man From G.O.P.]

When it allows you to post on this forum it is

[Nation]

I could go off on this topic for hours --- the Internet has provided many a great thing, most of which have already been expressed here on this thread. Decentralization of knowledge, the greatest research tool ever invented, the increase of convenience in all things, the greatest communication tool ever invented, and so on.

However, I really believe that the Internet is NOT going to be good in the long term for a lot of people, specifically the generation growing up right now, essentially on TV and the Internet.  It allows people to essentially isolate themselves from real human interaction, substituting it with interaction nonetheless, just with words and avatars instead of other people.

It's already taboo in our society to try and make friends with strangers, even interact with people you don't know.  I don't think the Internet is the cause of this, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's going to help in the long run.

You can almost live your entire life without having to leave your computer --- pay your bills, make money, even order your groceries online and have them delivered to you. Everything's becoming faster/more efficient/less personable. Those first two sound nice, maybe all three to some folks, but I just can't see this as healthy if we continue this kind of "progress."

I love the Internet as much as the next geek, but I also believe there are a lot of large, possible problems associated with it that some of you aren't seeing or ignoring.

[opebo]

It allows people to essentially isolate themselves from real human interaction, substituting it with interaction nonetheless, just with words and avatars instead of other people.

It's already taboo in our society to try and make friends with strangers, even interact with people you don't know.  I don't think the Internet is the cause of this, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's going to help in the long run.

You can almost live your entire life without having to leave your computer --- pay your bills, make money, even order your groceries online and have them delivered to you. Everything's becoming faster/more efficient/less personable. Those first two sound nice, maybe all three to some folks, but I just can't see this as healthy if we continue this kind of "progress."

Good points, Nation, but the cause of these things is the sick, sad, repulsive nature of American society, not the internet.  No one wants to deal with the real world 'out there' in the US, as it sucks.