The End of an Era

I guess generally, one doesn’t realize a moment or period is history in the making until it’s passed. A friend of mine recently pointed out that no one says “A/S/L?” on aim or twitter or whatever anymore. I realized that that internet shorthand, as well as it’s symbiotic partner the chat room, have been slowly choked out by the new era of internet technology, the advent of social networking sites, and the oncoming regulation of the internet.

But for a brief period of time the internet was like the wild west, a vast expanse rife with possibilities. Like the west, or even Depression era America, the internet became an entirely new and uncharted avenue for scum and villainy. It was a Tommy Gun and a unprotected bank all in one, and from that Petri dish of digital potential came: Hackers, the anti-hero of the internet; Sexual Predators, the low-down dirty bandits; and finally the Internet Con-man, the snake oil salesman of the Wild Wild Web.

Public Enemies is a film due out in Spring ‘09 that details the origins of the FBI and the end of the Depression era mobster. Johnny Depp plays John Dillinger opposite Christian Bale as Melvin Purvis, J. Edgar Hoover’s right hand man. In a strange way, I can’t help but associate the coming regulation of the internet with the advent of the FBI or Wild West Law-Man.

Though internet Pedophiles and Hackers pale in comparison to idealized anti-heroes like Billy the Kid and Bonnie and Clyde, there is something to be said for the pioneers of internet criminality.

Years from now NAMBLA members will gather at Conventions (I don’t know if they have conventions, but I wouldn’t put it past them) and regale each other with tales of the chat room. Tales of the “Golden Age” of the Internet, the Golden Age of their craft. But of course these tales were before the Dark Times… before Chris Hansen

Similarly, Hackers will be hunted down across the internet, hiding out in two-bit IP Addresses, all the while realizing that their remaining days are few. Like Butch and Sundance before them, they will go down guns ablaze, all the while still hoping for a return to the days long passed, days before Federal regulations and before the Patriot Act.

However, unlike his bretheren, the Internet Con-Man’s story doesn't end here, the Internet Con is a dynamic beast that changes and evolves with the internet. Today it’s spam, tomorrow it’s false Twitter pages. There will always be a new con. But it will never be as easy as those first few years, and in some way that’s kind of sad.

Now, I don’t know if there will be any movies glorifying the hacker, or the internet con-man twenty years from now (I very sure there won’t be any glorifying the third member of the internet crime triumvirate), but I hope it’s not an era that goes completely unnoticed.

The Best Movie of all time.

**Please Note: I in no way condone, promote, understand, or belittle the seriousness and vile nature of pedophilia. NSA please don’t hurt me… I am just a simple blogger with simple ways, and complex thoughts.