Chattanooga Weighs In On The Good, Bad, & Ugly Of The Internet

A recent report by the group "Connected Tennessee" finds 75% of all Tennesseans use the Internet. Aside from e-mail, researching products and finding health and medical information tops the list of uses.

But some people still see the "net" as a breeding ground for pornography, gambling, and other lewd activities. So, we went in search of what's good, bad, and ugly about the Internet.

PrinceThe year was 1986. Prince and Madonna ruled the music charts, "Top Gun" flew into movie theaters, and the first Internet Service Provider opened for business. It took two-decades, but the Internet grew from a way to send messages electronically into part of everyday life. Joseph Kizza, Ph.D., teaches Computer Science at UTC. "We are involved in it so much that if just out of the blue, somebody takes it away we wouldn't know what to do," says Kizza.

One industry now embracing the Internet is health care. Tele-medicine allows doctors in larger communities to examine diagnostic images taken at a clinic in a small town and keep tabs on patients from home. Dr. Vince Viscomi says "it certainly makes me a better doctor." Dr. Viscomi believes the Internet makes him more accountable with information about new medications, drug interactions, and side effects so easy to research. He also helps patients find medical equipment on-line that might be cheaper than paying on their insurance deductible.

Dr. Vince ViscomiFor patients though, searching the Internet isn't always a good thing. "Sometimes there's some of this anecdotal, 'I use this potion it worked for me,' and they come in wanting to try that and it might not be the best thing and it hasn't been refereed," says Dr. Viscomi.

It's also tough to police the Internet. FBI statistics show a substantial increase in child sex crimes over the past ten years, and the Internet may be to blame. Detective Brian Ashburn with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department says "teenagers have met someone on a networking site of chat room and the parents have no idea either till its too late or went so far that it was further than it should have."

Hamilton County investigators deal with other cyber-crime, like website fraud and e-mail scams too. Assistent District Attorney Boyd Patterson says "we're going to start seeing the bad guys the thieves who would normally take money from petty cash use the computer to instead of drive by someone's house, use email to check up on them."

In some cases, we're already seeing some of that, like the hit list in Sequatchie County that ended up on Myspace and the videotaped destruction of a Quran posted on-line.

Still, the Internet improves crime fighting techniques. For example, the county's new 12 most wanted list on their website continues to net arrests. And it no longer takes days to share court rulings or evidence.

The Internet continues to transforms the education field, as well... opening new doors for students and teachers. Debi Crabtree with Hamilton County's Virtual School, says "blogs and social worlds like second life are going to change the way students access and use information." Smart boards already make classes interactive, libraries are now media centers, and you can earn a degree on-line.

The availability of research also opens the door for plagiarism, and students who spend too much time on-line may never develop the social skills needed to navigate the "real world."

Still, Professor Kizza says "the bad thing of the Internet is just a small portion, maybe 5%." He believes we shouldn't fear the Internet.

While the net makes it possible for anyone to learn anything about you in a matter of minutes, if you don't have skeletons in your closet, Kizza says the good far outweighs the bad.

Public perception of what's bad about the Internet doesn't fit with a recent FBI report.

Auction fraud and shipping problems from on-line retailers make-up 64% of criminal complaints. By contrast, child pornography represents only 1% of Internet crimes.