Becoming Aware of the Interactive World of Cyberspace
(Unfinished Essay)
From reading literature works from Benjamin Woolly, Sherry Turkle, and John Perry Barlow, I learn that we should question the ideas around us, or acknowledge them.
To spell the butter on the meaning of cyberspace, I looked towards Benjamin Woolley’s rationale on what he believes cyberspace to be. He tells us that cyberspace means the study of control, in which he says, “-‘cyber,’ meaning steersman, coming from ‘cybernetics,” study of control mechanisms.” (Woolley, Cyberspace) Woolley expresses the ideas from Marshall McLuhan, in which he says, “One interpretation of cyberspace is that it concerns the annihilation of space.” McLuhan’s idea of the Western world and how it imploded, I believe that in a sense, pornography become revolutionary towards how it invaded the Internet.
In McLuhan’s observation on how technology is an extension of our bodies and John Perry Barlows idea as cyberspace being a new frontier, Woolley tells us that, “Perhaps cyberspace, then is-literally-where the money is. Perhaps it is also the place where events increasingly happen, where our lives and fates are increasingly determined; a place that has a very direct impact on our material circumstances-…” (Woolley, Cyberspace) Maybe if Woolley is right, based on the idea that cyberspace is where the money is, maybe that’s why pornography is becoming so successful. On the other hand, maybe cyberspace is not where the money is, but where pornography can be easily accessed. (16) Benjamin Woolley says that, “The power of this real comes from its connectedness.” (16) That idea of cyberspace being a connective globe community with millions of people talking, interacting, making business transactions, and a place where business keep their personal information. (11-15) Woolley even expresses the idea of comparing a biological virus with a computer virus, in which they both deals with codes and strands of information like a virus. (12)
I had my own problem at home with people trying to break into my Compaq home computer, time and again. I had to change my American On-line password about three times because someone some how got into my AOL account number. My family also had to buy a new computer, because the one that we had, a lot of the programs on the disk top were not functioning right. Every time, I would go on the computer it would freeze, because the space on the disk top seem to be limited. I don’t know what cause it, or how it happened, maybe it was one of those pop-up windows that said that our computer was infected, when it wasn’t? I asked myself, why would people do this? Is it because other people have access to our home computer like Benjamin Woolley explains?
From the article “Staying Safe in Cyberspace,” by Lawrence R. Rogers, Senior Member of the Technical Staff, of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, 2003, says that, “Your home computer is a popular target for intruders, because they want what you may have stored there: credit card numbers, bank account information, personal background information, and anything else they can find. With such information, intruders can take your money, even steal your identity. But it is not just money-related information they may be after. Intruders also want your computer's resources, meaning your hard disk space, your fast processor, and your Internet connection. They use these resources to attack other computers on the Internet. In fact, the more computers an intruder uses, the harder it is for law enforcement investigators to figure out where the attack is coming from. If intruders can't be found, they can't be stopped, and they can't be prosecuted…Intruders go after home computers because typically they are easy targets. When connected to high-speed Internet connections that are always turned on, these computers are all the easier for intruders to find and attack.” (http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/1103/ijge/gj07.htm)
Rogers tells us how intruders break into our computer in saying, “In some cases, they send you e-mail with a virus. Reading that e-mail activates the virus, creating an opening that lets intruders see what is inside your computer. In other cases, they take advantage of a flaw or weakness in one of your computer's programs -- a vulnerability -- to gain access. Once inside, they often install new programs that let them continue to use your computer -- even after you have plugged the holes they used to get into your computer in the first place. These so-called backdoors are usually cleverly disguised to blend in with the other programs running on your computer.” (http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/ 1103 /ijge/gj07.htm)
From “Identity Crisis,” Sherry Turkle mentions that, “Our need for a practical philosophy of self-knowledge has never been greater as we struggle to make meaning from our lives on the screen.” (91). Turkle tells us as we become more involved in cyberspace with our personal personas, we will learn how to adjust ourselves in life, through cyberspace. Can I believe this to be true? If we can adjust ourselves in our real life, then maybe we can do it in cyberspace! The reason I think people wanted to become members of various Internet websites, chat rooms, and web-shop websites like eBay and Amazon.com, is because I believe that people want to find a place of comfort. But how can we be sure that the website we go to is a safe one?
Sherry Turkle tells us truthfully from “Identity in the Age of the Internet,” that, “...for many of us, cyberspace is now a part of the routines of everyday life.”(5) I see myself spending more time on the Internet, then talking on the phone or reading a book. In the cyber age, it seems that a lot of what I do depends on the use of computers. I know from my personal knowledge, that some of my family members including myself buy things from the Internet like cloths, music, shoes, concert tickets, and set up traveling reservations. We also use the Internet to pay bills, send e-mails, do homework for class, and do research about a specific subject like learn about the city of Rome. We can even talk to our girl friends or buddies on-line without having to pick up a phone.
“From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies,” by Dennis Baron, an English professor at University of Illinois, he tells us that “Technology raise the specter of digital fraud, and the latest literacy technology is now faced with the task of developing new methods of authentication to ensure confidence and trust in its audience.” (28). Denis Baron points out that, “The average reader is not equipped to detect many kinds of document falsification, and a lot of text is still accepted on trust. A writer’s reputation, or that of a publisher, predisposes readers to accept certain texts as authoritative, and to reject others. Provenance, in the world of conventional documents, is everything. We have learned to trust writing that leaves a paper trail.” (29). I wanted to mention this because I believe a lot of information that pertains to information in Cyberspace can be misleading or phony like pop-up ads, On-line Auctions, and Business opportunities sent by e-mail. We should know what kind of Internet frauds are out there in cyberspace, but how are we suppose to know if we’re not computer literate?
From my personal experience, I found out that nothing is free in cyberspace; I had to find that out the hard way. As of August and September of 2005, I became a victim of identity theft and Internet fraud. I responded to a pop-up banner that was offering something for free. I was stupid enough to buying something free in which I gave them my debt card number, home address, telephone number, name, and e-mail address. I signed-up for a free two-disc Spanish learning set that I wanted because I was taking a Spanish class. There was only a shipping fee that was only $6.95. I only paid once, and in span of two months the company charged me two additional payments of $59.95. The first additional payment was made on August 12, 2005. I told my bank that I didn’t make that transaction, and I had to pay and overture fee in which I went over the amount that I had in my checking account. I was so fucking pissed off; I felt that I just wanted to kill someone! My step-mom wrote back to the company and I received a refund from Advantagelanguage.com on the 24th of August. On the 15th of September, that dam company billed me again for the same amount of $59.95, in which I had refund a month early. As of Saturday, September 24th, 2005, I had to close my checking account so the company would stop charging money from my account.
In another incident dealing with the problem of being a victim of a scammed, I reported my problem to the Federal Trade Commission, in which their complaint service “provider,” Automated Transaction Corporation, billed me for improperly charges. They told me in the billing statement that I had to pay for Entertainment Services that I didn’t even know that I used or signed-up for, for $149.64. In an article I found about the Automated Transaction Corporation, “Deceptive Billers Agree to Settle FTC Charges” that the company was billing costumers for services they had not requested, authorized, or received. I had to find out the hard way, in which I thought they could help me, but almost falling victim to the company’s deceptive billing practices, I had the right not to pay (in which I didn’t). In the bill, the company wanted me personally, to pay the bill by credit card or check. They didn’t want me to pay cash! If I did, the company can get a hold of my checking account number and charge me for something that I might not want to pay for. I thought that the Federal Trade Commission could help me, but I didn’t read the article close enough about “The Rising Tide of Internet Fraud,” posted by the US Attorney’s Bulletin, by Jonathan Rush. The Federal Trade Commission was one of the company’s that was receiving Internet complaints about their web services, and I clearly didn’t catch that right away.
In trying to contact the Automated Transaction Corporation by phone, I didn’t get a quick response by them. I called about three times, and all I got was, just people putting me on hold. I felt that the phone service was trying to avoid me, in everyway. I even tried to call the help number on one of the company’s so-called “billing process” Websites. I called (954) 453-9000 that was on the screen as a contact service help number, and the phone operating messaging service told me that the number I called was no longer in service. I was shocked, and fucking pissed off. I even tried to contact the IFCC, the Internet Federal Complaint Center, but they e-mailed me and said that they have too many complaints, and they couldn’t help me.
There was also the problem that I had with logging-in at home, trying to get into certain websites. My step-mom was complaining about that she couldn’t do any of her banking on-line, she couldn’t get into her EBay accounts, and other accounts that she had set up on-line. The incident left me in a state of anxiety, in which both incidents with trying to log on at home and informing the Automated Transaction Corporation. My step-mom thought I did something to the computer, in which I didn’t. I thought that it must have been the Automated Transaction Corporation had to do something with it. I still don’t know if that issue is resolved at home. It’s hard for me, to learn the hard way about becoming a victim of Internet fraud or becoming aware of the possibilities that I had to deal with. I have been having constant worry about someone having my personal information and using it against me. You have to know what going on in cyberspace, by learning more about the Internet and how to you a computer safely and effectively.
From a recent news article that I found on the Internet, “Beware of Disaster Scams,” on Scam-Busters.org, in which they are warning people about the Hurricane Katrina scams that have been sent out to fool people as a charity relief scam. There is also now, as of September 24th from the Search Engine Journal, there is a Hurricane Rita scam out there, Loren Baker reports. Baker highlights that the Washington Post told people that, “…spam and scam artists are registering Hurricane Rita oriented sites and domain names to prepare for e-mail and web based scam operations.” (http://www.searchenginejournal .com/index.php?p=2246) I found on the Internet about Internet fraud, called “Internet Fraud Watch Facts,” Holly Anderson tells us that, “more that 60 percent of Internet fraud victims pay by checks, cash, or money orders, and 19 percent pay by credit card. Other means of payment include telepone bills, bank account debits, and wire transfers.” (http://www.natlconsumersleague.org/ ifwfact2.htm)
From the Vancouver Post article by Gillian Shaw, “Phone spam a security risk”, Shaw talks about David Pais, Chief financial officer of an Eyeball Networks, in telling us, “Everybody gets spam even though they use anti-spam software…” As a result, this article states that scammers and fraud companies can tap into private telephones and get access personal account numbers. There is already the problem of pop-up porn ads, credit card ads, and investment ads that people been trying to avoid. Phone spam is also affecting security risk for Internet users, in which Gillian Shaw, The Vancouver Sun, says that, “SPIT, for Spam over Internet Telephony, is the latest worry security experts are warning about as the increasing adoption of VoIP1 phones creates a new avenue for porn peddlers and fraud artists to infiltrate homes and offices.” I think people should know this because the article states that VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is the most used telecommunication out there.
I had to find out what VoIP was, so I typed it up in Google and I came to the Federal Communications Commission website. What I found was that VoIP was “Internet Voice, also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), is a technology that allows you to make telephone calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular (or analog) phone line. Some services using VoIP may only allow you to call other people using the same service, but others may allow you to call anyone who has a telephone number - including local, long distance, mobile, and international numbers. Also, while some services only work over your computer or a special VoIP phone, other services allow you to use a traditional phone through an adaptor. (http://www.fcc.gov/viop/) I never had a high speed Internet connection, but that doesn’t mean my computer is safe from getting hacked or tapped into.
We as Internet users need to know where the threat of Internet fraud is coming from. From “The Rising Tide of Internet Fraud,” Jonathan Rusch, Special Counsel for Fraud Prevention in the Fraud Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C, mentions numerous types of Internet fraud like Equipment Software, Pyramids/Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), Business Opportunities Franchises, Work-at-Home Plans, Credit Card Issuing, and Prizes/Sweepstakes frauds. With each description of each kind of fraud, Rusch mentions federal accounts of fraud and criminal actions that lead criminal into pleading guilty. The most common Internet fraud out there that I found from the article is On-line auctions. In online auctions, criminals can take advantage of multiple e-mail addresses and false identities to place fake bids to raise the bid. Rusch also says that criminals also provide false background information and a false sense of security. If this happens, false providers can take your billing information, like your credit card number and use that against you by setting up new credit accounts for themselves. To read this article and get an insight of the other kinds of frauds, please visit
Most of the information that I found in “The Rising Tide of Internet Fraud,” was provided by the International Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) – a join project of the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. From the IC3 2004 Internet Fraud – Crime Report, prepared by the National White Collar Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation gives an insight of the total complaints received and referred by the IC3 yearly, providing information on fraudulent and non-fraudulent complaints primarily related to the Internet, showing statistics on percentage of the different types complaints reported, by type, monetary loss, gender, state, country, and age. To check out this important statistical informational report, please go to <> to see what the highest complaint referred by the IC3 was for 2004.
From the Internet article, “Internet Auction Fraud Among FTC’s Top 10 Consumer Complaints for 2004,” it said that Internet auction fraud was the highest in complaints according to the Federal Trade Commission’s annual report in 2004, as complaints grow from 83,161 to 98,653, between 2003 and 2004. Of the complaints reported in 2004, 246,570 were identity theft, and 388,603 were fraud complaints. Credit card fraud was the most common form of the reported identity theft. There are also various complaints and confessions from on-line buyers and sellers from eBay, that I read myself on Crimes-of-Persuasion.com. Hears one incident that I thought was very profound. “I was sold a stolen vehicle on eBay. I wired the money to the seller instead of using my credit card because the seller said he didn't want to make the transaction through his business. When I received the bill of sale on the vehicle, the bill of sale was from his business. I'm sure this was done because he didn't want a "charge back" made to his account through Visa, knowing that the vehicle was stolen. How do I go about filing wire fraud charges against the seller? The FBI doesn't seem to want to get involved because the sale was under $5,000. How do I go about prosecuting and getting my money back? This person owns two businesses in Alabama and doesn't feel he is responsible for returning my money. Please give me any links or other help that you can provide. EBay was helping me I thought, but now they won't respond to my e-mails. Thank You, John Lowry. 03/17/02.” If you want to read some of the complaints for yourself, please go to
Becoming aware of Internet fraud in the interactive world of cyberspace is up to you. How you use your information on the internet, is up to you, but who you give it to, is very important. I think it’s important that you should have an idea on what’s going on out there in cyberspace. I want you as a computer Literate, to use the information that I provided you to the fullest extend. I found some helpful Internet websites that can help you to know more about Internet fraud. I recommend that you read “Foundations: Why Hackers Want You,” by William Van Winkle at
(Needs to be revised and rewritten)
Work Cited:
Anderson, Holly. “Internet Fraud Watch Facts.” National Consumers League. 10
February 1998. 26 Sept. 2005. http://www.natlconsumersleague.org/ifwfact2.htm
Baker, Loren. “Hurricane Rita Internet Scams.” Search Engine Journal. 24 Sept. 2005.
26 Sept. 2005. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=2246
Baron, Denis. “From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technology.” (15 - 33)
Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st. Century Technologies. Gail Hawisher and
Cynthia Selfe, Editors. Logan, UT. Utah State University Press. 1999.
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Remarks to the Senate Permanent Committee on Investigations.” National
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2001. Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) of the Criminal
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Shaw, Gillian. “Phone spam a security risk: The cellphone industry is working to tackle
What could be a massive problem before it takes root?” The Vancouver Sun. 26 September. 2005. 26 Sept. 2005. http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=3df3410c-4231-4253-a56b-43b33639b7f1
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http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y05/m02/i02/s03
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Viacom Company. 1999, 7 - 19.
posted by Gene Brady Jr. at 10:59 AM
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