The Real Internet

Isn’t the internet wonderful. So much information just sitting there, waiting for you, so many different distractions and so many clever ways to harness it for your own needs.

Depending on who you talk to (and what they have at stake) the internet is full of friendly people all willing to help you and be your friend. Invariably this imagery is conjured up by the ISPs and sales people, all looking to get you onto the internet, and then going faster (spending more) to make sure that you are ‘getting the most from your connection’. How nice of them.

But all is not well, apparently.

With the early success of chip and pin, the attention is switching to ‘card not present’ frauds, with the primary outlet being the internet. Despite continued warnings, people seem willing to give their credit card details to just about anyone who asks.

A quick experiment then.

Take a sheet of paper and a pen. On the paper, write your credit card details; number, expiry date, name on the card, security number (the last three digits on the back) and anything else you can think of that might be useful, your home address maybe, and that password you use everywhere.

Done?

OK. Fold up the piece of paper and the next time you are walking along the street hand it to the first person you see.

What do you mean “But I don’t know who they are?”…

The internet IS society (ohh almost said “the internet is people” read into that what you will), there are those who will use it to educate, to understand, to tolerate and there are those who will exploit, corrupt and steal. There is no utopia. Human life isn’t programmed to always be good.