By Atique Ur Rehman
The meaning of rabbit hole in english dictionary is a bizarre, confusing, or nonsensical situation or environment, from which it is difficult to extricate oneself. Internet culture is a rabbit hole. It attracts with rosy picture exploiting human weakness of sex appeal and lust for money. I recently watched a tv serial clickbait which depicts the horrific and dark side of internet. A character named ‘ Nick’ in web series becomes victim of fake identity created by someone. He is not only killed but portrayed as an abuser of women which put the family life upside down. Nick is kidnapped then a viral video is uploaded online that shows Nick holding up a sign that says, “I abuse women. At five million views, I die.” His sister Pia and wife Sophie embark on a twisty journey to find him, and end up questioning how much they really knew Nick along the way. From cases of identity theft and missing persons to parables about how technology and our worst impulses can collide. On internet people can fall down these quite innocent rabbit holes, and unleash surprising and sometimes tragic real world consequences. Dark, unexpected consequences new technology can have on people, are also shown in black mirror web series. Internet is full of strange stories of stepping into the life of a stranger who looks just like you. These acquaintances drag one into a larger conspiracy where a group of interconnected men/women’s lives are unexpectedly involved in crimes and all are ultimately arrested. Here in Pakistan, we have witnessed the full exploitation of internet. Hundreds of scandals, videos, stories of politicians, celebrities, judges, military and common man,in recent, past have been uploaded about . Poor people standing in queue or stealing food or small household items,captured by cctv footage, were put on social media for utter embarrassment to the family. Those propagating do not even realize that it is human being and families like us on the other side of this drama.
Can we believe the chaos that can ensue when your loved one is accused of a heinous crime that you were never expected to commit. Another tv web series Don’t F**k With Cats expertly lays out how the internet has encouraged ordinary people to take matters into their own hands, and how horrifying online videos can find unexpectedly enormous audiences.The show unpacks one of the most infamous internet crimes in recent memory, in which a crowd-sourced online investigation into Canadian porn actor Luka Magnotta’s filmed kitten murders eventually helped expose his murder of Chinese international student Jun Lin. In another pattern exposed in a web series ‘ how to sell drugs online ( fast) main character of drama gives the Clickbait crew a run for its money when it comes to criminal tech know-how. The show centers on a shy high schooler who begins selling drugs in an effort to impress his crush. However, he gets more than he bargained for when he winds up in control of the dark web’s biggest drug empire. The increasingly bizarre ways he and his friends try to hide their side gig while balancing ordinary teen life make for an engaging, refreshingly light change of pace.
Individuals, groups, organizations, states are involved in online frauds. Indian involvement in global propaganda has been unearthed. Russian government has been involved in global internet conspiracies. Competitors in corporations and business are maligning each other and hacking stuff.
