9. Issues with the Internet (cont)

Phishing sites

There are also web sites set up to steal information known as phishing sites.

For example, a fake web site is set up to look just like the real login page of an online game. You receive an email pretending to be from the game service to 'update your details' or maybe a 'your account will be deactivated' kind of threat - most phishing schemes either tempt you with a reward or threaten you with a punishment - the idea is for you to react - and it kindly provides a link! Isn't that nice of them.

Clicking on the link takes you to the fake login page and you innocently enter your login details. Next thing you know, your account has been hacked. Beware of any links in an email!.

Always use any original source of links you have, and if you haven't got the link then use a search engine rather than a random link in an email.

Cyberbullying

With the growth of the Internet and new technology, bullying has been moving from the traditional playground to emails, chatrooms, texts and social websites.

This type of bullying is every bit as harmful and hurtful as if done in person but it is much harder to tackle and stop.

Addiction

There has been a worrying increase in the number of people who are becoming 'addicted' to the internet. Every spare moment they have is spent online, some even go without proper sleep so that they don't have to log off. There have been reports of families breaking up and people losing their jobs because of this problem.

Spam

Email is a wonderful service, but the down side is endless spam. Spam is another word for 'unsolicited email' that fill up your inbox. The only way to tackle spam is to join a good email service that tries to filter them out. They are usually placed into a spam box in your email account. But the problem is that some of your good emails are also sent to the spam box, so more time is wasted keeping an eye on the spam box in case you have missed an important email!