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Nicole Ferraro

A Birthday Card for the Internet

Written by Nicole Ferraro
10/29/2009 16 comments
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Dearest Internet: Happy 40th Birthday! Wow. It feels like just yesterday that Al Gore gave birth to you. (Ha! What? OK, I know. It's getting old.)

But really, Internet, you've come a long way from the days of ARPANET and message boards. Now we have message boards with photos... and Poking! Amazing!

I remember the first time I got to know you: In the early 90s when, in grade-school computer class, I was granted my first email address on Prodigy. Oh the possibilities, I thought. My powers were limitless. I could talk to anyone I wanted. And lo and behold, one fine day I received an email from none other than Mary Tyler Moore! Does life get any better? Not hardly.

The thing is, we remained pen pals for quite some time before I found out it wasn't Mary at all. It was just my computer teacher using the MTM alias to fool me.

Why do you let things like that happen, Internet? Why do you let your users take on pseudonyms and alter-egos and destroy the lives of little girls?

In fact, not to bring you down on the big Four-Oh or anything, but I have to say that you're starting to grate on our nerves for a LOT of reasons, beyond the absurdity of anonymity. You are, in fact, being blamed for the erosion of numerous industries: journalism, music, movies, book publishing. Was this intentional? Are you waging some personal vendetta against profitable business?

Then again, much like Charles Manson, you aren't exactly the culprit here: It's your followers who are causing all of the destruction. The pirates, the community on Wikipedia, Silicon Valley, Chris Anderson...

But you need to start controlling your people, Internet. They've gone completely insane! No one wants to pay for anything anymore. Everyone's a "content creator," or worse, a "curator." They think that hierarchy is flattened and they can talk to the president! It's just madness!

Not to mention their focus is completely out of whack. As your followers are Tweeting away and uploading funny cat photos, the developing world is trying to rub two cellphones together just to get access to you. Oppressive regimes are turning your lights out or using your Tubes to disseminate false information. Hello!

We believe you have a future. That's why we started this site about "the Future of the Internet" (popular little fellow you are). But there's a lot of work to do and we're worried -- particularly when it comes to the ever-shrill level of hype surrounding your most insignificant, profitless features. You do recall a period during the late 90s when you kind of, like, died because of that, right? We're concerned that you're letting that happen again.

So, yeah, fine. Have a happy birthday, Internet. But maybe you can put the party to rest after today and get to work.

With love,

— Nicole Ferraro, Site Editor, Internet Evolution

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robbie02494
Rank: Scrivener
Saturday October 31, 2009 9:25:50 PM
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40 years from today- I see all kinds of smart devices connected to a common network (Internet?). Smart Cars, Smart Televisions, Smart Appliances, Smart Furniture, gosh the list is enless.... With all those devices online, one may look back and say..what PC?

torriatte
IQ Crew
Saturday October 31, 2009 11:40:02 AM
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Nicole,

My first exposure to the internet came in the late 70's at a company I was working at (and the company where I first moved into the computer world i.e. Data Processing as an Operator). I was at the Corporate location which also had several divisions there and one of these divisions had access. All text based. Man has it come a long way :-)

Chuck

torriatte
IQ Crew
Saturday October 31, 2009 10:58:38 AM
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LOL - good thing you aren't looking to Congress for anything Nicole. You might be young but you are wise beyond your years :-)

Mashka
Researcher
Saturday October 31, 2009 4:34:44 AM
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Dear Nicole!

Thank you for the warm words.I am glad , that you and many different folks from many different countries  talk about me so much( though sometimes it looks like gossips) Anyway, I am glad that I help you in many ways and make your life better.Just one tiny  request.Please, can you make something and silence those  people who blame me in every single problem on Earth. Some depressed teenager  or crazy manager comiites suicide- because of me...Some  terrorists blow up something- my fault.Can you please stop it?

Mike Acker
Rank: Web master
Friday October 30, 2009 1:16:24 PM
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NF:="Fascinating to hear these guys say "whoops" on security, isn't it?"

The IBM PC was was marketed in 1981

It was not until Aug.6 2004 when XP/SP2 was released that there was a serious effort to address the security problem.  Not for a lack of warnning: virus codes such as "Stoned", "Falling Letters", "Pakistani Brain" plagued Sneaker net users -- until we got rid of floppy drives.  at which time such virus codes have migrated into USB devices

and of course Nov. 1988 : The Robert Morris Internet Worm

now with VISTA and Win7 we have UAC -- which essentially asks the user to distinguish between good updates and bad ones.  the fakes are pretty good -- and getting better.

talk about being a "Day late and a dollar short" -- it is easy to understand that the original designers didn't anticipate the need for security -- they "knew everyone who was on the net" -- back in the beginning.

but look at the industry response to the issue

Public Key Encryption was published in 1991 -- that's 18 YEARS ago

Public key encryption provides the keys we need.  If you study it you will realize that it is MUCH MORE than just encryption.  It provides AUTHENTICATION: i.e. it allows you to VERIFY the IDENTITY of WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO

it provides INTEGRITY: it allows you to verify that your copy of a message has not been altered or substituted in transit.

these things are based on TRUST MODELS

you have a Trust Model in your computer-- it came with your browser.  Do you know what's in it?  why would you trust it?

we should have a general presentation and discussion of Trust Models here on IEv

think about this for a minute: if i have a proper authentication process and message integrity I don't care if you do steal my account number. although you can create a transaction: you can't authenticate it

that your data is going to be stolen on the net goes without saying. we should all operate on the basis that that has already happened.

 

bwelford
IQ Crew
Friday October 30, 2009 11:35:51 AM
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A most back-handed kind of birthday card written from a glass-half-empty perspective but an amusing piece nevertheless.

From a glass-half-full pov, I would like to salute the incredible connections that the Internet now facilitates.  That plus the much greater visibility that it brings to all human activities is a great present for us all.

You ask, Nicole, where we will all be in 40 years, but I don't think you need to look as far ahead as that.  In 10 years, I think the Internet will have gone largely mobile and desktop PCs and even laptops will be anachronisms.  We all will be using our cellphones or if we're power users, our smart phones, to cloud compute to our heart's content.  It's only a matter of time.

bri77
IQ Crew
Friday October 30, 2009 11:28:01 AM
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Nicole, I'd like information to be shared on a much bigger scale. We're already seeing it with data.gov, but there are so many government entities and universities entrenched in old systems and that are resistant to change. I think in the science and medical fields especially we could accomplish so much more if we combined forces and could share info more easily.

Nicole Ferraro
IQ Crew
Friday October 30, 2009 11:20:31 AM
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Hi Paul. I'm glad you liked it and found it amusing. No worries. I'm not calling on Congress for anything. It's not up to Congress to decide whether we start paying for content online, that's for sure!

Nicole Ferraro
IQ Crew
Friday October 30, 2009 11:17:57 AM
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Thanks for pointing that out, Mike Acker. Vint Cerf actually said the same thing at a recent conference, and on live chat on Internet Evolution. When he was asked what he would've done differently in the beginning, he said he would've put in a much stronger focus on authentication into the Internet's architecture: "I think it would be very useful to have in hand ways to strongly authenticate persons and equipment and even software in the Internet. It would aid in avoiding malware or being phished or pharmed, for instance," he said.

Fascinating to hear these guys say "whoops" on security, isn't it?

Nicole Ferraro
IQ Crew
Friday October 30, 2009 11:12:04 AM
no ratings

Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Fun for me to write as well. But yeah you both make great points, and I'm curious as well to see where we'll be in another 40 years. The thing is, I think it's going to look completely different than it does now, but there's so much hype around what we have today (Twitter, Facebook) as if these things are the Mecca of the Internet. I think and hope we're going to move far beyond social media. The next 40 years should be interesting. What do you hope to see accomplished?

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The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
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