Week 11 EOC: Final

The future of the Internet is like anything else in the world. Nothing is ever guaranteed.  Big shots like Facebook who were once thought to be Internet juggernauts are now losing money in the stock market almost hourly. Its almost as if the dot com boom and crash happened all at once to the same company. Future Shock was a book written by Alvin Toffler. While the book is more than 30 years old, it still brings up valid points. The title of the book refers to when people are no longer able to keep up with the pace of change. Former powerhouses like AOL are barely ever mentioned anymore as Internet service providers. Nothing is ever certain about the internet. Steve Case, co-founder of AOL, talk about how he thinks the internet will take over physical items such as mail. “Somedayit would be great if instead of being e-mail, it would just be called mail.Instead of being e-commerce it will just be called commerce, just because it isso ubiquitous that it is just taken for granted, much as we take for granted electricityor water or other kinds of utilities.” I think this quote holds more truth than anything else about the Internet. Over at lest the next ten years, I see the future of the Internet somewhat staying as it is. The changes are not going to be about the Internet, but how you use the Internet. With cell phones, computers and tablets, there are so many ways to browse the Internet. All people seem to really want these days are more bandwidth, faster download speeds and faster browsers. “That's an enormous gap between what'scurrently possible and what's commercially available. But as time passes, thecosts of producing ultra-high-speed networks will decrease. Eventually, theaverage consumer will be able to download a high-definition movie in a secondor play cloud-based video games without a hint of lag.” The Internet has evolved a ton during the last decade. And again, I don’t think the Internet will change drastically over the next 10 years like it has, but how the user experiences the Internet.

EOC Week 10: Illicit - Dark Trade

The Internet has made communication around the world extremely accessible to anyone. The Internet can be use for business transactions or just simple e-mail exchanges between friends. One of the problems that have skyrocketed from the Internet boom is the black market. Human trafficking, drug sales and counterfeit items are being sold every day online. China is the main source that feeds this ever-expanding lucrative market. The even scarier part is that most of the pharmaceutical items sold over the black market are not even the similar product. The products for the most part a completely different chemical compound that can harm or even kill you. Recently an Adderall knock off has been making news according to CBS News. “Fake Adderall pills that contain the wrong ingredients are being sold online to unwitting consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday.The FDA's lab tests of counterfeit versions of Teva Pharmaceutical's Adderall 30 milligram tablets that were purchased on the Internet revealed that the pills contained the painkillers tramadol and acetaminophen instead of its normal amphetamine-based active ingredients.” Here is a side tip to making sure you are buying safe meds. “Ordering online? Some online pharmacies may claim to be credentialed, but the credentialing agencies may be fake, says Bate. The NABP also provides a list of legitimate web-based pharmacies consumers can check. You can also visit LegitScript.com as another resource.” And that’s just one part of the market that’s causing an issue. Human trafficking has also been and issue for a long time and will continue to be a problem. Human trafficking is a problem for numerous reasons. Sex slaves, cheap labor and mules are just a few of the jobs people get thrown into. While this is on the lighter side, Europe is staffing extra offers for the up coming soccer games.” The European Union's external border agency has deployed dozens of officers to Poland's eastern border and various travel hubs across Europe to fight human trafficking and other forms of smuggling during the European football (soccer) championship. Frontex expects more than 1 million people to enter Poland and Ukraine during the tournament that runs Friday through July 1, a huge increase compared to normal times, the agency's deputy director, Gil Arias Fernandez, said Tuesday.” While the games might not be the problem, it’s the illegal activity all the people will bring.