Experts Believe Violence Could Accompany Internet’s Evolution – E-business & Business Technology News by TechWeb — One word: cripes!

Most experts and analysts believe that as the Internet spreads globally, its impact on people’s lives will spawn a new group of terrorists who commit violent acts against technology, a recent survey shows.

While some people turn to violence, others will quietly stay off the grid to seek peace and solace from information overload, experts agreed in a study released this week by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The Pew report, called “The Future of the Internet II,” was based on a survey of 742 Internet leaders, activists, builders and commentators. The experts were asked whether the agreed or disagreed with seven possible scenarios for 2020 stemming from the evolution of the Internet.

Fully 58 percent of the respondents agreed that a new cultural group of technology “refuseniks” would form in protest. Some would peacefully segregate themselves from modern society, while others would “commit acts of terror or violence in protest against technology.”

“Random acts of senseless violence and destruction will continue and expand due to a feeling of 21st century anomie, and an increasing sense of lack of individual control,” Martin Kwapinski of FirstGov, the U.S. government’s official Web portal, said in his response to the survey.



  1. ECA says:

    Only problem with the internet, is regulating it from 300 different countries
    How to stop the scams, sspams, and CRAP, and then clean up the OLD sites that are there anymore.
    HOW to regulate MORe sites then there are STORES in the world.

  2. KB says:

    “Random acts of senseless violence and destruction will continue and expand….”

    This guy should start his own psychic hotline, if he hasn’t already.

    One of the funniest things I ever saw was an infomercial where Kenny Kingston visited Alcatraz to psychically connect and find out what happened to three escaped prisoners who were never accounted for.

  3. Improbus says:

    “refuseniks”? Stupid monkeys! You should have never come down from the trees.

  4. Tom says:

    oh no not human on technology violence, this is a bunch of balony. I mean yes there are people who dont react to change very well especially when it comes to technology but I cant think of any situation in which it would get out of hand. Yes some people may use technology for unlawful purposes but that is a risk with anything,a hammer or a piece of paper, can be used in the wrong way.
    I think people feel more in control when they can get the information they need quickly, not less, its not like information hits you in the head with a brick, if you dont want to be overloaded with information, then get off the internet. People have control and i dont see how the internet takes that away.

  5. James Hill says:

    I once took a hammer to a P2. Does that count?

  6. AB CD says:

    I thought the internet was based on Intelligent Deisgn?

  7. Gregory says:

    So.. basically someone read up on the Luddites and thought “I know… ! I’ll apply that to the internet! No-one’s done that before! I’m a genius!”

    Every couple of years some idiot who can read history books comes up with this idea as if it was their own…

  8. Smith says:

    Oh, what earth-shattering news!

    There are six billion people, with six billion personalities ranging across the bell curve from saints to serial killers. Thow in the Internet and what do you have? Six billion people, with six billion personalities, ranging across the bell curve from saints to serial killers, plus a powerful tool to use as they see fit.

  9. Bruce IV says:

    I can kinda see the idea of a “refusenik” – I’m a computer science major, and there are days the Amish life sounds appealing …

  10. joshua says:

    You guys need to get out more. It’s not just the Internet, it’s all forms of technology that will spawn the technoterrorists.
    You will always have some who just opt out of some new things, for many reasons, not out of ignorance or refuseal to *change*….but simply because they just don’t feel the need for the products. Then you will have those who have been pushed to the edge by rude cell phone users, internet companies that screw you, spam, and the RIAA, DRM and other control devices added to technology, these people could very well go violent. Frustration levels are different for everyone, but just look around you, at the real world and see how many violent groups there are and some of the reasons they are violent…..some big, some not so big.
    Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I had some hand held device that would allow me to zapp a cell phone user that is driving, or just being annoying in a public place, or to zapp boom box cars, or to make those nifty little Hermes wings coming out of peoples ears, while they speak to the sky, just fly off into space. It would give me a lot of personal satisfaction watching them all try to figure out what happened to their personal device of annoyance.


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