What would "The King" think if he were alive right now?
by Nigel
What would the King think if were alive in this day and age? Could he even have begun to imagine the world as it is today? You can talk or play games with people on the other side of the Earth from the comfort of your home,buy any product you can imagine without leaving your armchair, and maybe the scariest of all, have someone rob you blind or even steal your whole indentity with out ever coming into contact with you. Let's face it, if someone came up to you back in 1955 and told you this technology would be available in the near future you'd probably tell them to "sit on it" right? I suppose the Internet could be likened to swimming in the ocean in that, whilst it can be a most enjoyable experience, if you choose to swim in the same place that sharks live, and do so on a regular basis, the law of averages dictate the potential of getting bitten increases greatly. And unfortunately in the case of the Internet, the sharks are well and truly circling, waiting for the weak or injured to break off the main bait ball and.... CHOMP!! Couldn’t we just round them all up, dig a big hole, push em in, and fill it up? That’s a bit extreme you might say, down right nasty even! Frankly I don’t care, my spam filter doesn’t even care anymore,with the endless offers from long lost uncles,obscure lotteries commissions & homeless/displaced millionaires looking for someone to share their untold wealth with, I mean thanks for the generosity but #%@* OFF! Just recently whilst browsing the pages of Ebay I stumbled upon one of these “skid-marks”, on the soiled underpants of society” peddling his/her dodgy wares. I had found a listing for a 1TB External Hard Drive for the not so princely sum of $40 AU “BUY NOW” which if anyone knows anything about Hard Drives will know this is a rather un-realistic price, so…. throwing caution to the wind…….I bought it! “You get everything you deserve” one might say “Foolish” others might also say. But wait…. I had a method to this apparent madness and the aforementioned “skid mark” was unwittingly taking part in my little social experiment. Firstly, if this listing turned out to be legitimate, I would lay claim to what could only be described as the absolute deal of the decade. Secondly, I was using Pay Pal as my transaction method and was theoretically protected up to a value of 20K Thirdly, a burning curiosity inside me just wanted to see how many other buyers/suckers would fall into this potential trap along with me. Safe to say, 2 hours later give or take, 82 purchasers including myself recieved the message! Ebay Admins sent Emails stating that, due to security reasons buyers should not go through with the transaction, and if funds were tranferred steps should be taken to try and recover the amount, blah blah blah. Well there goes my “deal of the decade bragging rights” along with my faith in humanity, Luckily, with a couple of well placed mouse clicks the problem was as easily resolved as reversing the transaction through my PayPal control panel, as well as a handy feature that let me send the seller a little message. So seizing the opportunity I let him know I was “sorry the transaction fell through and requested he be added to my friends list” or words to that affect, you get the idea! In summation, and I know I’m not the first person to say this, but I will repeat it anyway, if a deal looks to good to be true, and you,ve jumped in, credit card and all, don’t be surprised if a shark bites your arm off! I'm not saying there weren't dangers in this world 50 years ago, but I DO think things were just that much simpler back then, a little more "black and white" so to speak. Exercising a little common sense is really all it takes to keep yourself safe whilst online, remember this and spare yourself from being the next meal for a hungry predator! Happy surfing. Nigel Pawson, Chief Administrator: http://www.ultradocious.com/ |
