Aashish Mishra

The internet has been a game-changer for human civilisation. It revolutionised data transfer and communication, made the entire world a village and expanded people’s access to knowledge to never-before-seen levels. No one needs to advocate for the internet because its benefits are far-reaching and widely known. However, it also has some very real threats that many do not seem to talk about.

For instance, the multi-platform and multi-layered connection that the internet offers have been touted as the next big thing for human convenience. But people do not seem to think about what happens to the data stored in the name of this connection. Companies like Google and Facebook already have a disturbing amount of our personal information just from our use of one of their platforms. Imagine how much data they will have – and sell – if they get access to our cars, televisions and watches. No aspect of our life will be untouched.

Another risk with the internet is hacking. In 2014, a study by Hewlett-Packard had revealed that 70 per cent of our so-called “smart” devices were vulnerable to attack, 90 per cent of the devices stored at least one piece of personal information through the cloud or an app, 60 per cent of the devices that provided user interface had weak credentials, 80 per cent of the devices and their cloud components failed to require passwords and 70 per cent of the devices enabled an attacker to identify valid user accounts. Most of the devices connected to the internet collect valuable personal details and as this study revealed, all of them are vulnerable to attacks.

This also opens up the possibility of cyber extortion like the one we see with ransomware. And with more and more devices, sectors and industries depending on the internet for a growing portion of their functioning and service delivery, this extortion is only getting worse. In the past, ransomware attacks have brought the National Health Service of the United Kingdom to a halt, shut down different factories in different parts of the world and forced businesses to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to prevent their data from being leaked. Recently, on May 7, 2021, Colonial Pipeline, an American oil pipeline system that originates in Houston, Texas, and carries gasoline and jet fuel mainly to the South-eastern United States, suffered a ransomware cyberattack that impacted computerised equipment managing the pipeline. In response, Colonial Pipeline Company halted all of the pipeline's operations to contain the attack. This caused a major fuel shortage in different parts of the US.

Ransomware is no longer just a nuisance and is today a very serious danger to our society, economy and life and property. Going online is becoming increasingly perilous. The fact that the infrastructure that supports the internet is unreliable and can fail in various parts of the world is another setback. Many people in Nepal do not have access to the internet. The Wi-Fi service is relatively expensive and slow. In fact, Nepal has the second slowest broadband speed in the world after Libya. Also, there are frequent power cuts. Electricity is the backbone of the internet and in Nepal, people can go for hours and even days without electricity and thus, without internet. So, the internet, in countries like ours, risks exacerbating social inequalities and depriving people of valuable information and connecting.

Finally, there are the environmental costs. In 2007, internet technologies were responsible for 2.5 per cent to 3 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. This figure has most certainly increased since then. And in a world where climate change has become a very real emergency, the internet’s carbon footprint is too big to ignore.