GOF 2.5 Protecting Privacy

GOF 2.5 Sarah Baase explained privacy technologies and how companies and "techies" are trying to help the user protect him or herself from leaking information. The market responds to consumer desire for privacy by producing tools that individuals and organizations can use to protect their personal information. Companies like Netscape and Microsoft have created Web browsers that have options to alert the user when a Web site is about to store a cookie. Other companies have created a browser that can alert the user if he or she attempts to visit a site whose policies do not meet the user's privacy preferences. Web-site operators pay thousands and sometimes millions, of dollars that do privacy audits. Privacy auditors search for leaks, and review the companies privacy policy plus its compliance with the policy. How much does this actually help to protect our privacy?

GOF 2.4 More Privacy Risks

GOF 2.4 Sarah Baase stresses the issue of a national identification system. The potential national ID card would contain a smart-card memory that can retain information such as the person's name, photo, Social Security number, other identifying information, and health, tax, financial, citizenship, employment, or other data. The ID system could be used to help catch criminals and terrorists. Personal health and medical information is then at risk, because the smart cards could then provide unwanted guests with this personal medical information. Pharmacists are worried that they might not be able to give prescription medicines to family members or friends. Everyone's information would then be stored on databases. What if that database has to be hacked into or had a virus that deleted important information?

GOF 2.31and 2.3.3 Consumer Information

In the two sections of chapter two, Sarah Baase explains how the individual's information can leak out and cause more ads that invade privacy. Every time one fills out a warranty or questionnaire, the information on that paper or website is stored in huge database. Businesses then use powerful hardware to analyze the consumer data. This is process called data mining, the searching of masses of data to find new information or knowledge. The data mining information is then used to send the consumer products that they are more likely to buy. An example of this is a case of a woman who had a miscarriage and continued to receive mailings about baby products. Baase states, "But it is unreasonable to blame marketers or computerized mailing lists if the woman gave consent to the distribution of her name." Do you think it is unreasonable?

2.2 Big Brother Is Watching You

In chapter 2.2 Sarah Baase explains how government agencies are invading our privacy by not obeying the Forth Amendment. Both the IRS and the FBI have access to huge databases filled with tons of personal information. Did you know every toll you pay collects personal information about you, like social security number, license plate; because of our advance technology the government can even tell how fast the driver was going through the toll. Also, government agencies are able to buy personal information from private information service companies; the information would be illegal for them to collect. In 2001, the USA PATRIOT Act lets the government collect information from financial institutions on any transactions that differ from a customer's usual patterns; but that’s not all they can check. New technologies now allow video surveillance to watch out every move, without us being told. As the Supreme Court of Canada states, "privacy is annihilated." Does the government have the right to search your personal information for no reason? How can this be stopped?

From Virtual Communities to Smart Mobs

Lane Jennings article "From Virtual Communities to Smart Mobs" stated the good the bad and the ugly about information sharing. One example of the good occurred on September 11, 2001, when passengers aboard United Flight 93 learned about the other hijackings and was able to take action. Other types of information sharing including P2P may seem like the all winning approach to problem solving, but in reality P2P has created easier ways for hackers to store their files on your computer. How would you feel if a hacker decided to leave his pornography and virus files on your computer?

GOF Chapter 7 Computer Crime

In this chapter, Sarah Baase explains the term hacking. In the early days of computer programming a hacker was a creative programmer who wrote clever programs. As time went on the word hacking took on a totally different meaning; a quote from Baase "Breaking into computers on which the hacker does not have authorized access." Hacking has created huge problems for every organization, company, and individual that has access to the internet. These individuals that are labeled "hackers" range from any age, and can break into and steal millions of dollars as well as confidential military information. How can the ordinary person protect themselves from being subjected to a hacker? What actions must be taken?

Freedom of speech in cyberspace chapter five: GoF

In chapter five A Gift of Fire, Sarah Baase tells us how the First Amendment protects our right to express his or her views on any topic. But some American citizens tend to take advantage of the Web; this problem brings up a very controversial topic. What should be illegal to put on the Web? That question depends on the individuals views. Pornography for one is illegal because it displays sexual behaviors that have no social, political, or artistic value. Should these Web pages be allowed on the web?
http://www.whywehatebush.com/
http://www.iratecitizens.org/Dumbya/102Reasons.html

http://www.ak13.com/article.php?id=274

Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace

Chapter five in A Gift of Fire talked about internet censorship. This topic has been around since the internet was released to the public. What should be done about it? The answer depends on who you are; and whether or not you agree. As a parent, you might not want your kid looking at political or religious speech, pornography, sexual or racial slurs, Nazi materials, abortion information, drugs, violence, and how to build a bomb. So how do you protect them? Maybe as a parent you put the computer in a place where you can watch your child surf the web; or even use internet filters. The problem is if you the parent are not home, how do you know what your child is looking at? There is really no way to tell what your child is looking at unless you view the history, because even with internet filters, they're ways to get around filters. The government for one is trying to put laws in place to help censor the internet, but it is a violation to the first amendment. If the United States censors certain websites, it doesn't mean that the whole world has to do the same thing. How can we stop people from spamming things on the web that is unwanted information?

Music Business Still Groping for a Digital-Age Plan

The NPR Radio cast by Neda Ulaby had people wondering what state the music industry was in; but also, the question facing musicians and their labels. These questions came up because of the mid year music sales report, and it's not good. CD sales from January to July have suffered a nine percent drop compared to last year, and a seven percent drop for all of last year. People buy music online but ten times that amount gets downloaded for free. The artist Ne-Yo sold over two million tracks online, but he says he is just "Trying to create a piece of art." It's great that the musicians do not care about what they make on their music, but the record companies do. The music industry needs to entice consumers back to physical goods, like high definition CD's, dual disks, and the new technology of interactive disks. Experts predict that in ten years physical merchandise will still make up sixty percent of music sales. But who knows what will actually happen, when more and more people will be downloading music for free?

CiS- The Copyright Paradox

“The Copyright Paradox” by Jonathan Band talks about how the internet has given rise to the crack down of copyright laws on big organizations rather than the individual. Copyright law is powerless to stop the onslaught of Internet piracy. Libraries and other high profile entities like universities and large corporations are likely to follow the laws and contractual terms that apply to them, because they are law abiding institutions; and because they know that they would be sued if they did not follow the law. Individual infringers on the other hand are not law abiding, because they know they are unlikely to get caught. The problem with stopping the law abiding individuals is the high cost of enforcing any law against the infringers. Each of the hundreds of millions of computers attached to the internet is a potential distributor of unlawful copies. If the government was to shut down every illegal downloading program in the US, how would it be able to stop the rest of the world? Could copyright laws be used by the world?

GOF- Intellectual Property

The chapter “Intellectual Property” explained copyright laws and how technology is often changing them. Intellectual property is objects such as books, articles, plays, songs (both music and lyrics), works of art, movies, and software; items that are protected by copyright, a legal concept. Legal protection is given to intellectual property because the value of a book, song, and computer program is much more than the cost of printing a copy. The value of intellectual property comes from artistic and creative works along with the skills and labor involved. Think about CD’s, and MP3’s; Napster’s case, where eighteen record companies sued Napster for copyright infringement. The law suit against Napster never would have occurred if the technology of the web allowed the transferring of information between millions of people. The Napster law suit brought up questions such as “Was the copying and distribution of music by Napster users legal under the fair-use guidelines?” “If not, was Napster responsible for the actions of its users?” Downloading music is a question of “is it fair”, many people thought that the success of Napster meant the end of copyright, they were wrong. As technology advances, the copyright laws change; and new solutions to problems evolve. iTunes for example charges people to buy single songs, albums, movies and much more. What would it be like if there was a program out that charged a monthly fee and you could download as much music as you want? Do you think that would have an effect on the music world?

Mind Control

In the article, “Mind Control” by Richard Martin, Martin talks about using a system called BrainGate in paralyzed people; but could also lead to soldier controlled killer robots. Matthew Nagle is 25 years old; he is the first patient in a controversial clinical trial that seeks to prove brain-computer interfaces. Nagle’s BCI (Brain Computer Interface) is the most sophisticated ever tested on a human. The BCI allows Nagle to perform tasks using a computer cursor. “Once you can control a computer cursor, you can do anything from drawing circles to piloting a battleship,” that is the engineering challenge. The US Department of Defense helps fund ($25 million in grants) the labs working on brain-computers. Just imagine a warrior with the intellect of a human and the immortality of a machine. You would think that a human controlled robot would only be available in surreal life, like video games. If the technology continues to evolve the way stated in the article, we could have a fully functioning robot army that is controlled by humans. What engineers can do today is amazing I think what Nagle is doing is a great thing; he is helping the advancement of technology while trying to cure himself.

The Intelligent Internet

The article, “The Intelligent Internet” was written by William E. Halal. Halal talks about the advances of speech recognition, artificial intelligence, powerful computers, and virtual environments. A new generation of computer power is here; Intel and AMD are introducing a 64-bit processor to replace the 32-bit chips that the Windows operating system ran on. Also, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing a hyper smart computer that can maintain itself, and respond to different situations. Bill Gates said, “The future lies with computers that talk, see, listen, and learn,” this brings up the next topic of virtual robots. In Japan they have a virtual female robot, Ananova who presents the weather reports. Technology today has advanced so far since the year 2000, and the Y2K scare. New inventions are always making our lives easier. Take a look at the typewriter; it revolutionized the way we write letters and documents. From typewriters to computers, today’s society is changing at such a fast pace. I agree with the article, computers are going to look and talk like human beings.

"I Have to Pick a Major - - Now What?"

As an undeclared student not knowing what to major in, is tuff to deal with. Someone is always hitting you with the question of “What’s your major?” For a while your answer is “I’m not sure,” or “I think ill go into this.” After reading “I Have to Pick a Major - - Now What?” an article written by Peter Vogt; the undeclared student would feel less likely to panic about picking a major that is right for he/she. Vogt gives tips about what to do to help the student get started, such as “Meet with a Campus Career Counselor”, “Read Your Undergraduate Bulletin and Related Publication”, and “Talk to Professors and Students in Various Majors”. All these ideas are good but they still don’t give the one answer that all undeclared students are looking for; what do I want to do with the rest of my life? As Vogt said, use the resources around you; the recourses help but how does that lead to a major choice? The real answer to this problem is getting out and participating in activities to see what you like and don’t like to do.

http://content.monstertrak.monster.com/resources/archive/careerfields/pickamajor/

Read Chapter 2 - on page 87 and answer 2.11

To start off, even though most telephone directories do not allow a reverse directory feature, you can search on Google and find websites that will have the reverse directory feature. I think because you can go online, type in any person’s phone number and find out any information about them is the biggest invasion of privacy. This impacts people in everyway, hacking would have the worst impact on people. Hackers can find out information about you, get your credit card number, and even your bank account information. I think the government should make a policy to protect everyone’s personal information on the web. LAN lines, cell phone numbers, they all can be accessed online; it should not be that way. Cell phones have health related issues. According to http://www.askmen.com/sports/health_60/72_mens_health.html it says that cell phones could cause brain cancer. But no health issues have been seen yet so I don’t know if the facts are true or not. Old School directories have been used by companies, organizations, government officials, and even private investigators according to http://www.reversephonedetective.com/articles/reversetelephonedirectory.htm . They where used for advertising, crimes, government issues.

Read Chapter 1 - on page 30 and answer 1.12

There are many jobs that have become obsolete because of the invention of the computer. For one, Key Punch Operators are obsolete. Key Punch Operators were used to punch in information using a paper card and a punch. This job became obsolete because computers could store information and then retain it at anytime. The men and women that were Key Punch Operators were not qualified to do anything else. They would have had to attend school to learn about computers and get their old jobs back. Another job that has become obsolete is a Typist. Typists are no longer needed because of computer typing programs such as Microsoft Word. I think that Typists are now Secretaries. They have to type, but also answer phones, do scheduling, and handle customer’s needs.

On the other hand the invention of the computer has also created more jobs. Computer Programming, without this profession the computer would be at a downfall. Another job is Web Design. Web Design was a job created because of the computer and the internet. These jobs have helped our society prosper in the field of technology, and communication. People around the world use computers to communicate with family, and friends. Computers have also created millions of jobs.

Article 2: Whom to Protect and How?

This article is all about internet security, which I feel is fine just the way it is. According to the article many people want the government to get involved with what can be viewed online. When you think about the internet, think about how many freedoms you have when you’re searching. If the government got involved, half the websites on the internet would not be viewable by regular Americans. The impact of the internet on society is mainly positive it makes life better, “more freedoms”. But there are the select 9 percent of Americans that think computer are making life worse.

Article 1: Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change

Neil Postman’s ideas are all relevant to today’s society. His article is based on his five ideas. First idea: “for every advantage a new technology offers, there is always a corresponding disadvantage”. Second idea: “advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among the population”. Third idea: “Embedded in every technology there is a powerful idea, sometimes two or three powerful ideas”. Fourth idea: “Technological change is not additive; it is ecological”. Fifth idea: “which is that media tend to become mythic”. I can agree with the first, second, and third idea, because we can see those changes happing in the world today. If you take a look at the fourth idea, I think it is addictive not ecological, because once you start using a technology like a cell phone, you will always want to use your cell phone. The fifth idea I think is way out of line by saying that God wants us to have these new technologies. That statement is more of a religious thing then an actual opinion.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit!

This magazine article talks about World of Warcraft an online game. I have played this game, and yes World of Warcraft (WOW) is a very popular game. I am writing this blog because I think that the whole concept of making money off people just by playing a game is a great idea. There is nothing wrong with starting up a business where men and women get hired to play WOW for 80 hours a week. From a gamers point of view, buying the WOW gold coins for real money acts like a cheat code. This is because in WOW, the gold coins are the difference between being the best player or the worst player.

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I am just saying hello from my classroom.