Anonymity: Encouraging People to Misuse the Internet?

A recent article on Cnn.com discusses just that. It would seem that many people have been taking advantage of newspaper comment boards in order to write messages of hate, ones that they don't have to attach their names too.

According to the article, one woman blamed all of her neighborhoods issues on the "blacks" and expressed her outright hate for this group of people. To combat this issue, many online newspaper sites are now requiring all users who wish to comment to register their names, state and phone numbers to discourage these kinds of inappropriate rages.

This kind of intense registration project has deterred many users from commenting on the articles, however. One newspaper engages in a community policing program, where users can flag inappropriate comments to allow users to remain anonymous while still getting rid of the inappropriate and hateful commenting that occurs.

If you would like to read the whole article, you can find it here.

Using Social Networking for Cheating

Although there are many different ways that technology can be considered "misused", a recent CNN.com article sheds light on the idea of conducting affairs using the internet. Many people are able to reconnect with exes and old friends via social networking sites, and although the information placed on the websites is mostly public, these sites allow easier communication between people conducting an affair. This form of communication is not something that the cheater's spouse would be concerned about and this allows for the affair to be kept much quieter.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/07/14/facebook.cheating/index.html

Introduction

Many people view technology as a source of comfort, as the future, as a vital component to our society. However, many also fail to view the downside of technology. Not everyone who uses technology uses it with good intentions or uses it the way it was intended. Lately, Social Networking sites such as Facebook have taken over college campuses, causing teachers to ban laptops from the classroom in effort to force students to focus on the subject at hand. According to the New York Times, Teenager send an average of 2.272 texts per month (New York Times--Teen Texting). This number alone astonishes most adults.

The misuse of technology also appears in other places, one that incorporate the justice system into technology. Shows such as To Catch a Predator on MSNBC illustrate how sexual predators are using technology to connect with their prey (To Catch a Predator). The use of the internet by sexual predators is becoming more and more common.

Teens have also figured out a new way to bully each other, a way that isn't detectable by their teachers and parents--cyber bullying.

Although, technology has without a doubt improved life, there are also drawbacks which many people fail to notice. Technology has become such an integral part of our lives that people do not see how some people have taken this integration too far and are misusing technology, for their own ends and purposes. Over the course of the next few weeks, I intend to discuss the different ways in which the misuse of technology has shown up in society and possible solutions to these problems.