Do you fear the internet more than like it?

[Lesley_Roberta]

I ask this in general discussions, as I suppose that is what it is.

We like to defend the internet by saying all of the wonderful things it gives us, but, at what cost?

From being able to download crap, to all the great shopping, and places like Susan's as well as a source of easy information.

But the cost. I often feel the internet is increasingly as dangerous as all the nukes were when I was young. Always out there, always lurking, always waiting to destroy my world.

It would take just one seriously dedicated seriously intentional concerted attack on society's infrastructure and NOT just be a Bruce Willis movie and it could all just fall apart.

And then poof no online anything. All the things we 'need' or have convinced ourselves we can't live without just effectively gone.

I don't think 'the man' will ever match the potential threat level of a group of hackers that were bought off by an organization that desired to destroy a nation. Nothing the government can do will ever be on par. The government can jail an individual for cyber crimes, but a properly motivated cyber attack can destroy a government utterly and take all of us with it.

I don't live in fear of my online access being usurped by stupid laws. But I do live in fear of our increasingly connected reality being a potentially weaker and weaker house of cards. I've lost track of the number of news articles reporting this that and the other supposedly impenetrable defense being hacked. Credit cards promise the world, but are not immune, institutions with supposedly bottomless budgets, and yet they are not secure from a cliche attack.

The more the internet seems to invade every portion of my life, and connect every damned part of my life, the more it bothers me that too much of my life might be too unavoidably dependent on the internet. What would you do, if tomorrow, thanks to a hacker, the world at large was positive you were dead? All you are is a bunch of data now. They don't pay dead people. All your ID is meaningless if you are dead. Your meds are for the living, not a dead person. Your bank account will not acknowledge you if you are dead. And all you need is for someone to fill out the correct forms, alter the right documents, and presto, you don't really exist.

When I was a kid, none of the perks of the internet were present. But I got by.
If tomorrow I was unable to use the internet, well the damage likely would be incredible.
I would not be very happy to say the least.

I don't like feeling this vulnerable.

[Tristan]

I'm ok with the Internet I just already remember that that you need to be careful what you post online

[Jess42]

I agree. It's way too easy to lose your identity through the internet. Do I fear it? nahhh. But I don't really trust it either. This is due to the corporate entities and their lack of security.

The biggest pro that far outwieghs the distrust is the level of communications that we can have. This sight is a wonderful safe place for us to engage in substantial conversation with each other in a fairly open way. We congregate here for that. There are people all around the world that are transgendered here. In the real world without this great double edged communication device, we would never have the oportunity to communicate. There are other transgenders in my area but face to face you have to start up a line of communication. A lot of people are shy and would rather not strike up a conversation with a stranger in a public place.

If I run into someone while being stealth and I see someone that I think is transgendered, how do I go about starting a conversation? Why would I go about starting a conversation on the sole premis that both of us are trans? Will he or she (M2F or F2M) think me a gay or straight "->-bleeped-<-"? What if they are not transgendered? Going up to someone on the basis of hopefully sharing the transgedered umbrella as having something in common in the real world is a coin toss. I know some ciswomen that look more like a man than me in the face. Visible adam's apples and voices aren't a real good indicators either. Meeting on websights and having conversations on sights such as here and if you do run into someone in your area and meetup in person the line of communication has already been established. There are no doubts in that both of you are transgedered or have an SO or are non judgemental of transgedered people. In other words Hon, if we ever run into one another and start causally talking it my become apparent that you are Lesley_Roberta and I am Jessica or Jess42 on Susan's Place and we already know that each is transgedered and can go right into makeup and shoes. Even if we are stealth mode at the time.

And Lesley, even if it goes poof and not here tomorrow, Yeah I would definately miss it. It has helped me tremedously in the way of transender issues and talking with others more openly than you ever can in real world situations in which it is face to face. It has helped me see that there are far many more people like me across the globe and don't feel as isolated as I once used to. If it were gone tomorrow, I would still know all these things and they would still bring me comfort. Instead of reading your thoughts I would probably be like, "I wonder what Lesley_Roberta's thinking about or doing today?"