Pirates, thieves, pedophiles and porn. Where did the internet, and its promise to improve our lives, go wrong?

Pornography, gambling, lies, theft and terrorism: The Internet Sucks (where did we go wrong) states the front page article of last week’s Macleans magazine (Canada’s equivalent to America’s Newsweek or NY Times).

Is this true? I wonder ….

I wonder how many times the author used Google, Yahoo or another search engine to do his basic research. In my opinion, the Internet has provided positive changes to society.

I found the article to be somewhat one-sided to be on the front cover of Canada’s leading news magazine. For example the article uses only one professor’s opinion to conclude that the Internet has failed to offer anything new to the world. “The internal combustion engine, refrigeration, even air condition, had profound impacts on our lives, making the impossible practical. The Web does nothing of the sort” … “e-mails replace faxes and phone calls. Online shopping replaces sales that used to be made through a catalogue. And for all but the most socially isolated, every hour spent trolling through chat rooms replaces an hour that might otherwise have been spent in real, live conversation”.

Very little is devoted to what’s working. The author spends little space to what is working. The internet has helped exchange data over greater distances at greater speeds than previous technologies. Medical doctors use the internet to send information over to diagnostic clinics for instant results; in my own life I have an instant encyclopedia at my fingertips … I could go on and on, but why bother?

Like every technology out there – there will always be both positive and negative aspects. To me, the internet is just another communication medium that has influenced several hundreds of current processes we do at both home and at work.