This article is not about creative writing. It's about invasion of privacy.

I don't know if I'm being dramatic or what. But I do know that if someone were to access my mail--snail mail--it's a federal offense. They'd go to jail. If someone broke into my home and snooped around, they'd go to jail. It's Breaking and Entering, which is against the law.

And yet, I sit here at my computer with firewalls, virus scans, an MS programs that searches my hard drive for snoopy companies that have hidden trojans for the sake of knowing my daily activities and other info. I have an ad blocker and God knows how many countless other forms of protection. Years ago this wasn't necessary. Hackers were out there but not as prevalent as they are now. And that's a shame. The freedom enjoyed by hackers drove them to become bolder since there are no laws condemning their activitis. As a result, I have to arm myself to the gunnels each time I go online to protect my privacy and so I won't pick up viruses and snoopers who can take anything they want, including my credit card numbers if I entered them into a file on my hard drive. However, if I buy a gun to protect my home, I'll be locked up.

This is because local police are on the ball. They're there to protect us from home invaders, murderers, and thieves. So they say we don't need guns. So my home is my private refuge. Then again, so is or was my computer. Therefore, how come I'm protected in a small private space, and not on the Internet which is allegedly accessed by 130 countries throughout the world? Does this make sense to you?

I can't write to a congressman or a senator and ask him to protect me because there are laws protecting the intruders. Mostly if they write smut or articles that are anti-anything, they're protected under the First Amendment. However, what protects the hackers? This is invasion of privacy on a grander scale and nothing's being done about it.

When do we stop protecting the criminals and do something for the voters for a change? I'm sorry that I'm on a bandwagon, but this is maddening. Some people are actually afraid to push the button that loads up their systems because they never know what's out there waiting for them.