It’s not really going out on a limb if I say, “I hate spam.” Everyone hates it. Having our e-mail in-boxes stuffed with ads for everything from cheap pills to sex organ enhancers got old about five minutes after e-mail was introduced. I estimate that I spend about an hour or two per day just sifting through the spam that my spam filter didn’t catch. Add to that the plague of virus infested e-mails that my anti-virus software pops up to tell me about every few minutes and you can tack on another hour per day at least. Plus, every week for about thirty minutes I have to run my anti-adware and spyware software to find all the hidden garbage that was installed on my computer without my knowledge or consent. My computer is no longer an asset but a liability to my work.
That’s bad enough, but think about this – we PAY for the software that’s designed to remove the stuff we don’t want! You know, there’s a real-world equivalent to that sort of thing. Ever heard of a protection racket? That’s where some group, usually a mafia type, arrives at your place of business and demands that you pay for protection from things like mysterious fires, thugs breaking in and stealing you blind, and even physical harm or death for you or your loved ones. The “protection,” of course, is from the very group that’s asking for your money. You’re paying to keep Guido from breaking your legs or causing some other problem in your life. It’s an illegal practice in the real world, but for some reason it’s perfectly acceptable in cyber space.
Oh, I’m not suggesting that the people who make anti-spam/virus/adware/spyware software are CAUSING the plague they claim to fight(how do we know for sure that they aren’t?), but they ARE profiting from it. And really, the results are the same. “Pay us or a vicious virus will eat your hard drive, your name will go on a list for advertisers of child porn web sites and hidden software will track your every keystroke while you use your computer.” Sounds like a protection scheme to me, only they don’t have to dirty their hands by causing these catastrophes themselves. There are plenty of people out there who are willing to do the dirty work for free.
While we’re doing a little noodle stretching, think about this: If viruses, spam and adware were completely eliminated, the entire “anti-“ industry would be put out of business! It doesn’t take a degree in psychology to realize that there isn’t really much motivation for these companies to do their job exceptionally well. In fact, they’d be crazy to do too good of a job. It’s a bit like an exterminator inventing a way to deter insects and rodents for good. You’re chopping off your own hand.
But what choice do we have? As long as we’re dependent on the Internet and the Web for our livelihoods then we’re stuck paying the protection money, right? Strictly speaking, that’s not quite true. You see, a portion of our taxes is supposed to be dedicated to the protection of our economy as well as our national and local defense. Our economy, at the moment, depends a great deal on online transactions. So, in the strictest sense, the government is required to have a system in place that protects us from things like viruses and spam. These things cost our country millions, maybe even billions per year, so it’s in the best interest of our government to take action against them.
Of course, we all know the drill. Somehow, government intervention would cost us even more than the software we’re paying for. A new tax might be introduced, for example. Or just as likely the government will go the way it did on insurance for drivers, requiring that you have some sort of Online Insurance, and then doing nothing to regulate the cost.
So it falls back to the public sector. What if there were some sort of non-profit organization that was dedicated to providing protection against spam, viruses, adware and whatever other costly and annoying idiocy comes from the Web in the future? The organization could receive government subsidies, maybe even become a government sponsored agency at some point.
Or maybe a company that works somewhat like insurance (only not evil), allowing clients to pay the equivalent of the cost of virus scan software every year but be fully protected by one universal service. This company could use the money it makes to investigate newer and better ways to protect us from all the bad stuff the Internet brings with it. Ah… it’s nice to dream, huh?
Who knows. Maybe the words of a humble columnist will be enough to get the gears going. I’d certainly be open to hearing ideas and opinions about this. Maybe we can form our OWN organization dedicated to this principle.
Of course, we’d have to advertise it via e-mail.
J. Kevin Tumlinson is the Publisher and Editor for ViewOnline Magazine at www.viewonline.com. He is a Houston Baptist University graduate with degrees in English and Communications. You can reach him by e-mail at kevin@viewonline.com. He thinks everything should be free
Anti Industry