Although there are so many good uses of the technology we have right at our fingertips, there are also people who have found uses that are less than flattering. These include online crime, terrorism, and warfare.
There are people who commit crimes online that are often found in the physical world as well, such as theft, stalking, gambling, and most common of all, distribution of pornography. Also, people can use this technology to manipulate another computer or set of computers quite easily.
It is very difficult to enforce laws for many reasons, the main one being juisdiction. Then, if the crime involves something such as intellectual property, it can get even more complex and next to impossible to do anything to stop or prevent the crime from occurring. Also, prosecuting criminals that are from other nations has become even more difficult with the rise of the Internet.
Both online gambling and the distribution of pornography are difficult to monitor since the line between having fun and gambling, as well as the line between adult material and pornography, have become blurred. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the states have the final say in enforcing these laws, which can get difficult when the material is accessed in a different state than it originated in.
Another problem that has increased since the rise of the Internet is cyberbullying in younger users. There are many efforts under way that are trying to deter this problem, and since the effects of these attacks are felt worse and reach further, law enforcement officials have been able to hunt down the bullies easier than in the physical world.
Although it seems that there is only negative legal impacts being felt by the integration of the Internet into our daily lives, there are actually quite a few good things occuring at the same time. For example, many cities are using the Internet to allow citizens to track crimes, find sexual predators, and many other options that were not nearly as possible to accomplish before the Internet was widely used.
There are many Web sites being used for the sole purpose of terrorism and warfare. Some are used to gain new recruits, while others have instructions on building weapons used in these attacks. Although the Internet was designed to make it through just about anything, someone with the right knowledge could still cause a considerable amount of harm to the delicate balance of the Internet.
