Free «The Digital Society» Essay Sample

With the emergence of internet technologies and digital society a lot of spheres of life are doomed to become subjects to changes. One of such spheres is crime, which begins to manifest its cyber nature. The main types of cybercrime are likely to be connected with data theft, which can be executed with minor harm to the computer (like stealing credit card information from online shop data bases) or fundamental software damage (involving disastrous virus attacks). Apart from that, there are always plenty of swindlers on the web, and the seeming innocent nature of their requests confuses a lot of users, which is proved by the success of the Nigeria Bank scheme winning $100 million a year from gullible people. Posting of illegal content, like piracy or pornography, becomes a widespread cybercrime. Preventive measures against it include data protection by special software and active participation of legal experts who should understand that crime in the Internet still remains a crime.

Nowadays a lot of people think that the existence and development of the Internet phases out such a notion as intellectual property from our lives. Probably, the words of Sun Microsystems CEO, “Get over it”, are also applicable in this situation. However, people should understand that there are limits even in cyberspace, and there are methods of dealing with intellectual theft. Every user who shares something online should understand his or her legal rights and obligations. In the same way as programmer’s code is considered to be an intellectual property since 1976, which involves full responsibility of the ones who attempt violating it, copyright spreads to all kinds of information. In such a way, simple copy-paste of someone’s posted poem from the Facebook page cannot be considered a crime, for this facility does not guarantee protection the way traditional copyright or Creative Commons organization do.

Digital classrooms are certainly a benefit of the Internet era. It is considered to be prestigious for the educational institution to offer a range of online courses apart from the traditional ones, which is a huge step compared to 1990’s when the practice only began to establish. The students can choose the synchronous or asynchronous mode of studying according to their preferences and opportunities. The latter type is essential for those who live far from the original facilities, for they are not forced to adjust their daily schedule to online class hours. The quality of education remains the same in any case, which makes distance learning very attractive. Nowadays digital classrooms use software like Blackboard or eCollege, which facilitates continuous access to all necessary information and also interactive communication between tutors and students. These improvements turn online education into a full-fledged learning and social experience.