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Many people are unaware that it is illegal to share songs (and movies) with
other Netizens.
As a result, music companies were hit hard by a decline in sale of CDs & record tapes. |
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Piracy on the Net
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Many people are unaware that it is illegal to share songs (and movies) with
other Netizens.
As a result, music companies were hit hard by a decline in sale of CDs & record tapes. |
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They fought back by suing Napster for providing a platform to share music files, or in other words, helping piracy to grow. Defenders of Napster wish to have free music but who is going to pay the price? Ultimately, consumers will suffer as music companies and singers will have inadequate profit to cut new albums. The more worrying thing is that people are blind to the morality and legality of the issues and become accomplices of such crimes. |
Hackers and Virus Attack!
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Hackers and virus creators live dangerous lives. Though they know that they
will be subjected to criminal punishment once they are caught, it has not
stopped them.
The ability to create viruses or hack into tightly secured websites boost their confidence more than anything else. Clearly, the categorical imperative is remote in the minds of these criminals. They also count on unvigilant Netizens to spread viruses like I Love You and Anna Kournikova viruses.
Anna Kournikova (Left) |
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"Blind Dates" With people unable to distinguish facts and fiction, reality and myth, they become vulnerable and gullible. They become easy victims for those who are out to con and seduce. Thus, we heard a lot about young girls who were raped or molested during their first dates with "charming" strangers on the Net. |
CONCLUSION
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The reality of life still appears in the Cyberworld. Crooks and liars are given more power because they are free (from moral and ethical considerations) to publish their views on the Net and reach out to more people. For them, the Internet serves merely as a medium to promote self-interests and not the good will. Furthermore the lack of a clear legal structure and with DNS (domain name server) denying any responsibility for the type of web site hosted, a cyber civil society founded on Kant's universal categories of right seems impossible. |
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Where once the newspapers, the radio and the television help to filter truth from falsehood, we are very much left on our own to figure that out on the web. In a time which requires more of our reasoning faculty, we soak ourselves in entertainment and drown ourselves with tonnes of information, giving precious little time for reflective thinking. These do not augur well for the future.
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