Cyber Space: Reality or Virtual Reality

1
Cyber Space Reality or Virtual Reality

• Contributors
• Mike, Brad, Phil, Tommy

2
Online Communities

• One of the major components in any discussion of
  communities in cyberspace are the levels of
  interaction and communication of the people online

3
Online CommunitiesAre they Real?

• Why they could be real
• Very real friendships and emotional networks are
  developed
• Chat rooms and message boards can have their own
  pecking order, customs, and dialects
• Easier to find individuals with common interests
  and ideas
• People may become friends traversing great
  distances to meet in person

• Why they may not be real
• People may behave differently behind a computer
• Body language can not be communicated
• People may create false personas online
• There is little sense of a shared experience
• Membership is in constant flux

4
Cyber-Rape

• What is Rape???
• Forceful sexual intercourse
• Crime based on Violence not Sex
• Personal Violation

5
Cyber-Rape

• Although it may sometimes be fantasy-role play,
  it can be traumatizing, degrading, and unwelcome
  for people not prepared for chat rooms
  established to serve this fetish
• This behavior mimics reality and does raise
  concerns over the dark applications of the
  internet
• Is missing the physical element therefore it can
  be difficult to regard oncoming assault as actual
  or fake
• Legal action should only be taken if the rape is
  of a physical nature and not enacted in
  cyberspace

6
Treating Rape as a Form of Harassment

• Cyber-rape must be combated as harassment
• Many Internet Service Providers provide
  protection against harassment (i.e. warning
  levels, text blocking, reporting offenders)
• Those same ISPs claim the right to disable
  deviant screen names and the right to terminate
  associated accounts
• Success in deterring online assault lies in
  empiricism

7
The Telephone System

• The telephone system is quite similar to the
  internet in dynamics and has had similar
  privacy/security issues
• Caller ID, Call Blocking, and 69 are the results
  of improving security against crank calls,
  telemarketing scams, and phony mail order
• Local police departments field complaints about
  devious phone calls
• Previous successes with telephone networks can be
  implemented into text based communications

8
Problems with Current Internet Security

• Most security devices are text based
• Security programs blocking spam and other
  unwanted invasions quickly become outdated
• As the internet evolves, more issues shall rise
  over assault as interactivity increases and is
  refined