The Digital Society in the Internet Era
The World Wide Web between Privacy and Social Networks
Knowing the laws that protect and regulate the correct use of the Internet are essential knowledge today for the workers of tomorrow. Children between the ages of 14 and 18 are among the major users of the Internet, both for study and leisure reasons. Therefore it is important that they understand how the Internet and the Web in general are first of all a tool to be used in a conscious and intelligent way. Topics such as Privacy and Social Networks are current issues.
The school must also give children tools to reflect on problems such as the management of user data, or the privacy of Internet users, and the fight against cyberbullying phenomena. I am sure that the discussion of these topics even with extra-curricular activities can sensitize students to use Interent and the Web in a constructive and ethical way.
From the ARPANET project to Social Networks
The Internet has revolutionized the world. This revolution reached its peak with the arrival of smartphones. Thanks to this combination we have a continuous flow of information that reaches the palm of our hand. We send e-mails, we phone, we discuss topics we are interested in with people miles away from us, we have with a click one of the largest encyclopedias in the world like Wikipedia, we know in real time events that happened a second before on the other side of the world . This was all science fiction 20 or 30 years ago.
ARPANET
It all started 50 years ago, when computers did “simple” mathematical calculations and took up entire rooms. The ancestor of the Internet was ARPANET, acronym for Advanced Research Projects Agency NETworks, developed in 1969. ARPANET was a project of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a United States agency founded in 1958 for advanced defense research. . Thanks to these researches, also started due to the Cold War, the basic concepts were developed that today are the foundations for the functioning of the Internet.
The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web, known by the acronym WWW and commonly abbreviated to Web, refers to the main service that uses the Internet. It was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991. The web can be classified as a vast set of contents, both multimedia and non-multimedia, interconnected with each other through links called hyperlinks and which allow us to “navigate” between web pages .
Google and Search Engines
Activities such as browsing and finding information contained on the Web have become easier thanks to the birth of search engines such as Google or Yahoo arrived at the gates of the new millennium. Before their existence, finding useful information on the web was much more difficult as they were neither indexed nor categorized. With them, however, it was possible not only to index the contents but also their categorization and classification based on the preferences of users who use a search engine. What has made the fortunes of these companies, Google in particular, is being able to derive great profits from indexing content on the web. The economic model of Google through its adversiting plans has completely changed the way of earning through the web, making it the reference model for all companies that want to invest in it.
Privacy and Cookie Law
Before Google, other companies such as Yahoo or Excite allowed the indexing of content but the search was not at all relevant to the real interests of the Internet user, and the advertising provided by these companies was completely disconnected from the user. For example, a geek could see advertising banners appearing about football and no banners about technology products. Google solved this problem by making each content search different for each user based on their preferences; in this way it was among the first to be able to offer a specific advertising to a targeted audience based on real interests, hobbies and habits.
This approach has transformed the way of conceiving the web by putting the user at the center of attention. Google, like many other giants of the web, creates a digital profile for each user that it uses to offer the best possible search accompanied by the most accurate advertising possible. This approach has not been without criticism as there is at risk, and not a little, the privacy of Internet users.
For these reasons, in June 2015 Europe issued the directive known as the Cookie Law aimed at ensuring that users can be informed that their private information is used for profit purposes every time they access a website. . This revolution that took place in the late 90s had a further turning point with the birth of social networks, where the most important of all was certainly Facebook.
The Social Networks
Social networks have always existed. The need to create relationships with the people around us, to communicate our emotions, what happens to us in our daily life and our interests is intrinsic to the human being. Before the Web, relationships between people were much more limited, meaning that each person could communicate with an inevitably limited number of people. With the advent of social networks, and in particular with the arrival of Facebook in 2004, Twitter in 2006 and Instagram in 2010, we can potentially create a virtual relationship with anyone in the world by instantly communicating all the activities of our life, from where we are to what we are thinking or doing. The Social networks have led to a global “democratization” where each user has a voice and can have his or her opinion on a given topic. The web and internet users today have two-way communication. At the dawn of the web, internet users requested the contents provided by websites and used them, but today they are both users of content and producers of the same. The arrival of the internet also on mobile phones has certainly facilitated access to social networks for new generations. Things that previously could only be done through a Personal Computer, today can be done from the palm of a hand through our smartphones.
Conclusions
Social networks and web services are used by users without paying. They are free because users agree to give their data. It is important that each state protects its citizens with adequate laws for the protection of privacy. In fact, since May 2018 the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is now in force, which allows a clear and precise regulation on the processing of personal data and privacy for citizens residing in Europe.
It should therefore be clear that one of the most precious things that web services have is your information, what you are looking for on the web, what you buy, your musical tastes, what you prefer to eat.
All this is completely legal, since you have registered and started using their services, you have signed a “contract”. They allow us to use their services because they don’t care about your money, the product is you. If you think you have complete privacy you are wrong, you cannot have it, it is the price to pay for having them for free. Web 2.0 revolves around this simple principle.
The web is a very powerful tool, but like all tools it must be used in a conscious, intelligent, ethical and responsible way.
