KANISA GEORGE
Where would we be without Facebook, hotmail and YouTube - without instantaneous sharing and tweets that spark controversy? To be honest, I am not sure. But what I can say is that the world would be a place far less connected than it is right now.
All the positives of modern-day technology aside, there is a noticeable layer of negativity that somehow finds its way into the realm of the digital world. Taking the good with the bad is a well-established ethos of life. But how much is too much, and are we willing to turn a blind eye to those harmful cyber elements that lay in wait in the dark underbelly of the world wide web?
Not only does the internet promote a sense of community, it also showers us with the good, the bad and the ugly. Maybe it's the cloak of invisibility that allows users to parade around easily or the limited reach of law enforcement. Whatever the reason, horrible is frequently on full display on the internet. Cyberbullying, child pornography and cyberstalking are a few evils that top the list. And when the full extent of the dark web comes to mind, well, that's an entirely separate issue. How do laws keep up with the ever-changing internet trends and protect those most susceptible to online dangers?
Cybercrime has sneakily planted its feet in Trinidad and Tobago society. In a place where everything and anything is the subject of a meme, internet users don't seem to think their highly-abusive, vitriol behaviour online could potentially attract criminal culpability.
A 2019 Unicef report highlighted that one in three young people in 30 countries, including TT, said they had been victims of online bullying, with one in five reported having skipped school due to cyberbullying and violence.
Surely some legislations such as the Offences Against the Person Act Chapter 11:08 and the Computer Misuse Act Chapter 11:17 provide a certain level of protection, but not enough to cover the intricacies of the online underworld. Without laws specifically designed to address and cover the various nuances the online world presents; more complex offences would fall between the cracks.
This problem goes much further than hatefully aggressive online commentary. Coming in at left field is the dark web. This is the holy grail of all things dark and nefarious online. Its use can circumvent censorship in certain parts of the world and is a whistle-blower's haven. But for the most part, it facilitates a mass of highly repulsive, exploitative transactions that involve credit card fraud, data hacking, human trafficking, and illegal sales of guns and ammunition.
The dark web is a hidden layer of the web that uses overlay networks and requires specific software, configurations, and in some cases a criminal mind.
This underground empire and the connectivity it provides is not illegal, but plenty of the material and transactions that occur on this platform violate numerous laws.
What attracts shady characters to this dark corner is the level of anonymity provided. Predictors can easily
