Buzz
If you're reading this, you likely share the sentiment that the internet is a remarkable place. It’s introduced us to emails, viral memes, videos of cats playing the piano, and countless fascinating lists. It has also democratized knowledge and aided in dismantling oppressive regimes. Not bad for something once dismissed as just a fleeting trend.
But there are troubling signs on the digital horizon. As we navigate deeper into the second decade of the 21st century, it’s becoming clearer that the once-perfect digital utopia may not endure. Around the world, societal trends, governments, and corporations are conspiring to drain the remaining joy from the internet, leaving it a hollow version of its former glory.
10. Outrage Is Becoming The Default Mode
Last year, Slate embarked on a project to track the rise of outrage throughout 2014. Their findings make for some eye-opening reading. While many of us found reason to be upset over major events like the situation in Syria or the debates surrounding net neutrality, an equally large number of us were getting worked up over trivial matters. A trivial magazine cover sparked as much anger as the riots in Ferguson. An Irish pub's ban on 'loud Americans' ignited a similar fury to Russia’s human rights violations in Sochi. Anti-racism activists even sought to have Stephen Colbert fired for making an anti-racist joke. In 2014, outrage was not only rampant, but also unproductive.
And then there was Gamergate. Initially, it seemed like a genuine struggle for women’s rights and an examination of biases in game journalism, but soon, it descended into something far darker. TechCrunch argued that by the end of it, many participants cared only about provoking others. In a reflective article, they suggested that this might be the future of online discourse: a collection of trolls using outrage as a tool for causing mayhem. With Slate estimating that not a single day went by in 2014 without some form of online mob forming, it’s clear that this trend may only escalate.
9. It Pays To Be An A**hole
One reason it’s so easy to stir up outrage is that there’s so much to get upset about. Browse any moderately popular website, and you're bound to come across a headline or opinion piece so blatantly controversial, you’ll question how it even got published. The answer is simple: On today's Internet, being a jerk is financially rewarding.
Let’s be clear: being a jerk isn’t just about holding an opinion. People like Glenn Greenwald and Rush Limbaugh may be blunt, but at least they’re passionate about their beliefs. They genuinely care about what they say. Heck, we’ve even published controversial think pieces here on Mytour. The difference in recent years is that now, you don’t even need a well-formed opinion to get hate clicks. You just need to be someone people love to hate.
Last month, Cracked.com published an article by a writer who makes a living just by being a jerk. According to him, he’s now both wealthy and highly in demand, all because of his talent for pushing everyone’s buttons. It’s straightforward trolling, lacking any meaningful passion, and it’s become one of the easiest ways to make money online today.
Thanks to a phenomenon that writer Helen Jane calls “flank biting,” we often pass the time at work by reading content that frustrates us. This boosts traffic to articles designed to provoke anger, causing websites to create even more of them. Over time, this creates a situation where writers can’t afford to produce anything non-confrontational, even if they wanted to. If we don’t change our reading habits quickly, this issue will only continue to grow.
8. Bots Outnumber Humans
Imagine living in a city where robots outnumber humans by a wide margin. Now picture that a quarter of these robots are designed to do nothing but attack and rob every human they encounter. How secure would you feel? This is essentially what the modern internet has become.
On certain websites, more than a third of the traffic now comes from malicious bots. After being virtually nonexistent in 2013, they’re now swarming mobile devices. With big corporations like Amazon and T-Mobile using systems that are begging to be exploited, everyday online activities are becoming more and more tiresome for those of us who care about our privacy and financial security. Unless major websites step up their game in terms of security, harmful bots are going to become an increasingly serious issue.
7. Governments Are Undermining Internet Security
You might recall the controversy surrounding the NSA installing “backdoors” into all forms of electronic communication. This means that no message sent online could be kept private, and no activity could go unnoticed. While there are valid discussions to be had about the balance between privacy and security, there’s a much larger threat at play. These backdoors would completely undermine the security of the entire Internet.
Once a company’s encryption is compromised with a backdoor, it can never be closed. Anyone with the necessary expertise can access it. There is no such thing as a ‘golden key’ that only the good guys can use. This opens the door for criminals, terrorists, thieves, and hackers to access your private data. Essentially, the moment Apple introduces a backdoor in their software, your passwords, PayPal account, and credit card information are available to anyone with bad intentions.
Right now, many governments are planning to implement these backdoors on a grand scale. The UK, under David Cameron, is leading the charge. If these plans go through, every online transaction in the UK could become highly vulnerable to hackers. Imagine an Internet where purchasing, sending, or downloading anything could lead to your bank account being emptied and your personal security compromised. If governments don’t change course, that might soon become the reality we face.
6. Corporations Are Building Absurd Monopolies
You’ve likely heard about the net neutrality law passed by the FCC. Despite facing significant opposition, the law was designed to prevent the Internet from becoming a toll road, where the rich travel in a fast lane while the rest of us are stuck in traffic. Broadband giants like Comcast and AT&T are already doing everything they can to dismantle the law. AT&T is pressuring the government to allow them to expand their monopoly, promising to comply with the law “for a few years,” but still planning to sue the FCC. Comcast has even been caught astroturfing the issue (creating a fake grassroots movement to support their cause). Both companies seem confident they’ll overturn the law before the decade ends.
In the US, broadband monopolies are so rampant that 30 percent of households are stuck with just one provider. This has led to some of the most outdated Internet infrastructure in any developed country. The providers are also getting away with extortion-like practices: forcing streaming services to pay extra to ensure their content streams smoothly on their networks. Unless action is taken soon, net neutrality will likely become a thing of the past.
5. DDoS Attacks Are Becoming Ubiquitous
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are the fastest and easiest way to take a website offline. Not long ago, they were mostly linked to teenagers on 4Chan or Russia settling scores with its enemies. Though they were disruptive, these attacks were rare enough that they made headlines when they occurred. Fast forward to 2015, and now, almost everyone is using them regularly.
According to Akamai Technologies' most recent State of the Internet report, DDoS attacks went through the roof by the end of 2014. The number of attacks shot up 90 percent compared to the end of 2013 and rose 57 percent from mid-2014. Now, 28 attacks occur every single hour, and this trend is expected to worsen in the coming year. This is less about the growth of hacktivism and more about the fact that people are now using DDoS attacks for the most trivial reasons.
A recent BBC Future article revealed that two competing day spas used DDoS attacks in an attempt to damage each other's business. Around the globe, businesses and governments are increasingly deploying these attacks against rivals as if they’re just another legitimate tactic. As it becomes easier to launch a DDoS attack, it’s likely that more and more people will use them for petty and foolish reasons.
4. The Rise of Astroturfing
As we discussed earlier, astroturfing refers to when a corporation or government creates a fake “grassroots” movement to make it seem like regular people support their agenda. While this tactic has been used by countries like Russia and China for ages, it’s now become mainstream. Over the last five years, it seems like everyone has embraced astroturfing.
Just last year, the NFL launched a website called Protect Football on Free TV to astroturf support for a policy that was obviously harmful to football fans (but beneficial to the NFL). EA Games faced accusations of doing something similar with paid Reddit accounts, and the Koch brothers spent considerable effort trying to influence the public on the net neutrality bill using similar tactics.
The rise of astroturfing is polluting online discussions. Real individuals are getting overpowered in comment sections and forums as fake or paid influencers skew the conversation. This makes it nearly impossible to have a genuine debate or read others' views without questioning if they’re simply trying to sway your opinion. The alarming truth is: It works. As we’ve noted earlier, exposure to astroturfing can erode your confidence in what you once believed.
3. It’s Not Too Late to Make a Difference
After all the negativity, it might feel like the Internet is beyond repair. But here’s the good news: It really isn’t. Sure, issues like astroturfing and DDoS attacks will likely continue to worsen. But history shows us that the Internet has a remarkable ability to exceed our worst expectations and bring about positive change.
Take net neutrality, for example. At one point, it seemed like a done deal that AT&T and Comcast would win. But then activism took off. Websites went dark in protest. People got engaged. In 2015, net neutrality was officially made law by the FCC. As we mentioned earlier, major companies still believe it won’t last (and it’s quite possible it won’t). However, the history of this struggle shows that participation can really make a difference. The Internet has been surprisingly adept at undermining the expectations of powerful corporations.
As for the rest—well, we can stop engaging with things that rile us up. We can support high-quality content by avoiding sites like Bleacher Report and sharing articles we actually enjoy. We can be smarter with our apps, urge our governments to put an end to this backdoor madness, and, maybe, get a little less upset along the way.
2. Unpaid Content is Flooding the Internet with Pointless Junk
Have you ever found yourself online, wading through a sea of poorly written, copy-pasted articles? Ever wonder where all that content comes from? It’s not the bloggers you should blame, but the content farms paying their writers next to nothing for their work.
We’ve highlighted before how this model harms writers, but it’s just as bad for everyone else. Content farms and websites like Bleacher Report lure aspiring writers with promises of “exposure” and “likes.” Instead of cash, you get “experience.” And if you manage to rack up clicks or churn out enough articles, you might even get a paid position.
That last point is crucial because it creates a strong incentive for writers to churn out as much content as possible, as quickly as they can, all for the sake of maximizing clicks. This results in sensational headlines, ideas copied from other websites, and even outright plagiarism. The end result is an endless stream of similar articles posted repeatedly, flooding the Internet with so much junk that it’s nearly impossible to separate the valuable from the worthless.
But surely, this only impacts the low-tier websites, right? Sadly, that’s not the case. Even well-established outlets, like the Guardian‘s Australian branch, have been accused of exploiting freelancers, and low-paid or unpaid positions are becoming the norm, even for experienced professionals in the industry.
The issue is that a website which pays nothing for content but gets plenty of clicks has a far more profitable business model than one that compensates writers for long-form journalism. This creates a situation where reputable editors struggle to fund in-depth stories or are forced to rely on clickbait alongside their serious content. As a result, many young writers look at the low salaries in journalism and opt to enter PR instead, leading to a shortage of quality journalism in the future.
1. ‘Free’ Apps Are Exploiting Us
Most of us probably know that free apps aren't as great as they seem. We’re aware they harvest our data and sell it to larger corporations. But that's not the full story. Many of the free apps we use seem to have a hidden agenda, and it's not always friendly.
Take Hola Unblocker, for instance. A free plug-in that lets you bypass location restrictions—like accessing US Netflix in the UK—Hola has millions of users globally. However, they fund their operations by selling your bandwidth to companies without your knowledge. This allows anyone with enough money to use your IP address for all sorts of activities, from downloading illicit content to orchestrating illegal activities. Even more alarming, by downloading Hola, you give the company the ability to run programs on your computer without your consent, bypassing your virus protection as well.
This is just one example. Perhaps you only use a free plug-in like AdBlockPlus to eliminate those irritating auto-play videos. However, it was recently revealed that ABP has been selling companies the ability to bypass their software. This means you’re still seeing ads, and ABP is essentially running its own version of an old-school protection racket.
Other apps, such as Instagram and FourSquare, leak so much personal information that any follower can easily track your whereabouts, pinpointing your exact location. While these apps claim to be free, we’re paying a price in other, often more invasive, ways.
