To Police the Internet or Not?

Online acts of terrorism such as spam, spoof and phishing emails must cease and desist once and for all. The amount of these emails grows daily and the threat is ever increasing. Too many people are falling prey to these online predators and penalties need to be assessed be the countries that allow hosting companies to host these websites and email servers. Many forms of cyber-surveillance and security are being developed by a few organizations determined to put an stop to these acts of crime online.

Should this type of online fraud and deceit be left to the general populace to deal with? Many people feel that enacting yet another law will cost them too much by raising taxes or adding fees to some services; therefore they usually choose not to pass such laws. For the most part, for every new law or act that is passed, there is usually some type of tax stimulus act to go in place to ‘counter’ the fees imposed.
The thought of my taxes going up is unnerving, to say the least; albeit, I would rather see a little less money upfront, rather than having thousands of dollars in debt because of a case of stolen identity. Even worse, imagine your aging relative falling prey to such online criminals trying to access the pictures of the Walt Disney World trip you just emailed to them or being tricked into sending their bank account info to a ‘needful relative’.
Ever since September 11^th, 2001, our nation has bolstered its defenses at home as well as abroad. The Homeland Security Act was enacted in 2002 in light of the 9/11 World Trade Center happenings and is there to prevent terrorists attacks, reduce vulnerability to such attacks, and to minimize damage and assist in recovery when such acts of terrorism occur within the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already implemented the National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) and the United States-Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). These cyber criminals need to be found, charged and prosecuted in order to resolve/lessen the spam, spoof and phishing threat many Americans face daily.
Most people, companies and organizations do a majority of their business through online transactions. Now, imagine your financial institution of choice uses the internet to transfer funds to and from its various branch locations. Now suppose the interface for requesting such transactions has been spoofed. Your money, along with that of many others, will be lining the pockets of these online terrorists behind such vile acts. Sure we have Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect our assets, but what happens when the FDIC itself is spoofed?
With the implementation of programs such as NCSD and US-CERT, monitoring and safeguarding our great nation’s online infrastructure, citizens can feel more at ease when surfing the web and making online transactions. Even still, without worldwide help in eliminating these online terrorists, the threat may not be as great, but it still looms on the horizon.

Social Networking or the Lack Thereof...

In this day and age, there are not too many tech savvy people that are not 'connected' on the Internet via one or more of the many 'Social' sites/engines such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. I tried using the Myspace years ago, a friend had urged me to. In my eyes, it was nothing more than a spruced up free 'hook-up' social site. Not my cup of tea, so I never looked back. Now, I have had a ton of major life changes happen in the last 6 months and have been considering using a social networking site.
So, I have been thinking, maybe I would take that step, more like leap, for someone like myself. With my military background, putting yourself out there online...vulnerable, is not an easy thing to do. Every bone in my body screams NO! So, what is a man to do? Live in fear of all those stalkers or ex's trying to track you down?
On the other hand, I also feel that people are putting too much into these social networks and sites. Sure, it's great to re-connect with old classmates or friends and family, but at what cost? Employers are using Facebook to 'gauge' prospective employees and Facebook changes their privacy settings and/or policies quite often, sometimes leaving people off guard and vulnerable.
Who doesn't miss reliving the old times and past glory days with friends or family, as even the most recluse hermits enjoy a good chuckle now and again. I was minutes away from taking that plunge, somehow I made the decision to create a Facebook account while I was watching my weekly Sons of Anarchy episode. Then during a commercial break, I saw the most embarrassing trailer for a movie I have ever seen.
The Social Network, a movie about Facebook. Seriously, this is what our movie industry has slumped to for our beloved silver screen?! I am by no means a conformist. In fact, I am one of the most non-conformist individuals I know. I was so disgusted that I have decided to re-neg on the creating of my Facebook account or any other social networking site, save Stumbleupon.com.

Escape from the machine...

Welcome to the Tattoothebaby(.com) blog. Our site is down due to low fundage since the economy has been so bad. Expect to see posts ranging from rants/raves, site updates or even restaurant, movie and video game reviews as well as just jotting a quick caption with a few pictures.
Some of our previous posts may be seen at the RadioactiveRevolution blog.