At 35, the Net offers plenty to chew on
by: Siddharth Srivastava
- atimes.com
The Internet often throws up bizarre episodes - one of the latest instances can be found on auction at eBay, where a piece of chewing gum spat out at a hotel by pop princess Britney Spears is up for grabs. Believe it or not, Britney's rubbish is actually luring buyers - and they're willing to shell out major cash for the wad. Thirty-five years after computer scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot (4.5-meter) gray cable, testing a new way to exchange data over networks, what would ultimately become the Internet continues to surprise and amaze.
Just as in the rest of the world, in India the Internet has spawned every type of behavior imaginable. While one section of opinion calls it a forum where creativity and communication find complete fulfillment, even in the form of blogs, others have trashed it for encouraging aberrant behavior and crime and for exposing children to adult content.
Like the Britney instance, here, too, exist examples unique to the web world. In one instance, the perpetrator of a crime was from a port city in India, while the victim was in the United States. Kenneth Corley of New Mexico met a girl from Delhi on the Internet, fell in love with her, and expressed his desire to marry her. The girl, known to him as Anita, sent him her photograph and promised to fly to the US. He wired her US$1,400 to be used for traveling expenses. But she never came. Neither was there any message from her. Desperate, Corley sought help from the Delhi police to track her down. The police realized the American had been cheated when the photo he turned over was that of top Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai.
Corley, however, refused to believe he had been conned by the girl - or perhaps boy, since his e-mail friend could very well have been male - and, incredibly, wired another $700 to her. "I still see the eyes in the photo she sent me and relate them to the situation. There is little enough love in this world to be abused, and hearts harden against open caring for each other," Corley said.
