Reaction Paper: ICTs and the Cybercrime Law

Jose Miguel Pineda        

10-23440

Communication in this age has been made easier by the internet. In a matter of seconds, a post on Twitter may be potentially seen anyone around the world. The communication is fast and on a worldwide platform regardless of the content of the message. An issue brought by this is cyber bullying or online harassment. As communication is made easier with the addition of anonymity, cyber bullying is done without much risk on the perpetrator’s behalf. Some view this as a problem but I don’t. As harassment is made easier by the internet, it is the same when ignoring the said harassment. It’s a computer. The “victim” has the tools to block malicious messages and report them so they could be dealt with. You can even close the webpage and move on. The “victim” only allows himself/herself to be harassed by participating. Take a lesson from your favorite online celebrities. They’ve learned to how to deal with destructive criticism by growing thicker skin.

Another more serious issue I’d like to discuss is how the user’s privacy is compromised whenever he/she is on the internet. Yes, all websites track your online behavior. An example is when online advertisements become more suited to the type of videos you watch, the type of pages you visit and the items you buy online. Google Chrome tracks you and the only way to prevent this is to use an open source browser. Open source browsers have their codes accessible so that programmers can assess whether the browser respects your privacy or not, among other things. However, using these types of browsers require certain knowledge on programming languages and scripts which the average user (including me) lacks. Yes, I don’t like seeing ads. I don’t like websites tracking me. I use Adblock Plus and Ghostery to prevent this. It’s an easy fix and I would always recommend these extensions to anyone who uses a computer. So what I’m rambling about is the solution to protecting our online privacy is to educate ourselves on the tools available so that we can browse the internet safely.