Advancements in the Internet World
by Michael McGrath
Two things happened last week in the Internet world, and they got me to thinking about its state of affairs. The first was a birthday celebration... the internet turned 35. From a tiny lab with two computers connected to each other by a 15-foot cable, the little experiment now circles the world with instant communications and commerce. We average folks plugged in only ten years ago, but look what so many of us have learned to live without already: newspapers, radios and the US Postal Service, just to name a few.
I read with interest in one of the e-zines I subscribe to (and there's another possible casualty to the advancement of the internet - - magazines) of the growing interest in VoIP (voice over internet protocol). The FCC recently introduced new rules that will allow the Big Bell Four to consolidate services and markets, thus reducing competition in the telephone industry across the country. One of my office mates has recently subscribed to a VoIP service, Vonage, that allows unlimited long-distance and local phone service through his broadband highspeed internet connection for less than $25 per month, and with excellent quality. As competition in the land-based phone business is eliminated, I suppose we can expect higher phone rates... but, wait! VoIP is already cheaper than our monthly bill from Verizon. Let's add land-based phone service to the list of possible casualties, too.
The list doesn't end there, and I'm sure you can add to it, yourself. The internet has changed life in a way virtually unequaled in history but for air travel, electricity, television and medicine. Even those modern marvels have been affected and changed by the internet as well. It's not all been for the good, though, and this leads us to the second thing that happened last week.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation prohibiting “taking control” of a computer, surreptitiously modifying a web browser's home page, or disabling antivirus software without proper authorization. Known as the “Spy Act,” the legislation also creates a complicated set of rules governing software capable of transmitting information across the web. It would give the FTC authority to police violations and levy fines of up to $3 million in the most severe and agregious instances. A similar bill is pending the U.S. Senate.
What prompted this legislation? Earthlink conducted a study that scanned 3 million computer systems among its customers over a nine month period, and found 83 million instances of spyware. Spyware programs hide in personal computers and secretly monitor user activity. Typically, this spyware will come into your system bundled with free software packages, or through email or instant messages on ICQ or Yahoo Messenger. When it has gathered data about your activities online, it reports those activities back to its originator, which might be some internet marketing company or software developer/distributor, while you are online. It can make your system run slowly, or even crash.
Is the tougher law necessary? Well, like many laws, it's designed to protect us from ourselves. If everyone were vigilant in keeping their systems protected (anti virus, constantly updated) and secure from unwanted intrusions (anti spam filters), then the law would not be needed. Violators would be prevented from entering our PC world. This would stop viruses from spreading, and put spammers out of business, and just as in those two instances you can take steps to protect yourself, so can you with spyware.
The software is released by Lavasoft, and it's called Ad-Aware. You'll find it here and the Personal Edition is free for non-commercial use. Ad-Aware is designed to provide advanced protection from known Data-mining, aggressive advertising, parasites, scumware, selected traditional trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components. Check up on it, download and install it, and clean your system out. I'm pretty sure you'll find things in your computer you didn't know you had.
Two disparate events, a birthday, and a piece of legislation. The internet has probably created more employment than it has displaced, and in totality been a positive advancement for our lives. Like all good things, though, it has been abused. We're not all good at taking care of ourselves from those abuses, and so look to laws for protection. Every advancement mentioned earlier (air travel, electricity, television and medicine) spawned laws to protect us from abuse, so we shouldn't be surprised in this instance, either.
If we assume greater responsibility for our own internet activities, though, this particular piece of legislation and others like it become superfluous. Everyone should have those three pieces of protection in place: anti virus, anti spam and anti spyware. After 35 years, we need to grow up, too, in our use of this marvelous advancement.
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 Tech Tip |
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by Michael McGrath
ARE WE GETTING ALL BLOGGED DOWN?
Let's talk about blogs, again. They're versatile, easy to administer, and immediate in results. Within moments, you'll be able to establish yourself with an online presence the content for which you can develop instantly. This is no exageration.
Most blogware offers numerous templates, themes and layout options available for you, and the very moment your blogware account is opened, and it's name chosen, you're blog's online. The posting of articles and photographs, rants and revelations, are as easy as writing a text document with MS Word or an email with Outlook Express. Families are using blogs as a means to stay in touch, share photographs of new family members or vacations; some are using blogs as commercial ventures, offering goods and services for sale; and, some are using blogs as online news sources and partisan propaganda sites in this fall's presidential campaign.
A recent Pew Internet and American Life Project study found more than 2 million Americans have their own blog. Most have few readers, admittedly, but some of them are garnering thousands of visitors daily, these latter blogs involved in news and politics. Much of the gossip on the internet blogging scene is pretty far out there... but, media experts do acknowledge partisan blogging has a role to play in this year's campaign. Blogs probably do pretty accurately reflect the level of polarization, paranoia and frustration among Americans as reflected in national campaigns, even though Vanity Fair media critic Michael Wolff has characterized this new form of overtly biased journalism as “the voice of the mob.”
Whether you're interested in a family blog venture, a commercial venture or your take on today's news and politics, blogs offer an inexpensive opportunity for you to create that venture online. Some blogware is free, albeit feature-limited, and some, like KISS's, will run you $15 per month all-inclusive and feature-rich. Each of us at KISS has at least one, and they run the gamut from family gathering spot to ranting to commercial ventures. Interested in getting blogged down yourself? Write to me if you are, and we can set you up within a day. |
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