Science and Technology

On sunny days, you can ride the waves of email, instant messaging, and social media websites like a surfer cruising in onto Santa Monica Beach; it’s fun and easy to use forums for networking, doing business, or just staying in touch. But increasingly there is a dark side, when the ride can be upset by the threat of a stalker harassing you online.

Anyone who uses the Internet can be subjected to Cyberstalking, the use of information technology, particularly the Internet, to harass another person. It can take many forms: People send threats and make false accusations, spy on people, steal their identity, and damage data or equipment. They solicit minors for sexual purposes and gather information to harass or blackmail.

Let's face it: most students despise science. Though unfortunate, in fact, science and technology are among the least favorite fields of study. The latest study reports by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, concluded that a mere 11.7% students enrolled in science programs at Austrian Universities.

This has not escaped the attention of the European Union who met in Lisbon in 2000 and established a set of goals 'to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, focusing on boosting research and development,' with a supporting study to measure the interest in scientific research in all of the EU's 27 member states. Austria, it turns out, is part of the problem and may be impeding the successful achievement of that goal.