Whew, we are finished with the book! Let me hear a heck yeah! It's been an up and down ride with this text. One minute I understood it and the next I was confused. After reading it, I see the Internet and World Wide Web as a whole new entity. I never thought of it as a communication device even though that's primarily how I use it. I've even gotten into conversations with people about things mentioned in the text using the knowledge I learned from reading and class discussions.
Privacy and anonymity are two things that will be an issue as long as the web is around. You might be able to make a fake profile on something like MySpace or Louisville Mojo but someone will know who you are be it the site admins or some super hacker that can track you through your IP address. No matter what "they" want us to think, I think someone always has an eye on people online and here's why: I have a friend who was researching for a presentation at nursing school on the subject of what would happen in the event of a WMD type attack medical wise. My brother, who is a retired 20+ year Army vet, gave her a few websites to lookup for info. After she was finished, the computer would not turn on for a few days. The power button would light up and the fan was on but no action in the guts of the system. It never acted like that before and after the few days passed it hasn't done it since. We laughed when discussing it among ourselves and with my brother, making jokes that the government was checking her computer out since she was digging around researching for school. I really think that was the case even though we can't prove whether it was coincidence or not.
I found it interesting when it mentioned the man who found a fellow serviceman online and turned him in for being gay. The question I have for that is this: was the man that turned in his co-worker purposely searching people online to get in trouble and whatnot or did he randomly stumble upon the profile? I am just curious.
I remember when Napster first was up and running. I was part of the large amounts of people that would download everything from music to SNL clips to sound effects off of it. I loved it. I did stop using it because I became obsessive after a while trying to find obscure things and decided to stop. Not long after that is when they got in trouble by Metallica. I have 3 views on the piracy issue. First, Metallica is not going to go broke if their albums are downloaded illegally. I understand they took the time to write, record and pay for all the services to release a cd and I know it's not cheap being in a band and having recorded 2 cds ourselves. Copyright is there for a reason - to keep your works protected so someone else can't record them and claim them as their own. If you have more money than God then who cares if some stuff is downloaded illegally? Second, as a lover of music when I downloaded a song or a few songs off of Napster they were usually not the best quality and if I liked it enough, I'd go buy the cd. I like to have liner notes and lyrics and pictures to look at. The same holds true today when I get songs off of iTunes. I might download one or two but if I like it enough I am going to buy it. Third as a musician I am not banking in on merch and cd sales like Metallica. We have actually told people if they want to burn the cd that's cool. They are going to share it with someone and it'll go from there. Someone actually brought us money once because they burned a cd for a friend and we didn't accept it. I've even burned our cds for someone. We are all about sharing the music and making people happy with our product and obviously Metallica and the others who sued Napster are all about the money. There is a great South Park episode about illegal downloads called "Christian Rock Hard".
When MoveOn.org was still in baby steps, I signed up for e-mail and updates on political issues back in 2004. I got a sticker from them which referenced Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner he gave a speech in front of. I used to make fun of those with old political stickers on their cars but I am now one of them. I have thought about taking it off but even though it's from 2004, it still rings true to me today so I'll leave it until he's gone (sorry to the Bush loyals). Even though I am not as active on the site anymore, I love the fact that there was a place I could sign up and get involved in issues that affected me. I electronically signed petitions and things that were emailed and faxed to Northup and McConnell's offices and would then get a letter from their office with a stamped signature thanking me for my concern.
When I read the section about Internet voting I imagined a nation of chaos. For real, if Floria loses cast ballots and has to recount and the polls in Bullitt County were botched (for a local election nonetheless) then how can we be expected to vote online? It might only be an addition to the system already out there but I don't see it being a good idea. My 80 some odd year old neighbor can make it to the polling place up the street so everyone else should be able to as well.
Privacy and anonymity are two things that will be an issue as long as the web is around. You might be able to make a fake profile on something like MySpace or Louisville Mojo but someone will know who you are be it the site admins or some super hacker that can track you through your IP address. No matter what "they" want us to think, I think someone always has an eye on people online and here's why: I have a friend who was researching for a presentation at nursing school on the subject of what would happen in the event of a WMD type attack medical wise. My brother, who is a retired 20+ year Army vet, gave her a few websites to lookup for info. After she was finished, the computer would not turn on for a few days. The power button would light up and the fan was on but no action in the guts of the system. It never acted like that before and after the few days passed it hasn't done it since. We laughed when discussing it among ourselves and with my brother, making jokes that the government was checking her computer out since she was digging around researching for school. I really think that was the case even though we can't prove whether it was coincidence or not.
I found it interesting when it mentioned the man who found a fellow serviceman online and turned him in for being gay. The question I have for that is this: was the man that turned in his co-worker purposely searching people online to get in trouble and whatnot or did he randomly stumble upon the profile? I am just curious.
I remember when Napster first was up and running. I was part of the large amounts of people that would download everything from music to SNL clips to sound effects off of it. I loved it. I did stop using it because I became obsessive after a while trying to find obscure things and decided to stop. Not long after that is when they got in trouble by Metallica. I have 3 views on the piracy issue. First, Metallica is not going to go broke if their albums are downloaded illegally. I understand they took the time to write, record and pay for all the services to release a cd and I know it's not cheap being in a band and having recorded 2 cds ourselves. Copyright is there for a reason - to keep your works protected so someone else can't record them and claim them as their own. If you have more money than God then who cares if some stuff is downloaded illegally? Second, as a lover of music when I downloaded a song or a few songs off of Napster they were usually not the best quality and if I liked it enough, I'd go buy the cd. I like to have liner notes and lyrics and pictures to look at. The same holds true today when I get songs off of iTunes. I might download one or two but if I like it enough I am going to buy it. Third as a musician I am not banking in on merch and cd sales like Metallica. We have actually told people if they want to burn the cd that's cool. They are going to share it with someone and it'll go from there. Someone actually brought us money once because they burned a cd for a friend and we didn't accept it. I've even burned our cds for someone. We are all about sharing the music and making people happy with our product and obviously Metallica and the others who sued Napster are all about the money. There is a great South Park episode about illegal downloads called "Christian Rock Hard".
When MoveOn.org was still in baby steps, I signed up for e-mail and updates on political issues back in 2004. I got a sticker from them which referenced Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner he gave a speech in front of. I used to make fun of those with old political stickers on their cars but I am now one of them. I have thought about taking it off but even though it's from 2004, it still rings true to me today so I'll leave it until he's gone (sorry to the Bush loyals). Even though I am not as active on the site anymore, I love the fact that there was a place I could sign up and get involved in issues that affected me. I electronically signed petitions and things that were emailed and faxed to Northup and McConnell's offices and would then get a letter from their office with a stamped signature thanking me for my concern.
When I read the section about Internet voting I imagined a nation of chaos. For real, if Floria loses cast ballots and has to recount and the polls in Bullitt County were botched (for a local election nonetheless) then how can we be expected to vote online? It might only be an addition to the system already out there but I don't see it being a good idea. My 80 some odd year old neighbor can make it to the polling place up the street so everyone else should be able to as well.
1 comment:
HECK YEA! I don't really consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I have no doubt that Big Brother was definitly snooping on the computer. Unfortunately, think of how many attacks have been and continue to be thwarted because of Big Brother's watchful eye that we havn't been told about. Hmm? Too bad it Big Brother watching us and not Big Brother and the Holding Company. We'd all be partying down with Janice. Let's see who gets THAT reference.
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