Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, today’s motion (动议) is that the Internet has improved and will continue to improve our world. The first speaker has, of course, told us how lucky we are to be able to access to so much data and surf so many web sites, how easy it is to talk to friends across the world, and what fantastic fun web-shopping is. We agree these are all good, but they are only a small part of the picture.
The first speaker did not tell you about the terrible pollution caused by computer hardware, or about the high energy use of computer systems. Our second speaker will. The first speaker did not tell you about the new would of computer crime, breaking into people’s systems, stealing their credit card numbers, changing their information and taking their money. Our third speaker will.
But even these are small points. I believe that the network of the Internet is not safe. We try to put up a strong defence system. but there is always someone thinking of how to enter our system. I am not talking now about crime, but of the safety of our country and the world. When all our electrical systems are part of the Web, someone can click their mouse and cause them all to crash. Someone can cause bugs in the software of airport systems and there will be hundreds of real plane crashes. Even more terrible may be the military use of information technology in future wars. The Internet has made the world a more dangerous place.
I also think the Internet will have a bad effect on people. We hear that children will not need to go to school ; everyone will shop from home; there won’t be any offices – workers will sit in front of their computer monitors at home, log on to start the day, type and click for a few hours and then log off – or perhaps they won’ t log off; perhaps they will download a film from the Web or read an e-book. Do you want this? I think it would be terrible. Are we all going to stay at home only communicating with computer screens? Is that an improvement? No!