Tag: Internet

Google is clearly a monopoly and the internet needs to change.

According to some judges in our judiciary, Google is a monopoly and has been manipulating the ad market in order to gain advantage. Another case is coming up where Google is in hot water regarding its Chrome browser.

Now, I am generally skeptical of the judiciary. They generally have spent most of their lives in a position that has no elections. They often hold such hearings without any public notice. It is among one of the most elite of branches in the government. However, I am inclined to believe that these judges are not being political for one or another party here. It is clear. Google needs to change its practices.

The internet should have never been allowed to have one company control so much of it. Instead of just having two search engines, we could have much more.

Google is not a company that I really trust anymore. It has been corrupting the internet for many years. Instead of making it a place where information can be traded with other individuals, it just become another shopping mall for consumers.

While shopping isn’t necessarily something that shouldn’t be on the internet, it has made the internet into a place to sell items rather than to trade ideas.

Google’s monopoly of advertising on the internet invites people to focus on monetary values.

AT&T was also a monopoly in a sense. However, the company was actually helping America. Universal Service was not merely a motto but something that they believed in. America was leading the way in the telephone industry. We had an impressive telecommunications system that was built early and helped our industries.

Google on other hand seems content with its control on the internet simply to rely on the advertising revenues. They do not even care about the quality of content on the internet. Their search engine props up establishment sources while in their earlier days, they were actually showing many sites of varying qualities.

Google has also been putting too many sponsored ads on the site. One cannot search for anything without seeing an ad for some product or another here.

I believe such a site is causing our internet to have only a resemblance to what it once was.

Things need to change.

Maybe Google will claw back in these battles. However, the internet needs warriors who will make free again. That creativity should not be stifled by a monopoly here.

The Oracle Hack and its refusal to take responsbility.

It is yet another day in the Oracle Hacking crisis. The company is not interested in taking any responsibility for its actions. The inability to stop the hack or even responsibility is a big issue that the government should be investigating here. While one can say that Oracle is not an omnipotent company, they still need to be aware that security matters. The company is wasting its time by not responding to the complaints.

Oracle has to understand that it’s reputation is at stake here and action must be taken to restore confidence.

I am not a cyber security expert but everyday there seems to be more hacks and break ins by hackers.

Oracle needs to take this seriously and give the right response to their customers.

With the Lazarus Group from Kim Jong Un’s North Korea stealing crypto and this hack, something has to change.

What can change?

I think that educating people on cyber security should be in schools. Too often, it seen as an easy class in high school and in college. When I went to George Mason University, IT class was seen as a burden by students. It is time that perception changes. Even after all these years of computer education, many students are not serious about applying it. Computer programming is back in the realm of the nerds, and it is not seen as interesting by students.

Such classes should have classes on how to be aware of phishing attacks or malware. Too many times we are seeing the older folks on the internet being manipulated by social engineering emails.

Replace Passwords with Passcodes

Replacing passwords with passcodes is another way that cybersecurity can be improved on the internet. I have recently been using my browser to save passwords as there are too many to remember. Such passwords, even when strong, are not enough to deter hackers. We need to have stronger protections from hackers. Passcodes could be the solution. There are too many stories of people having passwords which are basically just 123, which is not conducive for secure sites.

Taking action takes time and some people are just unable to pay attention to the cyber realm with any seriousness.

Another thing that needs to happen is that we need to upgrade our servers and computers. America is going through a building boom in data centers. Maintaining such centers and upgrading them when appropriate will be vital in making sure our cyber infrastructure is sparkling new and ready for any challenges.

Oracle can take the step towards revitalization of America’s cyberspace. They can start by being honest and upgrading their systems so they are secure.