Top 10 worst things about the web

5. Addiction

Iain Thomson: When internet addiction was first mentioned I admit I was something of a skeptic. It seemed like yet another scare story but time has proved me wrong and we have to accept that some people really are addicted to online life.

In one way it's understandable. If you're a low level burger flipper with no friends and few prospects in the real world but a 57th level paladin with the respect of your peers and adulation of lesser online mortals on the web I can see why the internet would be addictive.

Sadly these addictions have a nasty habit of spilling out into the real world. We've already had plenty of cases of murders being committed because of slights carried out online and I fear such cases will become more and more prevalent. It would be wrong to blame these totally on the web. After all, people carry killing grudges over phone conversations and letters, but the web has increased the possibility of such tragedies occurring.

But there's another side to internet addiction. Anyone who has spent a few hours lost in Wikipedia, for example, knows what I am talking about. So too do people who spend hours each day playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games or spent too long on Second Life. The web offers many such diversions and we all need to make sure that we do not exclude the offline world for the sake of our social health.

Shaun Nichols: Some people are addictive personalities who are naturally prone to become hooked on things. Others have obsessive tendencies that can force them to neglect basic and necessary things in the pursuit of a single goal. The scary thing about the web is that it gives so many different types of people ways to become dangerously engrossed.

As Iain pointed out, in some ways the web can become addictive for its ability to replace reality. However, it can be just as dangerous for its ability to supplement reality. A gambler may only be able to get to the casino a couple of weeks out of the year, but an online casino can be accessed 24/7 from the comfort of your own home, without the travel or accommodation costs but with all the same abilities to drain bank accounts.

Privacy is also a danger. One can be an addict and still go to work or school during the day without necessarily tipping themselves off to others. It's an addiction that is far easier to hide than real-life vices.

4. P0rn

Iain Thomson: The musical Avenue Q may joke about it in their song 'The internet is for p0rn' but the reality of pornography on the web is less of a laughing matter.

Before the web pornography was much more strictly regulated and controlled. Access was possible to be sure, but much more difficult than today's world where anybody with a web connection can find the stuff within seconds with no check as to their age or legality.

I don't want to come off sounding like a stuck-up prig about this but it is a significant worry. Yes, pornography has always, and will always, exist. But the sheer volume of it on the web is concerning, and the content even more so.

Gone are the days when an adult would pick up a copy of Playboy from the newsagent (just for the articles you understand) and see well paid models showing their wares. Now porn is cheap, more and more exploitative and increasingly extreme.

Paedophiles and other sexual abusers can congregate online and, as we have seen in police cases, are increasingly adept at using the web to meet and exchange content and information. It was always thus using lettrs and the telephone, but the web has made it much, much easier and the authorities are struggling (and in my opinion failing) to keep up.

Psychologists are also concerned that it is warping people's expectations of what sex is all about. The pornography industry is having a real effect on real world fashions, as any Brazilian waxer will tell you. This is not healthy and people need to get a sense of perspective about their partners that is not provided in the world of pornography.

Shaun Nichols: I'd add that the widespread access to porn has in many ways also cheapened the value and perception of sex.

Amateur pornography has moved from the realm of the odd exhibitionist couple to become dangerously exploitive in many cases, particularly amongst young people. One has to only look at the phenomena of "sexting" amongst teenagers to get some idea of how perceptions of sex and personal privacy have changed due to the web.

Then there's the criminal element. Searching for and downloading porn is one of the most dangerous activities one can engage in on the web.

Malware writers have made a mint from the "fake codec" scam in which an eager user is told to download and install a piece of software in hopes of getting to watch a dirty movie. If you want to get your system infected and identity stolen in a hurry, turn off all your antivirus and firewall software and then run a few search queries for pornography.

Of course erotica and sexuality have a rightful place in adult society; just about any psychologist will tell you that to deny those urges is to invite madness. But the wild-west climate that accompanied much of the online p0rn industry has also lead to some very dangerous new attitudes and operations.

3. Viruses/Malware

Shaun Nichols: "Entrepreneur" isn't always a term that applies to good guys. While many code jockeys and retailers have been able to make millions of dollars making people's lives easier, just as many malicious individuals have managed to make big bucks by screwing things up.

Prior to the rise of the web, identity theft was a fairly rare criminal occurrence. Now, it's a multi-billion dollar trade. Access to massive archives of personal information can be had for cents on the dollar.

This has lead to the rise in malware. Once considered fairly harmless pranks by hackers, writing and spreading viral computer infections and malicious software tools has become a highly lucrative criminal enterprise.

And it's not only your bank account that they're after. Many malware packages take advantage of the web's basic commercial concepts such as affiliate download fees and pay-per-click commissions.

Iain Thomson: I miss the good old days when virus writers did it for the kudos of their peers. Maybe locking up the originators of viruses was a bad idea, since it put them in contact with people who saw the commercial potential of malware.

Back in the good old days, when Shaun was just a glint in his father's eye, viruses were easy to block. They spread via corrupted discs that had to be physically swapped. Now, thanks to the web, millions of people can be infected in a morning.

Security companies are trying their utmost to keep a lid on the virus writers but there are too few good people fighting too many of the scum. I think it will take a fundamental redesign of the web to even come close to defeating the problem and we will lose much in the shift.

There's always some person at a party who thinks it's their right to steal others bags or clothes because they are lying around. There's the person that thinks there's nothing wrong with mugging someone for what they possess because they want it and can't be bothered to work for the prize rather than taking the short cut.

Viruses will be around as long as there is a web, but it doesn't make it any less annoying.

2. Fraud

Iain Thomson: The facility for low cost, convincing communication that is the essence of the web has caused a boom in cases of fraud.

Fraudsters have been around as long as mankind. There were probably Neanderthals bilking each other out of flint tools on the promise of mammoth haunches that failed to materialise back in the dawn of time and there's not much evidence that things have improved since then.

Now, particularly with web email, there is an ideal way for fraudsters to tempt the greedy and credulous. One estimate puts the amount of revenue generated by schemes like 419 scams (the letters telling offering you a share in a huge sum of money in exchange for a small finders fee) is over a million dollars a week.

With the inclination and the right tools fraudsters can create convincing online personas that are used to fleece hundreds of people at a time. It's a long way from the convincing spiv who would have to traipse around door to door or send out letters using regular postage. The communication that is such a good feature of the web is being used for nefarious purposes and we are a long way from finding a solution.

Shaun Nichols: Fraud is yet another occurrence that may not have been invented after the web, but it was most certainly given new life by it.

Fraudsters used to be thought of as slick-talking cons. Now they can be anyone from a bored teenager in Canada to a crime syndicate in Eastern Europe or a family trying to make a living in Nigeria.

Again, the problem comes down to anonymity. Just as nobody on the internet knows you're a dog, they also don't know that you're not a Swiss bank executive or a Mastercard account manager. The web has both streamlined and democratised fraud, making a sort of perfect storm for criminal activity to flourish.

Security companies and law enforcement groups are making inroads into shutting down some of these operations, but the sad truth is that they remain woefully outmanned and outgunned by the bad guys, and it appears that we are a long way away from even slowing the tide of fraud on the web, let alone making progress towards stopping it.

1. Disinformation

Iain Thomson: If information is the best thing about the web then disinformation has to be the worst.

The web has allowed vast amounts of information to be propagated online but very quickly people realised that it could also be used for disinformation as well. People are trusting souls and used to trust information that they found on the web but now the phrase "I read it on the internet" has become a term of derision.

The situation has not been helped by services like Wikipedia. While the online encyclopaedia is a massively good thing it has also allowed misinformation to spread more quickly and effectively. It has even allowed the creation of alternative information sources which are intentionally biassed, such as Wikipedia rip-off Conservapedia.

Sometimes I fear for where this is leading us. With lies and half-truths so prevalent on the web people can find sources that appear to back up almost any crazy notion and sub-industries have grown up to supply them. Bloggers mobilise to spread disinformation and memes to advance their causes, phony web sites support quack medical cures that will not deliver and business subvert online review sites to make themselves look better.

My hope is that people will react against this by becoming more critical of what they read online. Not dismissing material out of hand, but analysing its source, corroborating data and then making a rational decision based on that research.

A technical fix for the problem would be very difficult, if not impossible to achieve. Instead we will all have to become a lot more web-savvy and take responsibility for the data we consume.

Shaun Nichols: If there's one constant in the history of mankind, it's that every new discovery brings a potential for danger roughly equal to its potential for usefulness. For every area in which the web has made life easier, it has also added a way in which life can be ruined.

Just as the wealth of information created by the web has given humanity unprecedented access to knowledge and the ability to collaborate and organise, so it has provided the tools for mankind to inflict great damage upon itself.

If knowledge is power, then the web it the most potent source of power this planet has seen in centuries. A successful web site has the ability to reach millions of people each day. As terrorist groups have demonstrated in recent years, the web can not only be a useful way to collaborate, but also a frighteningly effective way to both recruit and manipulate new followers to a destructive cause.

As Iain pointed out, there is no easy or readily apparent solution to this problem. We are really only beginning to realise the potential of the web, and as we continue to develop and mature online, it is almost certain that new and even more menacing dangers will emerge. Certainly this is something to consider and be wary of as we move forward into Web 3.0 and beyond.