2.4.3 Exchange

Being able to link computers into networks has enormously boosted their capabilities. Data can now be sent between any two computers, maybe thousands of miles apart, at the speed of light. For example, I can share the digital photo stored on my computer with people all over the world almost instantaneously, simply by sending the image to them as an email attachment. Or I can go further and post the image to a website on the internet, where it will be publicly available for any suitably equipped person in the world to look at. Countless individuals worldwide now have personal websites on which they publish pictures of themselves, their partners and their pets, along with details of their personal lives and habits. Whether or not this is a wise thing to do is an open question; the fact is, computer technology makes it easy.