the Wild Wild Cyberspace...
It is common logic that laws are only enforceable where individuals can be tracked down when crimes are committed. The ability to identify and track down the criminal is perhaps the most factor preventing more people from harming others for personal benefit. Seriously, if one knows that one is guaranteed that one cannot be found by the law-enforcement agencies, where is the risk for doing something illegal?
In the modern world, this sort of "disappearing criminal" logic still works in two circumstances: international relations and the cyberspace. As for international relations, I don't need to elaborate. A country can easily make up some bullshit reasons to invade another in the name of "justice." And domestic laws can easily be overridden when foreign fishermen are concerned.
The logic is clear, the criminal with more power, as defined by greater technology, greater economic strength, and even greater size becomes good enough reason to replace the boundaries of law. Law indeed have to shut up in front of power.
In any country, this sort of situation would be considered immoral and controversial. But when a country's jurisdiction becomes a mere laughable threat without any teeth, then even the most righteous citizens can only look on with dismay. While in the case of international relations, one can still hope for a superpower acting as an impartial judge in fronts not necessarily tied to her national interest, in the cyberspace, all such hopes are simply unrealistic to the extreme.
I came to such grim realization after discovering that my Yahoo mailbox have been hacked through multiple times, with spam emails constantly generated to all my friends and acquiescences. Of course, as all the spam are directly sent from my email, I have no way of knowing who is the culprit and not way of punishing him/her/it.
In a way, it is another example of technology as a tool for victory. While Internet companies can battle it out offline with their business strategies, individuals on the Internet can easily hide their identities among hundreds of millions of daily users from every corner of the globe.
Even for countries determined to control the flow of information on its domain, as long as it is connected to the Worldwide Web, even in a highly limited fashion, it is vulnerable to unwelcoming intruders. Sure, some countries work on cyber technologies that can identify the origins of these intruders, but what about the commoners like me?
As I see the damages done from my own mailbox and facing accusations from people who've received multiple spam mails from me, the only thing I can do is to passively accept my unluckiness. After all, I am not the only one getting such treatment from cyber criminals; I too had received spam mails from people I know. It is too common a phenomenon that regular netizens like me not longer display any anger toward such petty annoyance.
But is it really OK for us to simply laugh off such sheer intrusion of cyber security without concrete actions? Should we demand the creation of some overarching regulatory commission that watches our every move on the Internet? Careful thinking tells me the answer has to be a no. Just as people go to lawless lands and black markets for adventure and acquire what is impossible in a regulated society, people go to the cyberspace to experience that same thrill.
The Internet, unregulated and lawless, has become the last frontier untouched by the political control of human beings. Any way to reduce freedom and access on the Internet should be condemned as immoral and tyrannical. Heck, who knows, may be one day I will be hacking other people's emails and spamming their friends, haha.
In the modern world, this sort of "disappearing criminal" logic still works in two circumstances: international relations and the cyberspace. As for international relations, I don't need to elaborate. A country can easily make up some bullshit reasons to invade another in the name of "justice." And domestic laws can easily be overridden when foreign fishermen are concerned.
The logic is clear, the criminal with more power, as defined by greater technology, greater economic strength, and even greater size becomes good enough reason to replace the boundaries of law. Law indeed have to shut up in front of power.
In any country, this sort of situation would be considered immoral and controversial. But when a country's jurisdiction becomes a mere laughable threat without any teeth, then even the most righteous citizens can only look on with dismay. While in the case of international relations, one can still hope for a superpower acting as an impartial judge in fronts not necessarily tied to her national interest, in the cyberspace, all such hopes are simply unrealistic to the extreme.
I came to such grim realization after discovering that my Yahoo mailbox have been hacked through multiple times, with spam emails constantly generated to all my friends and acquiescences. Of course, as all the spam are directly sent from my email, I have no way of knowing who is the culprit and not way of punishing him/her/it.
In a way, it is another example of technology as a tool for victory. While Internet companies can battle it out offline with their business strategies, individuals on the Internet can easily hide their identities among hundreds of millions of daily users from every corner of the globe.
Even for countries determined to control the flow of information on its domain, as long as it is connected to the Worldwide Web, even in a highly limited fashion, it is vulnerable to unwelcoming intruders. Sure, some countries work on cyber technologies that can identify the origins of these intruders, but what about the commoners like me?
As I see the damages done from my own mailbox and facing accusations from people who've received multiple spam mails from me, the only thing I can do is to passively accept my unluckiness. After all, I am not the only one getting such treatment from cyber criminals; I too had received spam mails from people I know. It is too common a phenomenon that regular netizens like me not longer display any anger toward such petty annoyance.
But is it really OK for us to simply laugh off such sheer intrusion of cyber security without concrete actions? Should we demand the creation of some overarching regulatory commission that watches our every move on the Internet? Careful thinking tells me the answer has to be a no. Just as people go to lawless lands and black markets for adventure and acquire what is impossible in a regulated society, people go to the cyberspace to experience that same thrill.
The Internet, unregulated and lawless, has become the last frontier untouched by the political control of human beings. Any way to reduce freedom and access on the Internet should be condemned as immoral and tyrannical. Heck, who knows, may be one day I will be hacking other people's emails and spamming their friends, haha.
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