In Andriy Slynchuk’s article, they highlighted how there is currently a big gap in digital literacy.
This gap shows a disconnect between what internet users routinely do and what is actually legal
for them to do. The title itself even opens up a conversation for what is actually safe for us to do
on the internet with the title, “11 Illegal Things You Unknowingly Do on the Internet.” Through
the established idea of the article, it shows how the law has not been able to keep up with ever
changing technology with users not being educated enough on the legal boundaries of their
behavior online. This creates a scenario where millions upon millions of people can be
conducting and engaging in illegal activities through their normal internet routines. The common
patterns in digital law violations were shown through several key categories. There were
intellectual property violations that involved the downloading of copyrighted content without
permission and streaming content from unauthorized sources. There is the category of privacy
and security violations that includes using someone’s WiFi without permission and sharing
passwords for streaming services or other accounts. This is already something that everyone
does whether you have a family netflix account or just need to get access to someone’s
discount on a site. Another category is in terms of service violations with legal implications. This
category delves into the violation of a platform’s terms of service in ways that would be a breach
of contract. It also includes age misrepresentation on these platforms that have age restrictions.
Through looking at this article from an economic view, these unknowable violations represent
market failures with information distribution. Users can often lack all the correct information
about their actions could lead to, which also leads to widespread non-compliant actions. The
platforms and creators bear the costs of enforcement while the cost of education and
awareness is externalized to the users. In having unknowing illegal behavior online, it also
reflects a breakdown in the social contract between tech providers, the legal system, and the
users. Within most legal frameworks, there is already an assumed knowledge of the law.
However, in the new digital environments, there is more complexity in the legal compliance
involved. This article reflects the risk society theory most in how new technological
advancements can also create new forms of risk from users to navigate. In having unknowable
illegal behavior conducted online every day, there would need to be new policies to mitigate this
from happening. There would need to be better education for digital literacy, a more simple legal
framework, and more responsibility for platforms to communicate the legal implications. In
reflecting upon this article and the violations we can unknowingly commit every day, it is very
enlightening but also concerning to process. In highlighting how our digital lives can also exist in
a complex legal cyberspace, it is hard to not look at every action you do online to make sure it’s
safe and within the legal parameters. The gap between what we know and don’t know about
how we should behave online proves that there needs to be more laws in place to evolve to our
current technological state. Slynchuk’s article highlighted many critical issues in our current and
evolving digital society. They highlight how there is responsibility needed all around. For us to

be responsible for being more informed, and platforms to educate on what are the right things to
do on their platform. The issue of illegal behavior online is not just a legal problem, but is a
social and economic problem that requires detailed solutions to fix. Only by acknowledging and
fixing the issue can we be safer and more digitally literate for the future.