This House Believe The Internet Brings More Harm Than Good ALL POINTS OF POINTS FOR Source http://www.europe.idebate.org/debatabase/debates/science-technology/house believes-internet-brings-more-harm-good
TITL!: The quality of information online cannot always be relied upon POINTS FOR
1. The Internet has become a major source of information for many people. owever! owever! online online information has usually not gone through the same chec"s as newspaper articles! boo"s or factual television programming. There is a higher ris" that some of the facts or quotations from a particular source in an article are false. #hereas newspapers might lose customers if people find out they have been $selling lies%! a blog and other other online content can be easily created and uploaded as well as just as quic"ly being deleted. If people base their opinions on the information they find online! they could well be basing their opinion on false information. Ta"e Ta"e for e&le the '(() conspiracy film *oose +hange which has had millions of views. , report from the thin"tan" t hin"tan" emos in a report titled Truth! *ies and the Internet: , eport into 0oung 0oung eople%s igital 2luency. 2luency. 3tate that the film contains a ...litnay of errors! misattributions! vague insinuations! subtle misquotes! and outright falsehoods...4 3ince the Internet gives equal space to material of greatly varying quality! the degree to which the internet can been viewed as being a total force for good is drawn into question. If an informed society is an empowered society it therefore stands to reason that a misinformed society is disempowered society s ociety.. "O#NT!RPOINTS
1. The Internet gives millions of people access to information they would not otherwise have had! which is a huge benefit. eople who read the news! offline or online! are not inherently dupable! they li"e all people do not simply accept messages they are! to varying degrees! critical of what they read and not simply passive. #hen people spend a lot of time reading online content they can differentiate between bloggers who are untrustworthy or e&tremely biases from bloggers who carefully refer to legitimate sources. The problem of bad information in news-ma"ing is not unique to the Internet5 there are lots of trashy maga6ines and poorly researched news content in traditional print channels of communication as well. #e learn in formal education to double-chec" our sources and not believe everything ever ything we read! and we can apply that s"ill while surfing the Internet. It is not enough to say that the internet contains falsehoods to dismiss the value of the internet. ,ll mediums contain falsehoods whether intentional or unintentional but there is a much broader picture that needs to be considered in terms of the ability of the internet to provide people with freedom of e&pression and freedom of of information! if it being a free for all has the downside of some falsehoods then that is a price worth paying.
TITL! The Internet is a threat to privacy POINTS FOR
'. 7veryone%s privacy can be greatly harmed by the Internet. 3ome websites store information. 3ome as" us to fill in information which can be sold to other sites for commercial purposes. ,s the Internet gains more and more users the temptation for criminals to gain our private information becomes greater. ac"ers can hide their true location when engaging in illegal activities online! so the li"elihood of their being brought to justice is low. #henever people post something online! it becomes almost impossible to erase! and with the proliferation of social networ"s posting personal information online is becoming second nature! this is a dangerous precedent. Ta"e for e&le the posting of our locations online via geotagging! this for many is an action which doesn%t ta"e much consideration! however! to demonstrate the danger of this designer 8arry 8orsoom setup the website leaseob9e.com which would grab geocaching data and tell people when a person%s house was potentially empty. #ith the aid of the Internet then! we are symbolically sleepwal"ing into a big brother style e&istence! in an information age all data about ourselves is an important asset and one which needs defending. The infringement and degradation of our privacy as a side-result of the Internet should be of great concern! and it is potentially one of the most detrimental effects the Internet could have on society. "O#NT!RPOINTS
'. rivacy online is a big concern! but an educated citi6en can navigate the Internet in a safe and sensible manner with minimal privacy issues! although as with being offline a the threat of crime can never be entirely eliminated. #hen we go online no-one forces the user to share private information! it is volunteered by the user in e&change for a free service! it is often a small price to pay for the services that can be received in return! such as free e-mail or free webspace. f course privacy can be infringed in other ways! by unlawful access to personal files for e&le! but if protection such as firewalls are setup and users are careful about what they download privacy online can be easily maintained. It is misleading to say we are sleeping wal"ing into a big brother e&istence! it gives in impression that the effect the Internet is having on society is conspiratorial! this is clearly not the case! people li"e the way the Internet can bring people all over the world together. rivacy is no more of a problem online than privacy is in the offline world! the issue is being overstated by the proposition.
TITL! The Internet has allowed a large amount of criminal! offensive and discriminatory information to be easily accessed. POINTS FOR
;. The ability for anyone to be able to publish anything online without barriers resulted in a large amount of information which could not only be incorrect but could also be criminal! offensive or discriminatory if it were available to the general public. This sort of information would not usually be widely published via offline channels! but with the advent of the Internet it is very easily accessible by anyone li"e never before! and this is a dangerous president. , cavalcade of propaganda from e&tremist groups such as religious 6ealots or
3, states that 7nabled by '1st-century technology! e&tremists have optimi6ed the use of Internet chat rooms! #eb sites and e-mail chains to spread their virulent messages and reach a global audience of potential recruits4. 8ut it is not only terrorists who are utili6ing the Internet at a detriment to society. ?arious reports have lin"ed a sharp rise in paedophilia with the growth of the Internet as it is an easy and often anonymous way to share such material with the world. The ability for anyone to publish anything online could clearly do considerable harm to society! which would have otherwise been much less prevalent and easier to control and regulate. "O#NT!RPOINTS
;. 2reedom of information should mean freedom of all types of information! even if it is e&treme propaganda from fringe groups such as neo-
