by Thomas Walters

Created on: September 18, 2009

Back when the internet was first started nobody ever imagined it would turn into the information superhighway that it is today. With just a few clicks you can find out the weather in Japan, you can find out why the sky is blue, and perhaps most importantly, you can find out the primary ingredient of Marmite. The internet has given all of us humans access to a wealth of knowledge that would fill the world's biggest library many times over. And what's great about this information, is that it is often up top date and relevant.

People of all ages use the internet, from school children finding out facts for their science project, to the over 70s making videos for YouTube telling the world about their life. With cheap web hosting readily available and many free options out there, it is easier to get yourself a place on the web that it ever has been before! The fact that you are reading this article now proves that the internet is of some use to you; and indeed it is to me. If it weren't for the internet I wouldn't be writing this article right now. But, putting aside the many novelties and fun aspects of the web, we can see that it plays a vital role in today's society. Without it you wouldn't be able to use on-line banking, sell your pristine collection of first edition Stephen King books on eBay, and you would soon feel the pinch when you needed to communicate with people half way around the world.

Such freedom and such extensibility give us access to a huge collection of services, we trust the internet with our credit card numbers, out bank information and with information that would otherwise be locked away somewhere secure. For that the internet is great - instant access to important information that we couldn't do without.

However there are those of us among us who choose to misuse the great power of the internet. Who try and all too often succeed to hack into websites and steal this information. Unfortunately such a minority can cause havoc and use the internet for their own selfish means, this is just one unavoidable fact of life, and luckily new ways of stopping such persons are emerging every day.

The internet is also misused for things not perceived to be criminal, but that could have an effect on those who view the content so profound it might just change the way they thing, and in the worse case scenarios even cause them to inflict damage to themselves and to others. Websites promoting anorexia are numerous across the web. Displaying images of models

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