The Uses & Abuses Of Internet

The Internet started out as a small military experiment some 35 years

ago, the Internet is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of

communication. There is a present population of about 40 million users

world wide, and it seems to have a very promising future. The Internet

is uncensored and almost impossible to monitor, it is a breeding ground

for all sorts of offensive and derogatory information. On the other hand,

it is probably the biggest single source of data in the world brought

home into your personal computer. Will this form of communication

survive in the future, or will it simply die out as many others have in the

past? The RAND CORPORATION built the first nodes of the Internet

36 years ago, and they faced the problem of keeping communication

between U.S. authorities active in the aftermath of a nuclear war. The

country needed a command-and-control network. The biggest problem

was protecting the main server, which could be knocked out by a single

atomic warhead. RAND came up with the solution in 1964. The new

network would have no central authority, and it would be designed to

operate in shambles. The National Physical Laboratory in Great Britain

set up the first test network on these principles in 1968. Shortly

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afterward, the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency decided

to fund a larger, more ambitious project in the USA. The nodes of the

network were to be high-speed supercomputers (or what passed for

supercomputers at the time). The first was put in place during the fall of

1969. By December of the same year four nodes were installed.

Dedicated high-speed transmission lines connected them. This allowed

the computers to communicate and be programmed from one of the

other computers. In the year of 1971 there were 15 nodes, and by 72

there were 37. This number kept increasing rapidly as the years passed.

The network was also becoming more of a person-to-person way of

communicating. Many military personnel began using it as a way to

gossip with friends instead of a way to transmit documents and projects.

This became even more evident in the following years. The Internet may

seem a very complex form of communication but that is not really the

case. First, you must have a reasonably fast computer (80386 or higher)

with a modem and a phone line.

The next step is to contact your local Internet provider and get him to

give you a password and an SLIP address. At this time, you will also be

given the software to get you started. Once you have your software

installed and want to start "surfing the net,"

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you must first login to the server by dialing in its phone number using a

specific program.

These numbers can be used by a number of people at a time, not just

two. Once connected you can start to browse the Internets The Internet

is just starting to have a large impact on society. It seemed to come out

of nowhere, popping up in magazines and on the news. The Internet is

now becoming an influential communications medium to over 40 million

people worldwide. Many of these people are becoming aware of the

Internet's commercial capabilities and they are taking advantage of

them. The Internet is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms

of communication. It has become a commercial center out of what

began as an experimental military project. Computers, modems,

servers, and telephone wires are becoming faster and more efficient.

Computers have gone from 8086's to 80486's and Pentiums. Modems

started at about 1200 bps and they Are now up around 28,800 bps, and

fiber optics are replacing regular wires. All of these factors are

changing the Internet into a powerful new system that almost anyone

can use with ease. The present day estimate of the number of Internet

users worldwide is somewhere between 20 and 80 million. The most

accurate assumption would be about 40 million people. This is a huge

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increase to the number just a few years ago. The future for the Internet

is looking very bright. No other form of communication can provide the

user with such freedom of expression and privacy. All of this may yet

change if the government decides that the net needs to be censored. This

is going to be a debate for the future, one that could determine if the

Internet has a future. While just like everything has its advantages and

flaws the same way Internet has created advantages & problems for the

users. Internet has shrunk the vast societies into a global village. People

around the world interact with one another through various chat

rooms, people from various countries interact with one another to know

about their societies, gain information, their lifestyle, their cultural

norms, day-to-day updates about whets happening in the world.

Internet is the main of information people can gain information ranging

from big issues to minor day-to-day information. People can log on to

the Internet to seek out information about religion. Housewife can

browse to download recipes; people read the latest news on Internet can

get information about the best institutes in a country. Internet users can

share their views and expression by joining chat rooms through which

they can give info regarding a problem can debt about the global

economy and the latest crisis. Internet has solved the problem of the

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distance gap, which used to use to hinder the problem of timely delivery

of documents or information. E-mail the Internet mail delivery

technology helps firms and organization to place orders and receive

stock orders within seconds. A country like Pakistan ordering products

from far way countries had the problem of waiting too long for the

required information to arrive and then sending in reply but now this

process which would take days to complete is done in seconds. Students

having problem in technical terms can send their problem to an online

tutor, which helps the students instantly. Internet technology has

improved so much that now a days on cellular phone u can watch your

important mail through the a technology called WAP. Marketing sales

people can gain access to important customers through online selling

and gain important information about prices as well. Managers can

check out stocks rates by logging to sites, which provides important

information. Internet has evolved to such a state that paper material r

used as less as possible most people stored important data on line plus

book reading is becoming less because people can download E-books

from the Internet. Historical information can be retrieved from the net,

which is stored in different database. A user can retrieve the historical

importance about Khyber Agency even if he or she is not in Pakistan.

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People can submit their own information to help people locate them

easily. Internet has made life easier for students to gain important

statistician data regarding their projects. Information is under their

fingertips and by the click of a button can access almost everything.

Transport industries has gained a certain advantages like they can list

their arrival and departure timing on their own website which helps the

travelers a lot. Ticket prices and the routes are displayed which helps

the traveler to gain information. Consumers can check out the latest

prices available on different electronic products. For business user the

advantages are of creating websites, which can convey messages to

consumers about their products. Automotive industry are creating web

sites in which they can virtually display their product by showing a

video and they can also promote their products through the internet.

While the Internet has the following potential applications it also has

negative aspects as well. The Internet as giving advantages to the users,

the Internet users are using it for negative uses as well. People are more

confined to their rooms and they have developed a certain addiction to

it as well. People cannot stop themselves from using it everyday they are

addicted to it and they will use it if they get any chance they get. People

are getting more couch potatoes rather then getting themselves busy in

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physical activities. People are not going outside and involve themselves

in daily activities, they can order anything from the Internet, which

range from grocers, renting movies, ordering food, buying clothes. This

habit has evolved to certain level that government are considering it as a

potential harm to the younger generations. People have stopped the

habit of book reading, which is a threat to the books industry. People

are more like to make friends on the Internet rather then indulging

them in to look for and meet people near their neighbor hood. People

spend more time on chatting and browsing rather then indulging

themselves in positive activities like getting information. The porn

industries have spread their roots all over the world by giving youngster

easier means to reach them through Internet sites which is a social evil

spreading very fast and polluting the peoples mind. The chat room is

more likely to be used by people for flirting around rather then by using

it as a creative tool for gaining information. Another potential problem

has raised through Spam mailing by which people send mail, which a

person doesn’t need, and they are a tool for robbing people of their

money. Another problem which has a great risk to the people is that of

Hackers which is the biggest problem ever arisen. Hackers are program

creator, which uses the loopholes in the system to disturb somebody’s

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privacy as well as giving them harm. Hackers can hack into database to

steal private information. Some Hackers have hacked the governments

database and stole secret information. As well as stealing important

data hackers can also delete any data available on that site. Internet has

also given wind to such issue, which was not on the scene before like

Satanism has evolved to a great extent. People, which were

underground and opreted from there, have received a great opportunity

to send their messages more easily. Internet abuse like black mailing,

child abuse in the form of porn, threats through email, fraud through

sites, which are rip off of actual web site of companies, biased reports

and distorting the original facts, manipulation of thoughts etc. All these

are the evils of the Internet. Governments are trying to distribute the

Internet into segments which will kept under surveillance by each

government. In Pakistan the Internet, which should have good impact

on, our citizens but it has turned to the other side. People are not taking

advantages of it instead they are using it for the bad of it. In my view

internet should be strictly monitored by government bodies or a civilian

body should be organized which would report their finding to

government for banning such activities.