What an absolute load of tripe written (as most opinion pieces seem to be these days) by somebody entirely focusing on the negatives and whilst ignoring the plethora of  positives.

Having been involved with the WWW since before it was known as the WWW,   I've seen it grow from a university funded educational and research network to the critical and essential tool it is today.  So, in response to bozo, here a few positives that could only have been achieved because of the existence of the Internet as we know it today.

• Communication.  200 years ago it took around 3 months to get a message from Australia to England.  With the invention of telegraph and morse code, it took around 3 days.  With the invention of the internet it now takes less than 3 minutes.  You only really appreciate that when your Mother passes away while you're in England visiting relatives as happened to my father a few years ago.  Not only was he able to learn about the death of his mother, he was actually able to deliver the Eulogy from London in real time to the funeral service here in Brisbane.
• Live streaming of events means those that can't attend won't miss out.  A lot of Church services these days are live streamed so that those members of the congregation who can't attend for whatever reason can still feel involved.
• Health.  The ability for people to consult with doctors who may be in different states or even different countries.  In recent years this has included trials of remote surgery.  A huge benefit for those families who live on the land huge distances from the nearest medical facility.
• Scientific research collaboration.  Now instead being limited to those people in a city, scientific research teams can now exist anywhere across the globe.  As an example - Field scientists in the Antarctic can now share their data in real time with the rest of their team based anywhere in the world.
• Education.  Before 1990 it was School of the Air which educated those kids living on the land.  The existence of the internet has improved the way that the kids are now educated.
• SETI@Home (as an example).  The internet has enabled SETI to utilise millions of computers worldwide to be involved in the analysis of radio data in the continuing search for the existence of extraterrestrial life.  This particular example is currently on hold since 2020 but there are other similar projects using the power of the internet to distribute the work load.
• The obvious ones - Internet banking, Internet shopping, Streaming video, traffic notifications, trip research.

Maybe, if we focus on the positives instead of the negatives, then, just maybe, the world would be a much better place.

dorian wrote:

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Collo wrote:

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In the Ballarat Courier today, there was an article by Garry Linnell on the internet. You can search it ...

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 Why? Are you unable to post a link to it? Or has that article scared you?

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 Sorry, my computor skills are pretty basic.....don't know how to. Plus I bought a physical paper. I don't subscribe online to the Courier.

Collo.

'Couldn't withdraw her money': The scams that stole more than $1b from Australians in one year:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-28/scam-losses-in-2023-banks-government-accc-report-technology-work/103777548

Australians reported a record number of scams last year, with losses totalling $2.7 billion, a new report from the consumer watchdog has revealed.

More than 601,000 reports about scams were made in 2023, up from the 507,000 reported in 2022, the latest Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) Targeting Scams report found.

Investment scams stole more than any other type of scam, accounting for more than $1.3 billion in losses, the report said.

People over 65 were more likely to lose money than any other age group and were the only age group that lost more money in 2023 than in 2022.

ACCC deputy chair Catriona Lowe said the figures indicated scammers were targeting older Australians with retirement savings who might be looking for investment opportunities.