Over recent years we have witnessed the birth and development of the internet which has become an indispensable part of our everyday life. We have seen it evolve into an incredibly powerful medium that has forever changed our lives and the world. It can instantly take us anywhere and as high-speed broadband continues to develop and reach blisteringly fast speeds, it can transport us across borders and continents in nano-seconds to our internet destination of choice. Through the development of search engines like Google Earth, we can now circle the globe in seconds and experience a wide-angle or up-close satellite view of entire continents, countries, landscapes, rural areas, cities, streets, and properties. Or we can experience an up-close macro view of places, buildings, and real estate as we take a virtual drive through the city and rural streets around the world through the wonders of Google Maps.

The internet has revolutionized communications through its many platforms including email, telephone services through VoIP and Skype, data transfer, news, and current affairs, accessing the media, blogging, online chat rooms, peer to peer (P2P) file-sharing platforms, search engines like Google and Yahoo, music and video sharing websites such as MySpace and YouTube, and this is just to name a few. Virtually every day we see the birth of yet another website or internet platform for people to communicate and interact with each other such as Facebook and Twitter.

The internet has changed the way we do business, and how we book and pay for travel. It has changed markets, created new markets and industries, and has shrunk or made obsolete some of the more traditional industries. It has changed the way we do banking, pay bills, and transfer funds, which we can now do from any location through our computers or internet-capable organizers, or cellular telephones. It has changed the way we buy and sell goods and services, has created the online auction revolution through mediums like eBay, and in doing so, has made it possible for anyone to run a business from home or virtually any location. It has changed the way we conduct research, educate ourselves, file for patents, trademarks, copyright, or even pay our taxes. The list of possibilities and opportunities the internet offers are almost endless and are limited only by our dreams and imagination.

It puts at our immediate disposal a range of services and tools that make our lives easier, more efficient, and better if we use the internet for good and honest purposes.

As we have demonstrated, the internet provides us with many excellent, useful, and wholesome benefits. On the downside, it has also provided a platform for many dark and destructive practices.

Other hazards and dangers we are exposed to daily through the internet come in many forms including SPAM; unsolicited emails containing viruses, emails offering products or services, emails offering fake pharmaceuticals, emails with links to pornographic websites, phishing emails from scammers seeking to obtain passwords and usernames for your bank accounts or other internet accounts such as eBay or Paypal to commit fraud or other malicious activities. Some fraudsters list and offer non-existent goods for sale on newly established online auction accounts, or through fraudulent use of established online auction accounts hijacked via phishing emails. There are websites and P2P file-sharing networks that spread computer viruses, malware, spyware, and keystroke-loggers that can enter and corrupt your computer if you don’t have adequate firewall protection, anti-virus protection, and software that blocks spyware and malware in real-time.

The possibilities for using the internet for corrupt and dishonest means are boundless. It is fraught with dangers beyond imagination for the unwary navigator, so we need to be constantly vigilant and on guard to protect ourselves from the darker side of the internet, and from those who use it for dishonest and evil purposes.