FREE ESSAY ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

The Internet, once concealed inside government agencies and universities, has become the
largest single form of communication worldwide. With a number of online individuals
exceeding thirty millions and the number of networks that act as gateways for users
exceeding fifty thousands, the Internet's boundaries can only be imagined. Often
described by the media as "the information superhighway", the internet offers to
customary users a wide variety of services, but also some drawbacks.
Any form of communication via the internet is cheaper and rather faster than any service
from other facilities. The electronic mail (email), for instance, allows any user on the
internet to send nearly instantaneous electronic message to anyone else. The "internet
phone", which is slowly but surely replacing the regular phone, enables anyone to make
free long distance calls, through the computer. With the appearance of "streaming"
technologies, broadcasting companies and radio stations are transmitting regularly over
the internet, which makes them accessible anywhere on the globe. The only costs involved
in using these internet services, and many others not mentioned, are the costs of the
user's computer, the modem , and the telephone lines used to dial in, all of which can be
relatively cheap.
One of the recent innovations the internet made available is online commerce, which
includes online shopping, online banking, online trading and many more. This opens up a
new international world of trading. Consumers, overcoming any kind of disability, can
effectively dive into an immense range and selection of merchandise, effortlessly compare
prices and quickly shop from remote locations. Perhaps, waiting to carry out regular
transactions in financial centers is very frustrating. This is not true anymore with the
expansion of the internet to include online banking. People can, anytime and anywhere
from the globe, access their bank accounts, pay their bills, transfer their money and
even trade their stocks. The internet is, beyond doubt, the most efficient and economic
tool of the next generation.
But, the dark side of the internet reveals some serious drawbacks. First, it was not
designed with tight security in mind. This was demonstrated, at least once a month, by
so-called "crackers": growing minorities of people with nothing better to do than spoil
everyone else's enjoyment. Crackers dedicate their work to purposely infect programs and
distant computers that access the internet. In July 1997, successfully capturing and
distributing credit card numbers of NBA and ESPN users, crackers achieved the first
widely known attack on internet credit card data. On the same year, another cracker known
as "Snak" was taken into custody by FBI agents after he had stolen over one hundred
thousands credit card numbers from an internet service provider (ISP) located in northern
California. Nevertheless, the "internet tasking force" (ITF), a group of knowledgeable
engineers whose sole task is to reinforce the integrity of the internet, is taking
significant measures to prevent such unlawful actions.
Secondly, the internet's structures do not only transport data, but it also transports
compact and yet very harmful intruders: computer viruses. These artificial clever beasts
that destroy data, have existed since the very first birth of personnel computers. With
the growth of the internet, virus authors have been faced up to nothing but a widespread
gate to the information superhighway, efficiently supplied with new viruses. "Veronica",
last century's award winning virus, transformed to inoperative rather hundred thousands
of computers and thousands of networks around the globe for quite few days; financial
institutes deciphered the heartbreaking event to more than a few million dollars of
vanished money. This is wonderlessly why internet communities are very much concerned
about security.
Occasionally, information takes lengthy periods to load on the computer's screen; just
enough to frustrate impatient users. This is often due to delays that occur at endpoints,
and on the internet's paths, which can be thought of several four lane roadways with
neither traffic officers nor civilized drivers. The rate at which data is transmitted and
the number of systems, are being improved, but not at the same level as the number of new
users. This is one of the main reasons behind the delays.
The "information superhighway", as any other invention, has its strengths residing in its
popular aspects - the World Wide Web, email, online commerce, and many others. The
internet has also its weaknesses, some of which can be very damaging. I believe, however,
that these drawbacks will be overcome in time as technology advances and methods of
securely transmitting, receiving, and retrieving information improve.