Net.Wars

Who will rule cyberspace? And why should people care? Press stories portray the Internet as full of pornography, paedophilia, bomb-making recipes, lewd and lawless behaviour, and copyright violation. To many, regulating the Internet therefore seems as logical and sensible as making children wear seat-belts, but others argue that reports of its pornographic content greatly overstate the case, and that bomb-making recipes and other potentially dangerous material is readily available already in public libraries. This book assesses the issues which will affect the future of the Internet. From the Church of Scientology’s raids on Internet users, to attempts by users to overthrow both the Communications Decency Act and the restrictions on the export of strong encryption, the author sets out to explain the facts behind the headlines. Among the other topics considered are Internet scams, privacy, hackers and the computer underground, and Internet criminals and sociopaths.