science

Internet hunting

Internet hunting is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Internet hunting rather than just read about it. In short: Internet hunting was a moral panic in the 2000s that emerged in relation to the website Live-Shot.com, which allowed users to shoot animals using remotely-controlled firearms aimed via webcam. The panic resulted in legislation being passed across the United States despite Live-Shot.com being quickly closed down and no other operators entering the market.

Key takeaways

Internet hunting belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Internet hunting to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Internet hunting from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Internet hunting was a moral panic in the 2000s that emerged in relation to the website Live-Shot.com, which allowed users to shoot animals using remotely-controlled firearms aimed via webcam. The panic resulted in legislation being passed across the United States despite Live-Shot.com being quickly closed down and no other operators entering the market. Live-shot.com was launched in 2005 by Texas resident John Lockwood, who described it as a way to provide a hunting experience for disabled persons. According to the Humane Society of the United States, the operation consisted of "a fenced pen stocked with animals [where Lockwood] set up a tripod with a camera and a firearm". Almost as soon as the operation was reported in the press, strong opposition to the concept developed among pro-gun and pro-hunting organizations, including the National Rifle Association of America and Safari Club International, as well as among animal rights and environmental groups, who argued that the majority of hunters did not consider the practice to be hunting, as it does not conform to the principles of a "fair chase". By August 2008, forty U.S. states had enacted laws or regulations to ban internet hunting. These bans were supported by a Humane Society campaign. According to the Society, internet hunting is no longer being practiced. Critics say internet hunting never existed as a viable industry, with one commentator describing the legislation as "a testament to public alarm over internet threats and the gilded life of legislation that nobody opposes". A 2007 CBS News editorial claimed that "It turns out there weren't really Web "sites," ... More like one site, which was shut down almost soon as it opened." Advocates see the legislation as a proactive measure to prevent the practice being developed in states or other countries where it is not prohibited.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Internet hunting

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Internet hunting claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Internet hunting before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Internet hunting ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Internet hunting

In research: Internet hunting appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Internet hunting in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Internet hunting is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cruelty to animals, Hunting, Hunting in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Internet hunting outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Internet hunting in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Internet hunting means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Internet hunting out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Internet hunting in simple terms?

Why does Internet hunting matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Internet hunting?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Internet hunting.