NCJ Number
190997
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This essay focuses on the security in the Web and the fear of cyberwarfare (the “ten-foot-tall electron”).
Abstract
Massive improvements in computing power now enable multimedia messages that blend text, audio, video, and graphic data. There has always been a lot of information, but now it is hooked up, on-line. A special kind of information pollution deserves worry: deliberate misinformation such as that of negative politics. One of the security risks of the information revolution is that the military professions will dissolve into mere image manipulators. The World Wide Web is the true heart of the information revolution. There are reasons to hope that the information revolution, manifested as an emerging global webbiness among individuals and their communities, will buttress civility more than it will empower corrosion and destruction. Interactive expertise signals that the information revolution will turn out to be a natural boost to individual empowerment and global democracy. It is feared that society and government can be brought to their knees by the destruction of the infrastructure. It is warned that, lacking banking, transportation, and other systems, the target society would be compelled into submission. However, electronic attacks do not have the destructive potential to obliterate the fibers of society. The risks are declining by the day as new computers and telecommunication installations enrich and diversify societies. It was suggested that the United States invest at least as much enthusiasm and money in the development of the civilization-building capacities of the information revolution as to its destructive potentials. 1 note