Topic > The Mysterious Side of the Internet

In the book “The Culture of Fear,” Barry Glassner demonstrates how people use fear-mongering to manipulate our thoughts and understanding; and how the media can use it to influence more ratings and advertising. Glassner's theory proves him wrong by debunking the wrong reasons and why people should fear the dangers of the Internet. Child pornography and cyber predators seriously constitute one of the biggest problems in today's online society. Glassner's theory demonstrates how in more recent years the media have used cyber predators and child pornographers more or less only to instill fear and gain publicity. With this in mind the public should still be afraid of the Internet, or as the New York Times describes it, “a city without cops” (New York Times p.33). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There are two types of people who are infamous in society for exploiting innocent children. First, child pornographers who take disturbing photos of innocent children and post them online; Second, the pedophile customers who use the dark side of the web to purchase those photos. The internet is more dangerous than ever with child pornographers and pedophiles having almost unfettered technology, they are just “a mouse click” away from their young prey ( McCullum p.33). Cyber ​​predators usually seek out underage victims, so they can manipulate them into providing explicit images or meeting for sex. In a New York Times article we read that “the number of children using the Internet continues to increase. . . with it pornography and pedophilia grow” (New York Times p.33). That said, anyone will have easy access to the Internet, especially children, but they would be defenseless unlike adults who would have greater knowledge and understanding of the Internet. More and more adults are jumping in to assist law enforcement, gathering data on predators and other illegal activity. The FBI has used false identities and inflammatory messages to lure online predators and then arrest them. One well-known public arrest included a “31-year-old Washington, D.C., lawyer who was arrested when he showed up at a mall to meet a 14-year-old” where he suggested online that they meet for sex (Glassner p.34). order began taking action in 1993 with the operation called “Innocent Images” to catch online predators in which a “fifty-year-old man was caught by officers” using false identities known as “Horny15bi. ” and “Sexcollectr” (glassner p.34). The adults so concerned created vigilante groups known as “Cyber ​​Angels” and “Safeguarding Our Children”. These groups provided any information that could help the police to know if a child had been approached before or recently by an online predator. The strategies used to catch cyber predators and pedophiles consisted of two parts. Entrapment and invasion of privacy were created to catch cyber predators and make them easier to imprison. The entrapment and invasion of privacy towards cyber predators and pedophiles was first introduced in the 1990s where the media expanded their existence. This was a way to broaden authorities' understanding of spotting predators. Attorney David L. asked, “Are we making the world a better place by tempting some of these people to commit crimes they otherwise wouldn't have committed?” Eventually they would be tempted to work overtime and commit a crime, but this only enabled the authorities.