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BKBOTISH.RVW   960314
 
"Bandits on the Information Superhighway", Daniel J. Barrett, 1996, 1-56592-
156-9, U$17.95/C$26.95
%A   Daniel J. Barrett dbarrett@ora.com
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   1996
%G   1-56592-156-9
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$17.95/C$26.95 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com
%P   246
%S   What You Need to Know
%T   "Bandits on the Information Superhighway"
 
I would recommend this book to Internet newcomers.  Having started the review
on a positive note, let me go on to say that, when I first read it, I was very
disappointed.  My dissatisfaction stemmed more from expectations created by the
title than from any fault of the book.  Dan Barrett responded to my initial
review in significant, and useful, detail, and this review has been completely
rewritten in light of what he said.
 
Barrett discusses a variety of frauds, ripoffs and problems perpetrated on the
net, concentrating on the most common.  (There is, for example, little
discussion of interception of information from valid commercial transactions.) 
There is also material on more personal violations, such as invasion of
privacy, spamming, danger to children, and the difficulty of identifying just
plain, nasty people.
 
Barrett starts out by stating that the presentation of the net in the popular
media as a pit of pornographic, hacking pedophiles is incorrect.  He then goes
on to present what he sees as more frequent troubles.  While his assessment
matches my own experience, the almost unrelieved litany of woeful tales tends
to reinforce an equally negative view.  While prophylactic pointers are
dispersed throughout the book, they tend to rely on individual judgement.  (As
in: good judgement comes from experience.  Experience comes from bad
judgement.)  Hard and fast "do this, log that" rules are left for the second
last chapter of the book; on what to do after you have been hurt.  Taken as a
whole, the protective advice tends to be merely common sense or the received
wisdom.  (There is, for example, the repeated advice to check businesses out
with the Better Business Bureau.  Defrauded consumers may be startled to find
how limited that help can be.)
 
A significant amount of the material in the book does not deal with banditry as
much as unpleasantness.  Pranks, hoaxes, urban legends, trolls, flames,
spamming and net romance cybersleazes are not illegal, though they can be very
hurtful.
 
Barrett's aim, therefore, is not to discuss the more sensational aspects that
the title might suggest, but the more common, day to day, problems which users
see all the time.  Still you have to have been online for a time to see them,
and the objective here is to alert new users to those predicaments before they
have to learn about them through (often painful) experience.
 
The doubling of the Internet user population in size each year means that, at
any given time, half of the total number have been online for less than a year. 
In addition, the increasing number of "low volume" users means that many people
can be on the net for several years before amassing any significant net
experience.  For newcomers to the net, this book at the very least provides
information on the most common net problems.  Those with more experience are
unlikely to find anything new since the material tends to be cultural, rather
than technical, in nature.  However, seasoned Internauts can welcome the book
since educated newcomers are less likely to get into trouble and to cause it.
 
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996   BKBOTISH.RVW   960314

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