"The Internet is a City"

Chris Richardson of Internet Identity really got me thinking about security online-- mostly that I'm probably not careful enough-- but a few things really stood out.

At one point he mentioned that "the internet is a city", and like most cities, it has a criminal element. This comment made me consider the term "virtual world" in a new way. I mean, yes, of course, there is a virtual world. But that world, and the people that use it, emulate our ACTUAL society in more ways than I had previously thought.

One more thing I thought was interesting were all the locations from which internet crime originates. It makes sense that internet crime can be very global, incorporating people from many countries. But it made me wonder what countries were hubs of internet crime, and why. He mentioned Italy as one place they encounter a lot-- which wouldn't have been my first guess.

All told, I guess my conclusion is that the virtual world can be surprisingly real... and sometimes this is pretty unfortunate.