Medusa

Can We Expect The Government To Adequately Protect The Internet?

<p>Even though there are many people around the world who consider the internet to be a part of their daily lives&comma; there are still those who don&&num;8217&semi;t understand it&comma; and therefore don&&num;8217&semi;t place any value on it&comma; and so don&&num;8217&semi;t use it&period; While this can represent a personal choice&comma; some of those who don&&num;8217&semi;t use the internet on a regular basis work in the very place which is in charge of how it&&num;8217&semi;s regulated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs&comma; an alarming number of those in U&period;S&period; Congress believe that he internet can be better understood by hiring employees who are versed in using it&period; Kovacs&&num;8217&semi;s stand on the situation is that those who don&&num;8217&semi;t understand how the internet works shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be working in government&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While this may be a blunt way to put things&comma; when you consider the fact that Congress is at the head of the movement to regulate usage&comma; the lack of internet skill that seems to be running rampant within Congress walls certainly is ironic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-full wp-image-498" alt&equals;"images" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;medusamagazine&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;04&sol;images2&period;jpg" width&equals;"282" height&equals;"178" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Does Lack of Knowledge Cause Confusion and Panic&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the internet regulation debate&comma; too little knowledge about the internet can result in several incorrect assumptions about it&period; Among average people&comma; incorrect assumptions usually have fewer implications&period; But when a situation such as this occurs among members of Congress&comma; this can become very dangerous to the rights and freedoms of the average internet user&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When something is misunderstood&comma; irrational fears about it can be the result&comma; followed inevitably by panic&period; In the case of how the internet is goverened&comma; Adam Thierer&comma; a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University with the Technology Policy Program has suggested that this &&num;8216&semi;technopanic&&num;8217&semi; can manifest itself when laws are created based on those irrational fears and misunderstandings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Cyber Fears and Their Source<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thierer sees the propagation of &&num;8216&semi;cyber fears&&num;8217&semi; in the form of cycles&period; Varied groups with irrational fears based on a lack of knowledge first communicate them to other groups who have their own irrational fears&period; The communication of these worries reinforces to these other groups that any fears they have are justified&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Should the outcry be large enough to be heard by the media&comma; policymakers and the public&comma; it quickly becomes a &&num;8216&semi;problem&&num;8217&semi; that can only be solved if it&&num;8217&semi;s eradicated&period; Eradication efforts can take many forms including the creation of policies&comma; such as technology or content&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Along with the creation of eradication &&num;8216&semi;solutions&&num;8217&semi; based on communicated irrational fears is something Thierer calls &&num;8216&semi;threat inflation&&num;8217&semi;&comma; which is often used by pessimistic critics of internet policy to further their causes&period; One example of this is the nature of and perceived increase in the sophistication and amount of damage that cybercriminals apply to targeted web sites and user information&period; It has long been the general opinion that regulation and technology are the only two things that will protect the public from these attacks&period; But is this perception based on fact&comma; or fear&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>The Danger of the Fear Cycle When It Reaches Congress<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although the implementation of laws is necessary in order to ensure a safe population&comma; there are also several instances where those same laws can limit society&&num;8217&semi;s benefits&period; Where internet policy is concerned&comma; the formation of laws and solutions based on cyber fear and threat inflation can&comma; ironically&comma; result in the complete non-use of technology&semi; technology which could further education and otherwise benefit citizens&period; Other harmful effects of the basic misunderstanding of the inner workings of the internet include&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul>&NewLine;<li>The infiltration of false information in locations where sound ideas are communicated and marketed&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Public attention being redirected from more serious issue which have a logical base&semi;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Increased tension in society which can lead to animosity and civil unrest&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p>Thierer feels that the limitations to idea flow&comma; innovation and free speech caused by fear-based policy can be avoided&comma; simply by presenting hard evidence and utilizing reason before policies and other forms of internet regulation are constructed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Guest author Jesse Schwarz enjoys writing about technology and related issues&comma; as well as helping consumers find the best online deals&period;  You can read more about internet providers Los Angeles and other cities in the United States if you are looking for internet service&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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