In a universe where there are few places yet to be discovered, could it be that the Final Frontier is our imaginations.
The names with which our browsers are dubbed by their creators: Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Safari, creates the impression that we are still drawn to the idea of ourselves as intrepidly conquering the unknown.
For those who lack excitement in their real lives, computers present the opportunity of venturing virtually into the unknown, complete with its contingent dangers.
In a universe where there are few places yet to be discovered, could it be that the Final Frontier is our imaginations.
The names with which our browsers are dubbed by their creators: Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator and Safari, creates the impression that we are still drawn to the idea of ourselves as intrepidly conquering the unknown.
For those who lack excitement in their real lives, computers present the opportunity of venturing virtually into the unknown, complete with its contingent dangers.
Whether you are confined to the boundaries of your living space by fear, like so many South Africans, or whether your living space (think Tokyo) is just very small, the internet (please note that I have taken to writing internet in lower case to stress that it is not some sort of demigod) can be explored from the tiniest physical space, allowing the user a portal to an infinite world of possibilities and ideas.
Space is, in philosophical and scientific terms, one of those concepts that is so hard to define that the Thinkers are yet to agree on what it really is. The conventional definition proposes that space is some sort of container that objects move around in, which makes it quantifiable – you either have lots of it or a little of it.
The opposing definition sees space as part of a continuum that cannot be given boundaries or owned. It is here that the real is swallowed up by the virtual. Computers allow us into this virtual world where we can play, work and communicate without having to worry about waking the neighbours or stepping on their turf, unless we choose to.
Although ventures into the virtual world were not originally intended to be commercial ones, you can buy a piece of virtual estate by registering a domain name. Once you have one of these, people can find you in your little space on the internet.
As in the real world, there are those who, averse to the idea of paying rent, but open to the opportunity of making a quick buck, squat. These are no ordinary squatters. Cybersquatters belong not to a disenfranchised group of homeless people living in a shanty town, but to a class of devious web criminal.
In the real world it is estimated that, because of housing shortages in urban areas, the number of squatters worldwide is over one billion.
Cybersquatters have no such excuse for their behaviour. They extort money from legitimate owners of a domain name by buying a name before the owner of the name or trademark has registered it themselves and selling it back to them at a hugely inflated price. The squatter also benefits from traffic to that address. To combat this, there are various laws and policies in place to allow abusive registrations to be forcibly transferred, although some overzealous companies claim rights over all uses of their trademark, even when it is used in another context such as in a protest forum or fan site.
There are some very sought-after addresses in the virtual world. The name business.com was resold in 1999 for $7.5 million. Sex.com was stolen from its rightful owner by a forged fax transaction. The name earned the fraudulent owner between $50 000 and $500 000 a month until it was transferred back to Gary Kremen, the original owner, after a 5 year legal battle. In January this year, Kremen sold the name to Escom LLC for $11.4 million.
Jesus.com belongs to Metropolitan Community Churches. Life.com belongs to the magazine that goes by that name.
When you type in hell.com, a black window comes up with a range of cryptic words ("Why would you keep trying", "possibility", "it is not about you") and a Google search box that redirects you to a page where you can sign up for Google's Adsense programme. © Debbie smit – The Sunday Independent
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