Internet

Well it just struck me that I have been at this internet game longer than most. I first went on line in 1995 - shortly after updating to Windows 95. Back in those days I had a MSN account - god those were the days - it was still trying to find its way - MSN was a closed environment that was difficult to break out of onto the World Wide Web - difficult but not impossible.

One of the first things I bought was a web directory - yes you could buy hard just the same as a telephone directory. Totally useless - but back then there wasn't Google nor Yahoo either - you just blunder around in the dark trying to make sense of the whole experience.

The next thing was to make your own web pages. My original site is still up and running and I must say I haven't been there for a long time - this back in the day that there was little to do with web pages. I used Microsoft Frontpage that had its own unique standards and things called bots, I think. These were not supported by many servers and so were next to useless on the web - however you don't know that until you find they don't work.

God this was only 15 years ago and yet it is several life times ago as fasr as the web is concerned. Back then trying to buy things from Amazon was almost impossible or very difficult as they only worked within the USA.

The first modem I had was 28k dial up. You had make sure you used it after 6pm as this was the when the cheap rate phone calls came in - it was after all a phone call you were making - none of this always on. Back then the hight of speed was an ISDN line that provided the unbelievable 110k speeds. This was extremely expensive.

So why all this pointless rambling about the old days? Well I have been following the excellent virtual revelations on BBC2. This week was about how the information you give the internet, either knowingly or passively is used to paint a picture about you and how these things could be used to compromise your privacy. The only thing is I have never assumed that anything I did on the internet was private - nothing. There were a lot of scary scenarios discussed to try and demonstrate that the Internet is watching you. Well the only thing I can say is And? This has always been so. The internet is worth far more to modern life and any suggestion that it should be more restrictive in order to protect your privacy is never going to work. After all only 15 years ago I could never have found out about the wonderful photographic styles from all over the world. The information available has changed all our lives - no longer is it the preserve of the knowing elite - now it is a few searches away - oops more information given away.

The dangers are far out weighed by the benefits - life is about managing risk and you can never be fully protected. If you get the chance watch Virtual Revelations - it is a wonderful programme - but don't have nightmares about big brother - life is too short and without the internet so much more boring and dull.