EDITORIAL

One thing the Internet can do that cannot be duplicated by newspapers is fill a computer screen with junk, nonsense and an endless stream of over-the-top copy.

Thanks to an infrastructure that abides by certain rules, newspapers use unbiased reporters to gather news and editors to provide the checks and balances. The result is a product that is both pleasurable and informative to its readers.

Online news, by comparison, often lacks oversight, allowing the kind of unfettered access to information that has become the Web's stock in trade.

Let's face it, the Internet is here to stay—with all its warts, faults and unbelievable capabilities.

It has connected the world. In the span of micro-seconds, "breaking news"—confirmed or not—can rocket through cyberspace for instant access.

There isn't a government agency or business that isn't dependent on computers.

Meanwhile, hackers—working the Internet like pickpockets at a flea market—devote hours to trying to breach whatever security system may be on any terminal.

The New York City Police Department reported that cyber terrorists from around the world barrage the department's comptuer system over 70,000 times a day.

It has also been reported—but denied—that hackers lifted loads of data on the military's newest, high-tech fighter aircraft via contractors' computer networks.

Reportedly, cyberspies are being developed in countries that include China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Not too long ago, it was declared that the Chinese and Russians had "mapped" America's electrical power-grid networks, which could easily be hit with a cyberattack causing considerable chaos.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is planning the creation of a Pentagon Cybercommand—and none too soon.

Peter Brookes, former deputy assistant secretary of defense, noted that "America and others are under constant— and in many cases, at this stage, totally undetectable—attack by cyberintruders who secretly slink into home and office computers via the Internet."

Spies and mischief-makers, whether sponsored by governments or acting on their own, can launch viruses, crash networks, corrupt data, collect intelligence and spread misinformation from a laptop anywhere.

All that electronically-delivered destruction sure beats the risks and costs of using human spies or soldiers.

The U.S. is threatened by an enemy capable of taking many forms—some from within and some from outside.

It may seem like paranoia or the premise for another season of the TV series 24, but we wonder whether anyone can dismiss a certain scenario. In it, the terminals and hard drives made overseas in countries like China may be imbedded with a secret chip—one that makes the information stored accessible with the stroke of a key.

Given the chance to glimpse today's technology, Axis Sally, Tokyo Rose and Mata Hari surely would envy a Cyberspace Suzie, espionage agent of the 21st century.

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