What are the threats of the internet as you see it?

Lonely women being “wooed” over the internet, then scammed out of their dinero.

Trojon that gets into our system and suck all financial related information, credit card details and stuffs like that. Once i had this virus, which totally crippled my system, nothing works, and there’s a “helpful” link guiding me to download this anti virus. It looks pretty genuine at first, looks like windows stuff but after reading more its a scam i noticed.

People relying on the internet for “friends” and having little-to-no social life.

All of it. It has a way of disarming even the sharpest of individuals.

I haven’t encountered many threatening aspects of the internet. I give out my full name on Facebook, but my address is never given out and my full name is not given out on anything other than forms for joining company or educational websites like Canon, Amazon, Stanford-related stuff, etc. I’m not searching for a relationship online, I’m not the type of person who would ever try and meet someone through the internet, etc. so I don’t see it as that big of a threat.

Nothing even close to dangerous has ever happened to me on the internet. That does not mean it can never happen, but I haven’t even come close to it yet and now I’m no longer a minor. I feel that people do exaggerate the dangers of the internet, but people also have gotten into a lot of trouble through it. Some of that comes from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but much of it comes from poor and unsafe decisions.

I acknowledge that there are people out there trying to steal peoples information, but I don’t worry about it much. I keep my information as secure as possible with firewalls and encryptions. I also limit what I put on my computer and online.

The only real threat I feel is the one that actually happened and it was related to my husband’s unit in the Army and facebook. Long story short, someone hacked into a spouses facebook and was using her account to access the information of other spouses and make threats to them about kidnapping their children and what not. It cause quite a bit of drama and the CSM in Iraq told the soldiers about it because of how seriously it was taken. There was an investigation, the MPs were involved, and I believe they found the person that did it.

I have several e-mail addresses that I use for various things. I have two for signing up for websites, one for my bills and family, and one for school.

The internet is a lonely hearts club. The only risk it provides is the risk of alienating yourself from “real” social interaction,” becoming a shut-in, weight gain or loss depending on how you are using the internet. Oh and hairy palms.

I know there are threats in terms of crime or scams but I am not overly concerned about them. To me, the biggest threat of the internet is the diminishment of critical thinking skills it engenders, although this seems to be endemic to modern society in general.

Just that it provides new ways for bad people to do the same things bad people have always done, steal, defraud, take advantage, misrepresent themselves, etc. And you have to find ways to protect yourself from the things bad people do, just as you always have.

Phishing – the fake emails from “banks ” which fool people into giving up their user names and passwords.

How the extreme n00bs avoid losing their life savings to these scams I do not know.

People who ask me things like, “I saved a file yesterday. How do I find it?” and “How do I email a link to a web page? I want my friends to see it.”

I want to unplug their computers and say the Internet was turned off.

The threats are myriad. A biggie is the same one that comes with all the advances in communication. depersonalization. Oh well, I’m on board anyway.

Viruses and malicious programs. I think the source of pedophiles comes from the users themselves. Each user act differently,and I don’t count the faults of other users as my considered threats of internet. Porno is also another problem. People should just accept that it has became and has been the culture of young people(or even kids) nowadays. Internet has more advantages than disadvantages(Depends on the users).

I think people are too paranoid about the internet. Yes, you shouldn’t put yourself out there to be taken advantage of, but I don’t think it’s as serious as people make it. The biggest threats seem to be viruses and email scams. There are also threats to a person’s social life if they become addicted.

The time suck factor. I should be doing something else – but I’m not.

Crazy ass people are hiding in every nook and cranny pretending to be someone or something they are not. The internet should be renamed the great charade!! ;))

People showing up on my doorstep to get shot ;)

@lucillelucillelucille Oh?

I’ve seen a picture of a person purporting to be @lucillelucillelucille holding a gun. Presumably that really is @lucillelucillelucille and she really does know how to handle the gun. But…. this being the internet…. who knows?

Negative effects are more than positive ones, Internet needs a cleaning campaign to remove and eradicate every wrong aspect including porn, spam, bad oriented website, and we cant exclude social networking websites which may have harmful effects without we can even notice it.

The biggest threats of concern to me, is how dependent people become to their life on the Internet and how people can fail to stay involved with their real life, relationships and time demands.

In addition, so many people lose site of how much good information on subjects is not available or only on-line and that not all information on-line comes from reputable, dependable sources.

I did just have one disturbing experience. When I was about to pay my Visa bill, there were several thousand dollars worth of charges that were not mine. I can access my account balance at any time, on line of course, but rarely check it until it is time to pay the bill. Consequently this had been going on since the last payment one month before. I rarely use my credit card except for on line purchases then always opt for paypal if it is available. But somehow my account number was hijacked by someone in GB. I was lucky I suppose that I caught it when I did and that the thief hadn’t run it up to the limit. The bank gave me no argument and removed all of these charges. So I have no scars, but it does make me wonder, how did this happen? It almost had to be from an on line transaction, because in person I always use a direct debit card that is unrelated to the credit card.

With regard to the other dangers, there always seems to be a victim just waiting for a con but that has been true for long before the internet. I guess online just makes it more available to more people.

@wundayatta -That would be me:)

I agree with people using internet instead of having a social life or at least being outside part of a day! But I also think it’s a wonder for information and company for some of us ‘less than busy’ people.

@faye I can agree with you there…the internet is a nice easy way to meet up with some interesting folks without having to get up out of the recliner!

@lucillelucillelucille Seeing is believing! ;-)

Or is it?

You really don’t know who you are dealing with. That really nice single guy telling you he loves you and wants to be with you is really married with children.

@jonsblond He is?

the main problem with the internet is indenty fraud best not putting any personal details out that way you should be ok

In my opinion the biggest threat to people using the internet are the people who use it. There is lots of advice out there on how to surf safely but some people behave in ways on-line that they wouldn’t in real life.

I mean…how many of us would hand out personal details to random strangers in the street. So why do people not check for a secure site when asked for their bank details etc????