Commentary
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X0007300101 |
| Published date | 01 January 2000 |
| Date | 01 January 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
The
POLICE
JOURNtd.
COMMENTARY
In 1977, the then president of the Digital Equipment Corporation is
reported to have said, "There is no reason anyone would want a
computer in their home." Until we approached the last year of the
second millennium we probably had little appreciation of how far, not
only our working lives, but also our personal lives had become
dependent on computers and information technology. Fears of the
"millennium bug" have forced all governments to address the risks to
every aspect of our communities, both domestically and internationally.
Inless than 25 years power industries, transport, health, education,
defence and security, thearts and the media have allbecome dependent
on technology and our personal communications and leisure have been
transformed by the silicon chip. Even physical fitness has been
dominated by sophisticated machines which emulate real life exertion
within a safe and controlled environment.
The first half of the twenty-first century is likely to see universal
social changes in all our communities as a result of the expansion and
development of information technology. The growth of Internet
millionaires already begins to rival the fortunes made in the rushes to
exploit mineral wealth in the early nineteenth century. Business
conducted on the world wide web is increasing at an exponential rate.
Armed conflicts are won, not by the physically strong but by the
electronically sophisticated. Individuals have immediate access to all
the products of human learning to an extent which has probably never
been possible since the establishment of libraries in Greece and
Alexandria almost 2,500 years ago.
A virtual world hasbeen created with no national boundaries, little
if any regulation, and an infinite variety of ways to interact.
It
is an icon
of post-modem individualism. To some, such a world is a true
"cybertopia". However, whether the world is real or virtual, it is used by
real people and therefore is vulnerable to exploitation and criminal
activity.
The globalization of the Internet presents problems for which
national governments have few solutions while existing legislation
relates to territorial sovereignty and geographical boundaries. Unlike
the physical world, there are no accurate maps of the Internet andin any
case the shape and extent of the connections is constantly changing.
Data can be passed across continents by a thousand routes at high speed
and with little to distinguish them from the millions of other
transactions taking place at the same time. Data can also be copied,
altered or destroyed, posing a threat to business and government.
January 2000 The Police Journal 1
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