Network Neutrality (Assignment 12)

What is Network Neutrality?

Network neutrality, as explained by Wikipedia (equivalently "net neutrality", "Internet neutrality" or "NN") refers to a principle that is applied to residential broadband networks, and potentially to all networks. Precise definitions vary, but a broadband network free of restrictions on the kinds of equipment that may be attached and the modes of communication allowed, and where communication was not unreasonably degraded by other communication streams would be considered neutral by most advocates.

One article says that the debate over network neutrality is such a problem right now, that people cant even agree on a definition for the term. (Jones)

So what exactly are people debating over?

Of course, everyone has their own opinions and views on the situation. Some people think that by restricting the network use that there will be a lot less problems on the internet. They think that ISPs should be able to block out any dangerous material streaming through such as viruses. Also, those who oppose network neutrality think that by limiting access to certain things on networks, there will be a decrease in traffic causing an increase in speed on the internet.
Those who are for network neutrality are concerned about higher prices they would have to be paying for the extra services that would be provided.

“Critics, meanwhile, call net neutrality rules ‘a solution in search of a problem’ and believe that net neutrality rules would reduce incentives to upgrade networks and launch next generation network services. Others argue that discrimination of some kinds, particularly to guarantee "Quality of Service," is not problematic, but highly desirable. Bob Kahn, Internet Protocol's co-inventor, has called the term net neutrality a slogan, and states that he opposes establishing that nothing new can occur in the network: "If the goal is to encourage people to build new capabilities, then the party that takes the lead in building that new capability, is probably only going to have it on their net to start with and it is probably not going to be on anybody else's net.” (Wikipedia).

Who is at stake?

I think that everyone who uses the internet is at stake. Taking away some of the freedom we have on the internet will just cause more problems down the road. The internet should be a free and easy place to access.

I support it!

Personally, I support network neutrality. There are problems on the internet of course! However, by limiting access and denying certain information to be viewed we are defeating the whole purpose of mass communication through the internet. Everyone needs to work together to address the issues on the internet and we could have a neutral internet.

Sources:
www. wikipedia. com
Jones, K.C. Net Neutrality Debate Remaines Contentious. Information Neutrality.
<https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_47434_1>.

Second Life has so Much Potential for Increased Education

When I first heard of Second Life, I immediately thought of the computer game The Sims. The Sims is a computer game in which you create a character and you work, eat, sleep and go out with other characters on the game. The only difference (which I think is the biggest difference) is that you are the only “real” person playing on the game. On Second Life you actually interact with real people from all over the world.

A better definition of Second Life, taken from Wikipedia is:

Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual world launched in 2003, developed by Linden Research, Inc (commonly referred to as Linden Lab), which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007.[4][5] A downloadable client program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other through motional avatars, providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another.

Second Life is incredible and is a great tool for furthering ones education. I feel as if it allows users to “travel” without actually leaving their home. I created an account a few days ago and went on it every day since. At first I was very confused by it because it was making me go through a tutorial before I could actually begin the process of “living my second life”. After completing the tutorial, which includes teaching you how to fly, drive, and change your clothes, I was off to the virtual world. Anytime I had a question, I could just simply walk up to someone and ask them and they would help me. I had a few problems communicating with certain people since they didn’t speak any English, however we managed to get our point across. I think having a virtual world like Second Life really helps users interact with people they wouldn’t normally interact with. I was talking to someone from Spain for over an hour, half in English and half in Spanish. It was interesting to hear about his life and it was almost as if we were standing right next to each other. “In all, more than 9.8 million accounts have been registered, although many are inactive, some Residents have multiple accounts, and there are no reliable figures for actual long term consistent usage” (Wikipedia). This shows how popular Second Life really is. People are learning from it and making new friends.

I would say the only downfall to Second Life is that people are consuming their lives with it. On Second Life you can be anyone you want to be. You can choose your body, your name, you can even change your sex and no one would know. I would say that this can hinder people from being who they really are and allowing others to see themselves for who they are. This can affect their lives in more than one way. For example, if they become their “fantasy person” on Second Life, they may begin to think that is who they really are. Another downfall would be that people aren’t experiencing the real world as much because they spend too much time on the computer and they are missing out on real life experiences.

Also, before researching a little bit on http://www.secondlife.com/ I was afraid of what children would be exposed to on this virtual world. I noticed a lot of nudity and even the chance of exposure to swearing and other vulgar things. Then on the Second Life website, I saw that they had a virtual world just for teens which I definitely think is a great idea!

I think Second Life should be used for a learning experience only. People should use it to meet people from other countries and cultures and learn about it but not lose their true selves in the meantime.

References:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
• www. Secondlife.com

Blogs and Politics (Assignment 8)

I must admit that when I first read this assignment, I was kind of nervous about writing this blog. I am not really interested or familiar with politics therefore I felt as if it was going to be a challenge. I did a lot of research looking for the perfect political blog for me to use and show as an example.

First I decided I should look up the definition for what a “political blogger” really is. For this I used Wikipedia: “A political blog is a common type of blog that comments on politics. In liberal democracies the right to criticize the government without interference is considered an important element of free speech. In other jurisdictions bloggers use the uncensored nature of the internet to bypass state controlled news media but as a result may find themselves persecuted.” (Wikipedia.com)

Using google.com I found this blog http://blog.itsallpolitics.com/page/2/. Most of this blogs contributions were from many different people. I couldn’t find out exactly who started the blog because it isn’t just one person who posts on the site. In his first blog he basically invites anyone who wants to comment on politics or start a discussion to register and begin a conversation over the internet with others. The blogs title is “Political Blog” so in other words it is a very broad blog and covers nearly every aspect of politics.

From what I gathered from this blog, it is not a politician who is heading it up. It appears to be just a citizen blogger along with many other citizens commenting. The blogs date of birth was January 13, 2006. The tone of this blog seems to be somewhat broad. People are discussing and commenting on many many different issues in politics and government.

It has become a lot easier for people to learn about politics since it is mostly online. It gives people the chance to voice their opinion on certain issues. Since voting is a huge privilege in the United States, we are fortunate enough to have the internet now to use as a tool to gain more information so we can make the right choice when voting. There isn’t really a definite tone of this political blog. People can talk about any political interest. I did read a lot of blog posts about candadian politics so I think most of the people posting on here are from Canada. I just liked that it didn’t have a specific topic that you needed to talk about if you wanted to comment on this particular blog. A few specific topics I noticed on this blog were freedom, presidential elections, and even advertisements for an Ohio Attorney General Candidate where the blogger is trying to persuade the readers to vote for the Attorney.

I definitely think newer communication technologies enable broader political participation. The young, old, educated, and uneducated are able to research politics throughout the internet now. Not only does the internet provide us with a lot of information on politics but blogging itself (which has become more widely used lately) allows users to ask questions and receive answers, anonymously if desired.

In conclusion, I would say I defintley think that political blogs are helping out the society. They allow everyone (who wants to) to participate in debates and receive information at a much easier, low-key rate. In other words, you can maintain an anonymous name all the while educating yourself on important issues.

Communtity Online! (Assignment 7)

Wikipedia describes an online community as “a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as letters, telephone, email or Usenet rather than face to face. If the mechanism is a computer network, it is called an online community. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. A computer-mediated community (CMC) uses social software to regulate the activities of participants.” (reference)

There are many different sorts of online communities such as Facebook, Myspace, UB email, chat rooms, and AIM. The one in which I have used the longest and am the most confident discussing is AIM. AIM stands for AOL instant messenger. I do use this service to maintain contact with people that I don’t normally talk to other wise. However, I do sometimes use AIM to discuss important things about classes. For example, in our group project, there are 5 of us, and some live on campus, others live off. We decided it would be easiest to meet over the weekend online. This way everyone could discuss the project from the comfort of their own home. We started a conversation, mostly through AIM and then realized it would be easier to discuss the project in a chartroom. Technology has advanced so much over time with AIM. Its fast, easy and you can clean your room in between messages!

Although chat rooms are a very useful online community as all, AIM is more popular. AIM can link anyone together from any country, at any time. It is different from email because it is “live”. You can type as if you were talking to the person face-to-face, and you are able to receive answers for questions right away.

AIM affects the development of social ties by actually increasing communication among people. If AIM didn’t exist, I know for me personally, I probably wouldn’t have social ties with a lot of people I do because of AIM. It is much easier to send someone and instant message online, than it is to call them, especially if you are shy or do not have a strong relationship with that person. Some people will argue (rightfully so) that AIM can actually have a negative effect on social ties because people will use the instant messenger over actually talking to someone face-to-face or calling them up on the phone. It could perhaps slow down and progression within a relationship.
AIM has many other benefits. You are able to create a profile on AIM where others can get a sense of who you are and vice versa. AIM has become widely popular across the nation. It really helps everyone stay in touch!

Identity Theft (Assignment 6)

What is an online idenity?

An online identity as explained by Wikipedia is “a social identity that network users establish in online communities. Although some people prefer to use their real names online, most Internet users prefer to identify themselves by means of pseudonyms, which reveal varying amounts of personally identifiable information”. In other words, it is the person we allow others to get to know of ourselves, over the internet.

How can we do this?

We are now able, because of technology advancements in the internet; to actually shape ourselves into exactly who we want others to think we are. Think about it like this, we can edit our pictures to change our looks, and anything we type on the internet about ourselves can actually all be made up because no one would ever know, except those who are your friends in reality. But that brings me to another option; changing your name. You can have almost any name you want on the Internet. No one ever has to know what your real name is.

My Online Identity

An online identity that I own is the one portrayed on my Facebook. I do not make anything up, but I definitely leave personal information out. I only put pictures on there that I am okay with the public seeing. I would definitely say that anyone could portray me as someone I am really not. Although Facebook has my favorite movies listed and where I work and go to school, unless they are in my life, they do not really know who I am. There are some people who use their online identity to completely change who they are on the internet. For example, they could make up information about where they work, how old they are, what they look like. Just like the article Identity and deception in the Virtual Community states “most of Usenet is meant to be non-fiction; the basic premise is that the users are who they claim to be.” This allows however for other issues, related to crime. For example, a pedophile could pretend to be some young girl trying to be friends with a child, when in reality, they are luring them in to their trap. But that’s a whole other topic for discussion!

Facebook can be used for more than just fun. I have heard of companies looking up prospective employees to gain a little bit more knowledge about them from their Facebooks. Also, on the site, you (or anyone with an account) can create an event in which you would like to advertise to Facebook members. So in other words, it can be used as a business tool to advertise for you or your company.

Mostly, Facebook is a forum in which people can connect to others who also have accounts or express themselves however they would like. Facebook has options to put photos, send “gifts” and even a status feature where you can type exactly what you are doing in it and have a “memo” go out to your friends, letting them know where you are and what you are doing. To do this, they have something called a “news feed”

What is identity theft?

Identity theft can be described as “The unlawful acquisition of legally attributed personal identifiers is made possible by serious breaches of privacy” (Wikipedia). Facebook unfortunately does help increase identity theft rates. I would say that some people just give out too much information on their pages that allows for someone to steal their identity. Facebook probably doesn’t seal the deal (so to speak) but it definitely gives people an edge on getting someone’s information. This is why, I have my page set on private and I only add people I really know to my friends list.

What Privacy?? Assignment 5

To me, privacy is a very broad term. It is applied to people for the most part but it can also be linked to important files as well. Privacy to me is the ability and desire for each person to keep certain aspects of their lives to themselves. A better definition comes from dictionary.com: “The quality or condition of being secluded from the presence or view of others.”

The biggest challenges to personal privacy posed by the internet:

Most of us belong to social networking sites such as Myspace or Facebook. Although when we are making our pages on these sites we do not usually think of it this way, but we are allowing a huge part of our private lives to be seen by nearly anyone. Yes, these sites do have privacy settings, but why aren’t a lot of us using them?? I know on Myspace I only allow people who are my friends to see my page, however I have around 250 friends, some of which I do not even know. On my page, along with plenty others, I have many pictures, my relationship status, where I work, go to school, who my “top friends” are, whether I am straight, gay, or not sure, my body type, and some people even include their yearly salary! I Also as stated by Boyd, people are posting quizzes on their pages about themselves in order to give the world a better understanding of who they are, often these quizzes ask pretty private questions. I think that because the quiz has the question in it, people automatically think they have to answer it. think people think that by putting this information on Myspace or Facebook, no one really looks at it. In contrast, I would say a lot of people are looking at whatever information you allow them to.
It is nice to be able to stay connected with old friends and become closer friends with new people although this is not all it is REALLY being used for. I can’t tell you how many times I get weird messages on either site from strangers just saying they want to meet me or they want to get to know me. It’s kind of creepy if you ask me!

My privacy online!

Sometimes I do fear my privacy online, but I fear it more because of sites that have access to my personal information. When I go on to my bank account online for example, I type in my user name and password but sometimes people have access to your private accounts by hacking in to your computer. That is when I fear for my privacy!

Celebrity Scandals!

Fortunately enough for me, I haven’t had any scenarios associated with my privacy on the internet but the most popular invasion of privacy is that among young (and old) celebrities. Recently, there was a “Hollywood Scandal” linked with High school Musical star Vanessa Ann Hudgens. She is 18 years old and there were nude pictures of her all over the internet. Yes she is young, but someone didn’t have any respect for her privacy and posted these embarrassing pictures of her on the internet. She has a very young group of fans who are now exposed to this scandal and who may end up thinking it is okay to expose yourself naked on the internet. She was taking pictures in the “privacy” of her own home with what was said to be her boyfriend and somehow these pictures got into the wrong hands. We all do things we would like to keep private but unfortunately for celebrities almost nothing they do is kept private, mostly because of the internet. You can read more about the invasion of Vanessa Ann Hugens privacy here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20631297/

Nearly everyone has access to the internet and the paparazzi know that. They use the public’s demand of curiosity to their advantage to make money. The fastest way to get the information out is through the internet.

How is everyone reacting to this??

Well people close to me reacted nearly the same way I did. Let the girl have some privacy!! I know that if I put myself in Vanessa’s shoes I would be really embarrassed that these photos were exposed to people they weren’t meant to be exposed to. I do however, understand where my sister is coming from (a mother of a 5 year-old) when she was very upset about these photos being advertised and talked about all over the television. My niece loves High school Musical and my sister doesn’t want her to think it is okay to show people your body. My sister was more upset with Vanessa than the people who put the picture on the internet. I understand her thoughts, however Vanessa did something in what she thought was privacy just like we all do, and unfortunately it didn’t stay that way!

Gifts Gifts Gifts!! We all love to get them!

We all belong to some sort of gift economy, even though must of us do not look at it that way. To better inform you of what a “gift” is I will resort to Kollacks definition “What is a gift? To define a gift as (1) the obligatory transfer, (2) of inalienable objects or services, (3) between related and mutually obligated transactors. In other more simplified words, a gift is “something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation” (Reference)

What EXACTLY is a gift?

Many people may think the idea of a gift is “give to receive” but really in contrast it is “Gift exchanges should not involve explicit bargaining or demands that the gift be reciprocated, but a relationship in which there is only giving and no receiving is unlikely to last. The contrast to a gift exchange is a commodity transaction, in which no obligation exists after the exchange is consummated – the bottle of water purchased at a convenience store does not create an obligation to buy something there again” as stated by Kollack.
Now on to gift economies. Wikipedia describes it as “A gift economy is an economic system in which goods and services are given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future quid pro quo. Typically, a gift economy occurs in a culture or subculture that emphasizes social or intangible rewards for generosity: karma, honor, loyalty or other forms of gratitude. In some cases, simultaneous or recurring giving serves to circulate and redistribute valuables within a community. This can be considered a form of reciprocal altruism. Sometimes there is an implicit expectation of the return of comparable goods or services, political support, or the gift being later passed on to a third party. However, in what is considered to be in the true spirit of gift economics, many times giving is done without any expectation of reciprocity”

My Gift Economy!

The gift economy I consider to be the most important in which I belong is my family. Most people won’t think of a family as a gift but in reality it really is. Parents have children in order to provide or gift love and other tangible items to them. You have heard the saying “love is unconditional” right? That’s because it is. Parents will love you no matter what, even when you get angry and say you don’t love them (which usually isn’t true anyways). Same goes for Aunts, Uncles, siblings, nieces and nephews. My niece is a prime example. She means everything to me, and I will just keep on giving love and other items to her just because I love her. I don’t expect anything in return from a 5 year old.

In my family, I feel exceptionally gifted because my parents have paid for my education throughout my entire life as well as bought be a car, and many many other things. My parents, like most, don’t expect you to give them anything in return for the things they do for their children. They do it because they love them.