The historic American wild west has a new name. It’s as dangerous as the gun-slinging bandits that once terrorized the populations of dusty, desert small towns of the American frontier. Back then, innocent and daring people came to chase a promise of a better life. Sometimes, if they were not aware of all the dangers of the new territory, they would fall victim to the invaded and angered Native Americans, snake-oil salesmen, or claim-jumpers. These pitfalls were the obstacles to those who sought possible fortune and perhaps a simple and better life in the new American west.

Today, there’s no need to leave your living room to fall victim to the many perils. Nope, this time it is the spammers, phishing scammers, and viagra/lottery winning plunderers (among others) who pollute our electronic byways and brainwaves and trick the unwary many who populate the Net. This is the new Wild Wild Web. And after watching an hour of local news and being convinced that those who live in the local area are child molesters, murders and thieves, we turn to the Web to connect with like-minded individuals to feel safe and connected.

Most people have a hard time thinking of a life before Google, Facebook and Youtube. But these are new inventions on a fresh landscape. I reflect back to a time before our connected world. It was 1995. In the midst of using my speedy 2400 baud modem (that would literally take about 5 minutes to load this page), I used to connected to various cyber bulletin boards to leave messages for others, download funny graphics (no porn, thank you) and try interesting new software. Then, suddenly, something amazing happened. A peculiar invention was emerging from the educational realm into the public sector. It was called the World Wide Web. It let ambitious people make pages of text, bolded and italicized, that anyone in the world could reach. Back in 1995 there were no pictures to be seen, and all people had to know to get this new information was an address that started with http://.

Back then, to me, the world was full of promise. Ideas and beautiful concepts were now easily exchanged on this new mode of communication. I envisioned a new era as we slowly closed the chapter on the Industrial Age and began entering into something I called the Info-Communication Age. Fourteen years ago, I thought that mankind was about to embark on something that would evolve the species to an advanced level of connectedness and bring us all to something that resembled a digital version of Utopia. OMG, I was, like, you know, totally wrong! LOL

I can’t say that the present state of the Internet is a complete wasteland of the human mind, but I begin to worry when I see the English language reduced to half-witted Twitter entries. Private parties, in their opportunistic wisdom, have made draconian Terms of Service language that basically say, “I own you and all the information you put online.” The majority of people simply click the checkbox to sign their life away for the sake of an experiential chance to connect with someone who they can relate with.

Alas, all is not lost. Among the “lost tribe” are intelligent individuals who still care about the population as a whole. Let me name a few advances in the ethereal Internet that has helped regular people become more empowered:

- Consumer ratings on popular websites that help regular people research products before buying

- Instant communication via email, despite all the scams that try to trick the unwary

- The ability to find alternative news to verify facts

- Collective mind projects like Wikipedia.org

- Weather for any city in just a few clicks

- Virtually tons of useful information, i.e. if you learn how to weed through the false stuff

- craigslist.org (outside of all the marginally-sleazy dating stuff)

- Be careful. Facebook owns all your information… forever. Just read the first paragraph of “User Content Posted on the Site” in their Terms of Service.

The personal computer is still a LONG way from being a simple and reliable appliance like a microwave oven, but as we move forward in technology it is my hope that people become aware of the dangers of not protecting their information. I also hope that people gain back the power to help guide the mega-corporations to provide us with the tools that we deserve to make the world with the help of technology. But in the same breath, it is my fear that if we continue to close our minds to the responsibility of our place as collective consumers and citizens, we risk losing our collective voice and end up being organic members of a machine that has cameras and microphones everywhere that can observe our every movement, and correct us when we step out of line of the corporate structure.

Now is the time to become aware and responsible for where we are headed. We are at the crossroads. Which way are you choosing?

-keitan