Food For Thought © copyrighted The Future Web July, 1998 |
by columnist David Lawrence Dewey "Reading provides knowledge... knowledge leads to answers." |
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A new world is being created via the internet. Virtual online communities, complete with artificial trees, streets, buildings, talking people and more are being created like a new star system that is born in the universe. And there is research going on that will provide sensory sensations such as touch and feel via the computer screen. In 1997, some 30 million Americans were surfing the internet. By the year 2002, this will increase to 130 million Americans. In addition, spending on the internet by Americans will increase from the present 4.3 billion in 1997, to over 54 billion in 2002.
Good gosh almighty who would have ever thought that in 1969, when the U.S. Department of Defense funded the Advanced Search Projects Agency, to design a network that allowed computers to communicate with each other, that it would have developed to this now. During the 1960's and 1970's, network technologies such as (WAN) Wide Area Network, which connect computers over large distances and (LAN) Local Area Networks which connect computers over short distances were developed. Then in 1983, the internet began using Transmission Control Protocol/Internet working Protocol (TCP/IP), a new kind of protocol that allowed computers of different types, including Macintosh type and IBM computers to talk to one another. In 1986 and 1987, the U.S. National Science Foundation established several supercomputer centers across the United States and linked them with the high-speed NSF network. By 1990, NSFNET was acting as the backbone for the Internet in the United States, having replaced the U.S. Department of Defense ARPA Network. NSFNET now functions as a high-speed computer superhighway that connects more than 5,000 smaller networks across the United States. In other countries, there are similar type networks that connect that countries internet within the country and with the rest of the world. An exampled is, NORDUnet, which is the backbone computer superhighway for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Then there is Eunet that extends from Iceland into Russia.
To give you an idea of how much of the world is connected to each other via the internet, here is a world map that shows the countries that are connected. The map is provided by Kevin Hughes, a student at the University of Hawaii.
This website provides a wealth if information concerning the internet.
http://www.investintech.com/content/worldwideweb/
Here are some interesting findings. About 60 percent of visitors to specialized communication sites and home and living sites are women. Males 50 and over represent 65% of visitors at classified/auction sites. There is also a high percentage of both to adult type sites.
As this new world has emerged, so has the typical advertising marketing technics ranging from banner ads to that nasty word that have learned to hate, SPAM and junk email. In addition the emerging internet has brought about the controversy of adult sites, how the government is going regulate the internet, and the legal battles of Microsoft over the browser issue.
Let us look at the adult sites first. First, there is the right wing that is fighting to get it censored and banned from the internet, and then you have the liberals that are screaming free speech. The solution is very, very simple. I believe in free speech and that the government should keep its' hands off any type of regulation or banning of any material on the internet. However, concerning the issue of adult sites we have an issue here of minors. Minors young as 6-7 years old that can be exposed to this. What I mean is by unwanted and unsolicitated junk email from these sites that anyone can get that has an email address. And children are the most increasing of internet users that are getting email addresses. This in my opinion folks, you can talk al you want about free speech, but this is simply not right any way you look at it. Minors can also access search engines to look up these sites. The solution is two fold simply. First, there is the responsibility of parents. They should install child protection software, and there are several good ones out there than will restrict access to any type of site that the parents don't want the child to view. This is censorship, but it is on the private citizen level and not by the government. Second, I do believe that Congress needs to pass laws immediately that state email addresses are the property of the owner and cannot be sold, used, acquired for any type of use on the internet and can only be used by the rightful owner of the email address. In addition, regulations should state that any software provider of a browser will provide the means for the email user to lock out any email address or domain. America Online already provides this option. The problem here though is that unscrupulous bulk emailers steal various server addresses using false names to send bulk emails and this is very difficult to isolate when these bulk emailers are changing email names all the time. That is why Congress also needs to pass laws that provide very strict fines for the theft of domain servers for bulk emailing. This would also be a international agreement between the various internet countries connected to the internet. In addition, part of the regulation would provide that the companies that are in the business of bulk emailing would still have their right to bulk email, however, they would be required to establish a uniform service among all bulk emailers to provide cross referenced service of removing email addresses from their lists once an owner of an email address wrote to have their email address removed from such lists. Presently, there are laws concerning telephone solicitation called the do not call lists. If you tell a company to put you on their do not call list and they call again, they can be fined upwards to $500.00 per call after that. The solutions are there, the problem is Washington is sitting again on their rumps as usual. There would remain the problem that once these laws were passed, Americans would be hit with junk email from users in other countries. This is where an agreement among all the various world internet networks would have to be signed using these same regualtions. And if a country refused, then again, companies that provide browsers would be required to provide locks to lock out the various world internet networks. By using this approach, I am quite sure then the other countries in the world would take such appropriate action concerning junk bulk emailing.
Now here are a few ways you can combat junk email until things get changed. First never answer the email, unless they provide a remove option, meaning you request to be removed from their lists. Believe it or not, there are a few sources that are trying to do the right thing regarding email. Use two addresses. One for posting, one for friends. For the one for posting in newsgroups, place an X at the end of the name, and in your posting, state for people to respond to you to drop the X. Programs that spam the internet for email addresses don't like the X, and the last step is to block all email for the email name with an X. But above all, do not post anything using your email name without the X for friends. You can also track down spam by using various spam software, there are several good ones out there. I highly recommend Sam Spade. Written by computer engineer, Steve Atkins, it has brought down hundreds of spammers. You can download it from http://www.blighty.com/products/spade. This software will track down the correct sender of the junk email, where if you want to, you can right them a legal letter, stating if they do not remove you from their lists you wil take legal action. You can also write the webmaster at the server address from where you got the junk email, it may have been a theft of that companies server by the sender to send junk email. You can inform the company by providing a copy of the junk email, and also that if you continue to receive junk email via their domain address, the .com, .net,.org. that you block that complete domain from sending email to you. Most of them do not like this and will take action upon the offender and some such as America Online will also sue the offenders. Users on America Online can send junk emails to TOSSPAM with their comments at the top. For everyone else on the internet, you can go to http://www.ybecker.net.
The web of tomorrow, which is ever changing daily is providing mankind with a global communication and sharing of information that mankind has never seen before. Information and knowledge is hopefully what makes us better human beings, that we stop the inhumanity to mankind. What I am concerned about is that this new means of connecting also opens us to such terrorist activity that the world has never seen. Bombs will be a thing of the past. I believe that terrorists will find that they can create for destruction by hacking into government computer systems, financial systems of countries and so forth. It not only took the breaking into the Pentagon in the United States, but the hacking into other governments across the world by hackers, that the various world governments are finally taking action to prevent this terrorism. By the way, if you do not have a virus protection program such as McAfee, Penicillin that runs in conjunction with your browser when you are online, you better think about getting one. Hackers have found ways now to attached viruses to email letters that can destroy your hard drive.
The web of tomorrow is one that will hopefully developed into a world community of a people that stand and represent for a different way of resolving the world problems such as pollution, our environmental issues and most important which many are still scoffing, global warming. These are real issues that are facing us today folks. Research scientists at both the north and south poles have measured decreases in the thickness of the ice caps. We have lost 30% of our rain forests. The five primary rain forests produce over 33% of the world oxygen supply, and we lost 30% of it already to due greedy lumbar barons. Read my column on global warming for for information. There is a world crisis among the frog species. You may think this is silly folks, but frogs have been habitants of this planet for over 240 million years. There are over 4,000 species. They are unique because these creatures lives not only in the water, but breathe the air, eat the plants and use the whole ecology system of the planet. They are like man in this respect. What is very alarming to some dedicated scientists worldwide is that the frog population is dying off or being born with disfigurements. What is more disturbing is the scientists do not know what is causing it. There is something wrong out there folks with mother nature, our friends the frogs are trying to tell us something. Are we, supposedly the most intelligent habitant on this planet listening? Or are we just going to sit by as we usually do, do nothing until we can't breathe the air or drink the water. What do you think? You want to wait around until that happens, or most importantly, do you want to leave this mess to our children? It is up to all of us worldwide to correct this. I call upon my readers worldwide to stand up and be counted on such issues.
Before I close, I am introducing a new segment of my column. It is called Newsflashes. I will be reporting on world events that are being ignored by the standard press and or governments. There will be a separate index page listing the various Newsflashes. Below are some important news flashes concerning some very important issues that have been ignored by the standard media press and governments.
My next column will be about health and nutrition. I will have a guest commentary from 89 year old, Rosemary Fisher, who has written several health nutrition books. She has proven what I have been saying for years, you are only as healthy as that what you eat. If you want to find out more about Rosemary, she has her own website at : http://www.foodandlife.com. Also from Michael Kessler, President and CEO of Beres Drops Plus, the most complete patented liquid trace mineral supplement on the market. Read more about Beres Drops Plus here.
In case any of you did not catch my June column about the Stock Market/Japan Asian Crisis you may want to read it since the major news networks finally this week started reporting what I reported a month ago.
I would like to end this column with a plea to the people and my readers in Ireland. I call upon the loving grace of God, the loving that a mother has for her children. I call upon all mothers in Ireland to stop this killing of innocent children and for what. To prove a religious point. Do innocent children have to die because adults cannot sit down and talk among themselves like adultsto resolve their differences? How many more innocent children have to die in a senseless act of proving ones' political/religious views. My God, have we not grown into a more civilized form of life under God's creation.
~ David Lawrence Dewey ~
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