Computers are, growing up. From the birth of the CPU to the birth of the internet, it seems to produce its own fuel. The internet itself is growing up, but what into. For me, the internet was a cool place, a new place to go - without going anywhere.

I would say that large companies have tried to push web pages on to us, so we can make our own. For what reason? Now they are called blogs, a more mature way to approach the issue of no interest in personal web pages, though I don't discount the excellent personal web pages that do exist. It just makes me think about where it is all going? How do we store all this information to come and that has passed?

Electronic data has two big disadvantages. The first is deletion. It can be deleted in the blink of an eye, by mistake, or by malice. You can burn a book, but it takes a little longer to delete a book, so there is time for it to be saved. Though I am sure there are millions of ways to mirror or back data up, information can be deleted so quickly there are many safe guards in place, however, this leads to the second, theft.

When you steal a book, it is physically gone from the location you "stole" it from. When you steal information, it is merely duplication. How much information is really stolen everyday? Without anyone knowing about it? Possibly very little compared to the theft of money, cars and other items, but still, when they are taken, you know it is gone. Cancel all cards, change you PIN numbers etc.

Your bank account or credit card could have a few small transactions that you always over look - a few dollars or pounds, but it could be paying for someone's internet access every month! Paying off a loan? Skimming into a savings account?

If I have just one pound from everyone in the UK, I Would have around 60 million pounds sterling, in the bank - over night, and who would notice? (me)

My point is, information wise, the internet is a loose cannon, it needs to grow up really fast on this front. Criminals seem to grow into something faster than anyone. I think it is time to take some pointers.

Ok, so that is security, but what about a place in society? The security issue holds the whole thing back, though most people are more at risk in a shop than shopping on the internet - and are unaware of that. The internet is becoming a fast track to everywhere. This is excellent, but it is becoming like clubs, shops cafes. After so long, they disappear, change or become the biggest new thing - like a certain search engine that rules the internet.

This needs to be regulated in the sense of old pages, dead sites, how much advertisement you can have on one page. The internet could grow into a excellent place, or become a horrible place, and I think the first is they way it is going. Its interaction with computer technology is at last making pages nice and easy to navigate, *DSL is making the internet what it should be - fast, and you can be updated instantly, for free, and browser wars increase our surfing pleasure. 

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