The challenges of the internet at 40

Yes, the Internet, originally conceived for military purposes, expanded by the genii of Tim Bernes Lee and, if you watch Nigerian television, buoyed by the contribution of Emeagwali, the unsung hero of the Internet?! The Internet has shrunk not just distances; it has run at a speed that the radio, the television and the telegraph […]

Yes, the Internet, originally conceived for military purposes, expanded by the genii of Tim Bernes Lee and, if you watch Nigerian television, buoyed by the contribution of Emeagwali, the unsung hero of the Internet?! The Internet has shrunk not just distances; it has run at a speed that the radio, the television and the telegraph never dreamt was possible. Its scope is as unsearchable as anything else before it, because its potentials are still being discovered as you read this.

Yet, experts say that while some parts of Asia, Europe and America have found better ways and better access, Africa crawls as usual behind with access less than 10 per cent and connectivity at the speed of the snail. A local mobile telecommunications company is promising to leapfrog us into the golden age with its purchase of fibre-optic cable to be rigged down the ocean and around our continent. We better wait to see it happen before we beat the drums.

One thing is certain – that for a profession like journalism, the Internet is a challenge forcing us to redefine the way we perceive news and our responsibility to our clients. There is also a challenge for survival even though ethics will help us differentiate between quackery and professionalism.

The Internet has truly expanded the frontiers of professionalism. Experts can share their views virtually live across continents. Inventors can share their discoveries while professionals can mentor and share skills at speed only imagined in the past. Sure, the Internet has become the wonder of the last four decades and those who were not lucky to see it evolve must be missing something. For the millions that are yet to be reached or touched by its magic, it is like being frozen in Stone Age.

But this magical phenom has come with its own downsides. Hackers have been known to bring down companies or establishments which otherwise would have remained solid. Most of us have discarded our old files for virtual libraries which allow us to store unlimited data in hand-held devices accessible at the click of a button albeit at snail speed and at the mercy of connectivity with the hacker as our nemesis. He could vanish with relevant data that may spell doom for our individual or corporate survival.

419ers have found an easy weapon for their scam business. They take on the identity of banks and financial institutions and con unwary customers to volunteer details which are then used to defraud them. There is also the unchequered streaming of pornographic material which corrupts the hearts and minds of our youths or the addiction that comes with frequent internet use.

In more advanced societies, children might be tracked by parents at home or in school, but so are paedophiles on the prowl. They assume the identities of teenagers or toddlers and can easily lure the impressionable mind either to their death or to captivity. While advanced societies have learnt to deal with this problem, we are in the process of even understanding what it is. The introduction of the GPRS has made car snatching a difficult pastime in some societies and revolutionised farming. Perhaps it won’t be long before we use that to track down human traffickers and kidnappers.

The Internet poses as much danger as the problems it attempts to solve, but the greatest challenge for a primitive government such as the ones scattered across Africa is how to find the link that can help their societies evolve from primitivism into modernity. The challenge is also to use the internet to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in various areas such as education, health, shelter and the provision of social infrastructure.

But for many governments struggling to censor, it would appear that the days of unquestioned dictatorship and kleptocracy are numbered. With the information available on the Internet and the way the likes of Barack Obama used it as campaign tool, it may not be long when the poor, the oppressed and the downtrodden finds it useful as a weapon of mass mobilisation to put a permanent stop to oppression. The challenges are enormous, but no force on earth is strong enough to stop the advance of this phenom. It is here to stay.