by Wyatt Atkins

Created on: October 20, 2008

The Net is everything, and everything is Net. Every time you go online, you open a portal to the world. But as it turns out, you also open a port of communication. Lots of them actually, and not the kind of communication you might hear about in a literature class. This new kind of port needs to be constantly monitored by a firewall and your files need to be defended by an antivirus and frequently checked for spyware. You need to check whether your browser has been hijacked, you need to understand what a packet sniffer does; you need to know your rootkits and you need to know whether there is a keylogger in your system. Virus signatures need to be updated, your system needs to be updated daily, you need to protect your children when they go online - you get the idea ...

... a brave new world?

The idea of parental control (without direct adult supervision) came naturally, as we don't really supervise our children offline as well we delegate that to nannies if we can afford to; and public schools if we can't. But our true colors shine through when least expected, as usual. It's not really uncommon to download a serial number for the latest version of a $ 1,000+ program, while on the tab next to it we do our banking, for example. It's not uncommon to leave the router on for the night; and it certainly is very common to download utilities and applications ("freeware", "freebies", "bonuses", "deep discount software", "adware"), for which we know nothing or next to nothing about. Most of us wouldn't allow a stranger anywhere near in our neighbors' yard, yet we openhandedly invite and embrace software tools and utilities we know absolutely nothing about into our very own homes. Most of us are smarter than to give out our social security number in our blog, but that doesn't stop us from giving out our credit card number online in the slim hope of winning an obscure prize or lottery or the famous trip for two. If it is not the legendary Prince from Nigeria who seeks someone to help him with his vast financial estate (but could only think of you in his hour of need), then it may be poor old Mrs Barnett who is about to die and needs a gallant young man to go to the bank for her and collect the seven million her late husband left her. It may even be a stockbroker who finally saw the light and decided to pass unto you and you only, the precious ticker of the next Microsoft (still in the pink sheets for now, but when Mars gets terraformed, their proprietary software will be selling like hot potatoes - to the moons of Jupiter and beyond!).

Once again, we have created a world in our image; and to seek protection is basically to request no less than change of direction. It is not enough to keep the antivirus updated but we need to know what we are doing online and why. With each click we create or recreate, as the case might be, a side of us that either existed but had not come forth or never existed, but has now taken shape and form and challenges the supremacy of the reality apparent.

Come to think of that, I wouldn't give up on that Mars IPO just yet; I hear the moons of Jupiter are breadth-taking in the summer!

Learn more about this author, Wyatt Atkins.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.