The Infectious Internet

It was not so long ago that the human population was routinely decimated by disease. We think of things like plague epidemics, smallpox epidemics and cholera epidemics with a combination of dismay ("How could it possibly have been so bad???") and relief ("Thank goodness we figured out how to eliminate most of these problems!!!").

One thing that triggered many of these problems was the rise of large cities. People had never really congregated so densely before. Once people packed themselves together tightly enough, germs found it much easier to spread from person to person. Until we figured out how germs worked and the basics of hygiene, we were at the mercy of these diseases.

Today we find ourselves in a similar kind of situation. In this case, thankfully, it is not leading to massive death. But it is creating massive frustration. The problem arises because, for the first time in human history, we are gathering together in large numbers in electronic spaces.

You can see how bad the problem is by looking at this very nice list of free software utilities:

The 16 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

More than a third of the listed utilities are battling the many problems that arise when you innocently connect your computer to the Internet. Look at the first six items in the list:

1. Best Free Web Browser - The article states, "There are several excellent alternatives but Mozilla FireFox is the stand-out pick. It's much safer than Internet Explorer, so safe in fact that many users have reported no spyware infections since they started using the product."
2. Best Free Anti-Virus Software
3. Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover
4. Best Free Anti-Scumware Utility
5. Best Free Trojan Scanner/Trojan Remover
6. Best Free Intrusion Prevention and Detection Utility

Add to this list:

1. The scourge of spam email
2. The need for hardware and software firewalls to keep out human and robotic hackers
3. The whole problem with Zombie machines

You now have a pretty good picture of how bad things have gotten today. It is very, very sad.

People in 2050 will look back at this period in our history with the same sort of dismay and relief that we reserve for the Dark Ages. The grandkids will ask questions like, "With all of these different problems battering your machines, how could anyone possibly get any work done???" We will smile wryly and say, "Well, we just did the best we could..."

One of the things that is so sad about the Internet infection is that we actually have the power to eliminate it. It is similar to the traffic problem, where everything bad that we experience is under total human control. For example:

• As mentioned, a better browser solves lots of problems.
• Microsoft's operating system is the cause of most virus problems -- Linux and the Mac are largely free from the virus threat.
• Strong laws and agressive enforcement can eliminate most spam.
• ISP's can easily detect and cut off Zombie machines.
• And so on...

What we lack is the will. We find ourselves at a weird place in history -- we are not yet at the tipping point where so many people are so fed up that we actually do something to solve the problems. Hopefully that tipping point will come soon.