So I was navigating the information superhighway when I suddenly remembered this homework assignment. So I went to google.com, just as I always do whenever I am searching for an article, and typed in these three words, Online Music Identity. I found an interesting tale of identity theft that began with simply sharing music online.
For those who want to read the article, check here:
http://www.komotv.com/news/archive/4179946.html
For those who want to know why the article is relevant to our blog - read on.
I recognize that online identity theft is a rare occurrence and it is not anything to be paranoid about while cruising the web or downloading/uploading files. What I found interesting about this article is how much was stolen from these people just because a few crackers (there is a differenc between hackers and crackers) hacked into the Jackson's home computer. Apparently, this family did most of its business, such as paying bill, on the internet. The Jackson's also stored much of their personal information, such as bank account numbers, cell phone accounts, etc., on their computer.
I can remember ten years ago, hardly anyone used the internet to handle bills or taxes. A comprable amount also did not store personal information on a computer. Now, such business and storage transactions are commonplace on a person's computer and the web.
Why are such actions important? They reflect a change in society that is based from technological advances in the computer industry. Now that computers have a variety of uses, people are beginning to use them for more of their day-to-day business - from paying bills, to watching movies from Netflicks, to shopping at Amazon.com and eBay.
Society's increased usage of computers and the internet to do its business also makes identity theft more of a problem. My question is:
As computers become more advanced, will society's use of computers and the internet
increase despite the chance of identity theft and the increasing damage it could cause?
P.S. No I am not trying to say ban the internet, burn computers, or the anything of that nature. I actually love the internet and a fast computer. I am merely raising a question that has important impacts to society.
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1 comment:
I thought this was an interesting article. Pretty scary. Almost everybody I know downloads music, and a lot of them use Lime Wire to do it. I also think you make a good point about our society's use of the internet to do things such as pay bills. I think we are becoming pretty dependent on it.
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