The Darkness of The Web

Tim Birners-Lee, admits, the web he created 28 years ago, has strayed from what he imagined - a platform of ubiquity, for opportunity and collaboration and the dilution of geographic and cultural boundaries.

It has become less than what he envisioned.

The net is now an interesting place. It is Robert Browning’s modern version of the Pied Piper, and it’s not Hamelin that is rat-infested, but how the net is being used and the tune it is playing.

Its charm and appeal is the accessibility of information it serves, the knowledge it can provide, the entertainment it creates, but increasingly the dangers that hide within its deep abyss create an overwhelming concerning. It is playing a different tune to that of what Browning’s Pied Piper’s tune achieved.

Analogies are great, and the comparison between the net and Hamelin is an interesting dichotomy.

The Pied Piper played a magical tune, and the net’s lure, its free content of sites in exchange for personal data – is a problem that has grown wildly out of control.

Trading and capturing data is an issue on every level, and its our children who are becoming victims of the trolls who stalk the net for the personal information of children exposing and taking advantage of their innocence and vulnerability.

The seemingly harmless games they play online, or sites they sign up to like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Skype, are opening doors to the dark web where predators lurk and prey.

A child’s personal data is now identifiable. The opportunity to trade on that information to those who could be made available and sold to anyone on the dark web, has become a sad reality.

It is a market allowing predators access to confidential information previously unavailable.

Children are now susceptible to phishing and malware attacks because their information can be hacked and the intent by individuals that harbour within the dark web are using that information for personal gain.

The risk of Australian children falling foul to lurking predators, sees them at greater risk than ever before to harm, whether it be physical, emotional or mental abuse. 

Their exposure and what lies behind the insidious side of the web, means controlling captured and traded information and who is accessing it becomes an increasingly difficult task and the vulnerability of children continues to grow daily at an exponential rate.

Security In depth’s State of Cyber Security In Australia Report, 2018, recently released, shows 23% of Australian children under 18 are accessing games online, while 97% under 18, access both social media and online games.

Eight million Australian children now use online games and social media applications.

The Report also shows when children sign up to on line games and social media services, each application or service requests a child accepts the terms and conditions of use.

It’s hard to conceive how any child has the legal capacity to accept and understand terms and conditions put before them, especially when adults themselves fail to comprehend them.

The State of Cyber Security In Australia 2018 Report reveals a harrowing picture of despair. It shows a canvass on the horizon now littered with 45% of 8-11year old’s in Australia using social networking sites unchecked.

Social media applications capture personal identifiable information like name, date of birth, email address and password, and if that isn’t enough to create concern, those very same sites are also capable of secretly recording our conversations, likes, dislikes, where we go, where we live and who we visit.

The net is no longer a place of information for research and knowledge, it has become a place designed for ill-intention and racked with mechanisms and capabilities that still leave us incapable of coherently understanding the true insidious nature of what lies within.

The net is not a bad place if used correctly and the right approaches and strategies are adopted to manage and control its use and it is the children who now at risk and are most vulnerable to the pitfalls and darkness of what the web can and has to offer.

Social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Skype are the favourites amongst Australian children and teens and their exposure to the perils raise at alarming rates.

The statistics around the security of social media sites is a damning insight into how vulnerable we all are, especially children. The statistics reinforce why we should be alarmed and vigilant around security and privacy.

Snapchat has experienced a number of data breaches where 55k of its user account details were hacked in 2017, an employee data breach in 2016 with a further 4.6 million users information breached in 2014.

Facebook isn’t without its issues, and only this year, saw the private information of 87 million users world-wide, hacked.

In 2017, 6 million of Instagram’s users had their accounts breached while Skype continues to have massive security issues and vulnerabilities.

The web is a far more dangerous place than what Tim Birners-Lee had ever intended, if left unchecked without any strategies developed to protect those most vulnerable, then we have failed to safeguard their safety.

Australians are in a lather over the misconceived belief that the government’s My Health ­Record (MHR) is open to hacking and puts every Australian’s personal health records at risk.

Data breaches are far too common and Australians are right to be cautious about who holds their personal information and the level of security provided. However, to what degree do we interpret vigilance for paranoia?

Privacy and the protection of personal information will always remain an important issue and Australians should never give away the right to demand utmost accountability.

However, the current debate around the ability of MHR to provide and maintain a level of security guaranteeing privacy is flawed and lacking in logic.

Australia has a health system the envy of the world. We lead the way in medical research, medical technology and specialist treatment programs.

A federally funded system is part of the mosaic that makes what we have so special. MHR adds to that ­mosaic.

The idea of a central system allowing Australians’ health records to be available to hospitals and doctors is a model we need to embrace. It is well overdue. Information in real time ­allows doctor faced with an emergency to treat someone with greater efficiency and speed, and make accurate diagnoses based on medical history.

It saves lives and improves care. Nothing is better than that.

The detractors believe the cons outweigh the pros. It’s difficult to understand how saving lives and improved healthcare is a negative.

Choice to decide is a right we value. When presented with the right information, our decision-making is enhanced. Yet Australians choosing to opt out of MHR are making a shortsighted decision based on misinformation.

It’s a decision they could live to regret when faced with an emergency.

Various media reports have painted a picture of dire inevit­ability, where every Australian’s health records will be up for grabs. No federal government would ever put at risk the personal and private information of Australians.

It has invested hundreds of millions of dollars developing MHR not for it to be a security risk.

It’s wrong to think a flagship-based records system will be without the highest form of security to ensure data protection.

I am highly protective about data privacy and protection. My decision to opt in is based on considered fact and the right information, as opposed to specu­lative noise generated by special interest groups attempting to derail an overdue program.

Saving lives is what the MHR will achieve.

For an ageing population, it also improves healthcare and outcomes, and, over the long term, reduced costs.

MHR allows:

Doctors to make better-informed decisions on prescribing medicines.

Doctors who discover patients shopping for drugs to provide alternatives.

Doctors to see what medicines are being used and prescribe medicines that are supportive.

Australians to control who sees what information and when.

People to see their medical records and use them for their own medical purposes.

People to track who looks at their health records — identifying and addressing any potential misuse.

Every Australian should be cautious about privacy but being fearful of doctors using information for personal gain is a difficult argument to accept. The introduction of MHR is not to be feared. The government isn’t lurking in the shadows waiting to snare our personal information — they already have it.