The internet is seen by many as the greatest development in the information technology and communication industry.

The advent of the internet brought with it the ability to share information over a network, connecting countries on all seven continents. The internet has now evolved into a tool to enhance freedom of speech and it is widely thought that the so called internet revolution is not only a precursor to globalization but globalization is synonymous with the term internet revolution. In examining the following: the internet is todays solution or tomorrows menace? I will state my personal view along with the views of others and present evidence in support of the different perspectives regarding the internet being todays solution or tomorrows menace. Firstly I would like to state what is the internet and what is the internet used for. According to a definition provided by the Oxford dictionary, the internet is a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols. The internet is used for blogging, telephony using Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), instant messaging, emailing, web conferencing, social networking and online shopping. A significant number of the worlds population uses the internet for one or more of the previously mentioned use of the internet. In fact according to the International Telecommunication Union, the specialized agency of the United Nations which is responsible for information and communication technologies, an estimated 35% of the worlds population of seven billion as of 2011 uses the internet. The internet is now the backbone of many successful businesses and companies. When one thinks internet and business, Google, Amazon.com, and Yahoo! easily comes to mind.

Secondly my views on the internet is that it is todays solution and I will even go a step further and say that it is also the solution for tomorrow as well. In this world of modernization and new developments; the advantages of the internet are not just simple benefits but a major apparatus in the way we do business, communicate and share information. In recent times the term cloud computing has been used to describe a service that would not be possible without the dynamic technology tool that is the internet. International Business Times reported in 2011 that 28% of American businesses used cloud computing. From the same report among the current cloud computing users, 84% said they cut application costs by shifting to the cloud computing infrastructure. On an average, cloud computing users said, they save 21% annually on those applications which were moved to the cloud. The internet though it has major benefits it also has significant negativity attached to it. These significant negatives include the various forms of cybercrimes, child and other forms of pornography. Simply put cybercrime is defined as online or internet based illegal acts (Shelly & Vermaat, 2008). 431 million adults worldwide were victims of cyber crime in 2010, the total cost of those crimes amounts to some $114 billion (Norton Cyber Crime Report for 2011). In the report, Second Annual Cost of Cyber Crime Study, by the Poneman Institute, a United States based information security policy research centre, states that "over the past year (2011), the median cost of cyber crime increased by 56% and now costs companies an average of $6 million per year." This is a clear indication that the increase use of the internet has a negative effect on companies and also place extra financial burden on governments around the world that now has the additional duty of securing its citizens against cybercrimes. Countries like Jamaica and the United States of America put resources into task forces to combat cybercrimes, resources that could be used for other purposes. Cyber criminals do not have to be too sophisticated to inflict

major damage. Cheap malware that can be purchased online often suffices. Jeffrey Carr, a United States based cyber security expert, recently stated that the biggest threat is the theft of intellectual property in high value technology and energy assets. It is reported that United States intellectual property theft costs 750,000 jobs annually, much of which is conducted via cyber space (Gady 2011). In regards to pornography, the internet has played a significant roll in the spread and easy accessibility of what many persons term as smut or filth. It is said that numbers do not lie and the following numbers paint a picture of how easily accessible pornography as become. 12% of total websites contain pornography, according to Goodmagazine. 25% of search engine requests related to pornography. 28,000 internet users viewing porn, every second, this is according to CNBC. 75 million average monthly unique visitors to adult websites between 2005 and 2008 according to the Pinkcross.com. 43% of all internet users view pornographic material online. 75% of people reportedly "accidentally" viewed a pornographic site. 81% of Americans who believe federal laws against internet obscenity should be "vigorously enforced". 266 were reported as the number of new pornographic websites that appear online, every day. 3,000 is approximate number of English-language websites that distribute child pornography. 1 in 7 number of youths report being solicited for sex online. 11 years old is the age at which the average child is first exposed to adult material and 7 in 10 is the number of children who have inadvertently viewed online pornography (Washington Times, 2010). 1,536 is the number of sites featuring child pornography in 2008, according to the Internet Watch Foundation. 48% of kindergarten and first grade students who have reported seeing online content that "made them feel uncomfortable," according to a 2008 study by the Rochester Institute of Technology $89 is the amount spent on internet pornography, every second. $13 billion estimated revenue generated

by pornography in the U.S. in 2006, including $2.84 billion from online pornography. $97 billion is the approximate total worldwide revenue generated by pornography annually, as of 2006. With these statistics in hand it is easy to make a case for the menace the internet can become. In concluding the internet has its advantages and disadvantages. It must be stated that even though cybercrimes and internet pornography paints a bad picture of the internet, there are measures in place to protect against these two negatives. These measures include internet browsers content filters and parent control utilities, firewall and other data security tools. When weighted equally the advantages are much greater than the disadvantages. But like any other tool the internet can be used for both good and bad. Donn Parker a leading authority on cybercrimes in the United States of America stated that computer criminals troubled people so they violate the law in an attempt to solve their own problems. Therefore it is up to the users of the internet to shape it to provide the solutions we need for today or make it into tomorrows menace.

Bibliography
1. Shelly, G.B. and Vermaat, M.E. (2008). Discovering Computers 2009. Boston: Course Technology, Cengage Learning. 2. wiseGEEK. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-some-different-types-of-internetcrimes.htm. Visited on October 11, 2012.
3. http://www.onediy.com/internet/. Visited on October 10, 2012.

University of Technology, Jamaica Engineering & Computing (FENC) School of Computing & Information Technology (SCIT)

Critical Thinking & Argumentation (Seminar) Final Assignment (50%) M.Sc. in Information Systems Management

Student Name: John Williams ID#: 1207642