Experience with a Virus

   When I was in high school, I had an experience with a computer virus. It was my first and only for experience (I was much more careful after that) with a virus. I was downloading music on Limewire, a program for downloading music and videos. I had known that viruses exist, and its dangers, but I had never felt the reality of it, and was very careless. I had heard about viruses on the news and from people I knew, but I had never thought it would happen to me. I do not remember what the file was called, or what song I was downloading, but while it was downloading, my computer automatically shut down. I had assumed it was just the computer malfunctioning, possibly from an overload of memory, and left it alone. The next day when I turned on the computer, the usual start-up screen would not come up, and instead, it was a black screen with white typing, in computer language that I could not understand. I tried various things, pressing buttons and restarting, but nothing helped. After my dad took a look, we brought the computer to the store to get it fixed, but there was nothing that could be done, and the technician told us it was a virus, while I explained how I was downloading music. We had to buy a new computer. On the previous computer, I had a firewall set up, but I did not have a virus blocking software. Thus for the new computer, we installed a virus prevention system, and I was not allowed by my parents to download music. However, I still download music today, and my virus prevention software is out of date. I should’ve learned my lesson, but downloading music for me is a necessity. But I can say that I have been more careful than before picking the files that I download.

                   If the person that created the file and the virus blamed the user (me) for being careless, and that it was my own fault that my computer was destroyed, I would have to agree. However, although it is my fault that I was careless, the problem would have never existed if it weren’t for virus and the creator in the first place. Obviously the creator made the virus for a malicious purpose. This purpose, whether it be for the self-interest of the creator, for any malware, to get private information or access to another’s computer or just for the evil purpose of destroying someone else’s computer for no reason besides enjoying that fact, will always cause harm or some kind of nuisance to the user. This is morally equal to verbal or physical abuse, but done online. Blaming the user is just an excuse, and can be used as an excuse for physical or verbal abuse as well. The only reason that viruses are treated more lightly is because it is done online and not in reality. Thus, although carelessness may be a factor of the issue, the overall existence of the issue originates from the creator, so it is completely unjust for creators to blame the users, and it is the creator’s responsibility, especially when regarding the law.

The Internet; Past, Present and Future

    I wonder when the internet first appeared. Well, I guess I can google it. According to Wikipedia, it was first created (although not popular at all) in 1974. It’s amazing how the internet has appeared and taken over our lives. The term Google, a name of an internet-related corporation, has become a verb in speech. I have just used the website Wikipedia to search for a question I had. This shows how important the internet is to us.

     I cannot imagine life without the internet. Of course it has to do with the fact that I was born after the internet was created, and grew up using the internet regularly. I don’t clearly remember how the internet was different when I was younger, but I wasn’t as depended on it as I am now. Of course at a young age, I didn’t have the responsibility to shop online or do research. But around 4th grade I think I started to chat online and use the internet for homework. I did play some internet games. But because I wasn’t too computer or internet-obsessed, although I know there have been many improvements and new innovations related to the internet, I haven’t really noticed them. Probably internet games have gotten much better, and what else….I don’t really know.

   Now, I use the internet mostly everyday, to check emails, to do research for school, to watch videos, to shop, to chat, etc. It’s also useful (if that’s the right word…) to waste time. I can browse the internet for hours, doing nothing in particular or without a particular purpose. But it is actually really useful because you can minimize time of getting information or doing something, like shopping. I can basically search for an answer to any question that pops into my head. I guess this convenience is good, but it can be bad in a sense that it prevents us from thinking and actually searching for answers, because we can just get it with several clicks. The internet is also great for keeping in touch with people and meeting new people (although I don’t really use it for the latter), through the use of services like Facebook and mixi for Japan. Almost everyone I know in Japan that is Japanese uses mixi for writing blogs and uploading photos that friends can comment on. It recently added games. The great thing about the internet is, we can use it on the computer and on cellphones, so it basically is with you constantly. On my cellphone, I use it to get maps or directions for a place I want to go to, or when I don’t know where to go to, to find a restaurant nearby.  As I said before, the convenience of the internet is of course in some ways positive, but our dependency on it is a pretty scary thought, and I think this dependency will grow in the future. It has also “mechanized” many human actions, and it’s a little sad to think about. Of course there is also the dangers of the internet, like security and privacy issues.

     I think in the future, the internet will play an even bigger role in our lives, and also at the same time become more of an issue. First, people have tried to mechanize and make everything more convenient, which is why anything useful or mechanical has been invented. So of course people are going to keep trying to make new things, and especially with new technology, the possibilities are endless. Of course the expansion of the internet will also occur concurrently with the development of new technology and will mean that the computer itself, or the cellphone, or the device we use to access the internet will evolve as well. As internet grows, security and privacy issues, which are already big problems, are most likely going to worsen. As the internet expands possibilities, there will be more chances to infringe privacy rights, and it’s scary to think how far this will go.

   Looking into the near future, about five years, I can’t imagine that big of a change. I’m sure there will be new applications and software, and maybe a new version of Windows. Because there improvements to the internet are continuous, there should be more improvements. But with this improvements come dangers, and there is a possibility of new viruses and worms. In ten years, there may a big more of drastic change, like a new invention–similar how big of an impact the Apple iPod had on the music industry and our daily lives, and with it, a legal version  of downloading music, iTunes was developed. Also, there may be new computers as well, which will lead to a different way to connect to the internet, and the internet being used for more things. Just like the now-playing movie “Avatar”, we may have our own avatar inside the computer that acts as ourselves online! In fifty years, there should be a difference to now in that our lifestyles would change. Of course I expect the computer itself to be different, so that we have other ways of connecting. We may be able to actually go into the virtual world, through the creation of a matrix-like virtual reality…but I guess that’s pretty unrealistic. Maybe in 100 years? These kinds of innovations aren’t just technical but biological and scientific. Like I’ve mentioned before, about the movie “Avatar”, with the concept of cloning and robots, instead of a character avatar representing us online, the computer itself may become personalized to us, and it may make its own decisions based on our personalities and what we want, and access the internet by itself. The internet may as well become almost like a living organism! But that also is pretty unrealistic…but who knows!

    Thinking about the positive and negative effects of internet on our lives, it’s hard to determine whether it is overall better for us that the internet is developing. I shop online, chat, and do research alll the time, so I can’t say that I don’t need the internet, or that the internet having evolved was a bad thing. However, I am pretty satisfied with the internet right now, and I don’t really think there needs to be much improvement, which obviously is because I’m not too dependent on it and I don’t really want anything more than what I already use it for. But of course as it develops, I will probably use it for more things and realize the convenience of it. But considering the issues that will grow as it develops, it’s difficult to judge if the internet should go any further. But whether it’s good or bad, there’s no stopping innovation. The internet is constantly changing and improving, and who knows what it will be like in the next five, ten, fifty years?

The Evolving Internet

    The internet is something we use daily, just like how this blog is online. And with technological innovation, the possibilities of how we can use the internet are expanding constantly. As this virtual world becomes an important part of reality, it is sometimes hard to separate the two dimensions. The internet has actually integrated the real world and the cyber world, with the existence of internet dating, internet banking, shopping online, etc. It’s kind of scary actually, because the virtual world is such a big part of our real lives. Of course it is very convenient and efficient, but it is unbelievable that we can shop or communicate with a person on the other side of the earth with a few clicks in our own home.

   First, let’s compare and contrast the real world and virtual world by looking at two examples. The similarities are quite obvious. With online shopping and online dating we can do the same action online and in the real world. With online shopping for instance, shopping is the similarity. We can buy a certain piece of clothing online or at the store. However, there are many differences between taking this action online and in real life. Concerning online shopping, the first obvious difference is that it is more convenient than having to go to the store to look for clothes. And, at the store, you can only choose from the storage that certain store has, but online, there should be more variety to choose from, and more stock. There are many negative aspects of online shopping as well. The security of the transaction for example. If the website is not that well-known, it might not be trustworthy, and because you may be giving private information like your credit card number, it is actually dangerous. You also may get the wrong product, or worse, get the right product but it might not fit or look good on you. Because you can’t actually see the product or try it on, you don’t really know what it’s going to be like until you receive it. These differences apply to online dating as well. With online dating, you can meet people from a much wider regional range than you could just by going to work or to school. You can also pick someone you’re hobbies or personality matches with, by answering several questions. It is much more convenient than having to go through the hassle of meeting and talking to several people before finding someone with traits you are looking for. However, there is also the danger of not knowing the truth. Because you do not directly know the person you are connected with online, it is hard to tell whether they are lying or not, and this could be dangerous. Thus in conclusion, we find that the internet provides efficiency and convenience, but comes with many dangers.

    Concerning services that can be added or improved, I think security is a big issue that needs to be worked on. It may never be resolved, but should be lessened. I use the internet for email, chatting, researching, watching videos, online shopping, and using websites. For emails, I still find a lot of spam in my mailbox, which I want to get rid of. If there were some way for the email service to find emails I don’t need and delete them. With chatting and watching videos, I don’t really have any complaints. Concerning researching, I could hope for better search engines that can find exactly what I need. And online shopping, the security issue as I said before. Although I don’t really need it for anything else, getting creative, I could imagine a computer similar to a robot. And basically with the internet connected to it, I would be able to access my computer from wherever I am, and the computer would be connected to other electronic appliances in my home, and I would be able to operate them. I think it’s called artificial intelligence. Just as scientists are working on trying to make robots as human-like as possible, dealing with emotions and thought, this could be applied to improving the internet as well. For example a website that can read your feelings and provide websites that would match your mood. With the internet continuously evolving, life will become even more convenient. However, with these improvements, our privacy will be even more easily accessible to strangers, our right more easily infringed, and security an even more important issue.