Blog 1: First Impressions of "TUBES" and the Need of Trust

Going into the prologue I was immediately interested in this title’s subject matter. Andrew Blum’s questioning of the physical, literal concept of the internet mirror the questions I’ve always had about the interweb, but never bothered to learn more about. The most I knew about the physical internet are the same kinds of rumors mentioned in the book - incredibly long wires underground/water connecting to bulking machines that do all the magic. It isn’t magic however - it was invented by scientists, and as such there must be someway to see it in action beyond the computer screen.

Throughout the following two chapters, as Andrew was starting to see the internet face to face, he mentioned how he realized that a lot of how the internet works is reliant on trust. Doing anything online means putting yourself out there in some shape or form, and this can lead to dire situations if handled incorrectly. This concept was the one that resonated with me the most, as this mimics the idea of being careful of who you trust and being careful of what you share in real life surprisingly well. In the end it seems like the internet revolves around not only the freedom to share information but also the concept of vulnerability we all have. Take a college student’s daily routine for example. If we treat a student traveling to the campus to be similar to a packet of information traveling across the “internet highway”, there needs to be a level of trust that the final location is truly what it says it is. There also has to be trust that the path to the location will be reliable enough to be reused in the future, as well as trust that nothing out of the ordinary will occur once one arrives and eventually returns from the destination. Whether in the digital world or the real one, trust is always key.

Questions

• How much trust do you personally have when interacting online? Do you take any extra precautions when on the web?
• Do you think the level of trust that is needed online has affected how much people trust each other in real life?

Image from: http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2014/07/can-you-trust-internet-in-2014-infographic.html