Nowadays we do almost everything online, paying bills, shopping, managing finances; the list goes on. With so much of our personal information out there in the virtual world, we put so much faith in the organizations that we deal with to keep our information confidential. But how safe is it really? I have a friend that works for an agency that deals with online bill paying. He says, as much as we’d like to believe our personal information is safe, it is never 100 percent safe. You can take every step to make sure you are protected, but it is never fool proof. The only way to avoid this problem is by paying cash for everything, but we all know carrying around cash has its risks as well. I have had personal experience with this issue, and it is not an easy road once you’ve had your identity stolen. The question becomes how do we change this? With all the company’s that exist to protect identities, the resources are there for those who need it. The only other way to avoid these problems starts with us. We have to take the good with the bad, and for the convenience most of us decide it is worth the risk. The internet has many of these pros and cons. Another part of the internet that I love is for the case of politics. It forces our politicians to be much more straightforward and honest than they had to be without the internet. This is better for our well being, and helps us better decide who we would like to have in office. I think overall, I am willing to take the cons of the internet over not having it around at all. After all, who wants to be back to the day when we had to balance our checkbooks?