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.

Copyright Infringements! HOW RUDE!!! (Com125 Assignment 3)

What is a copyright?

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. At its most general, it is literally "the right to copy" an original creation. In most cases, these rights are of limited duration. The symbol for copyright is "©", and in some jurisdictions may alternatively be written as either (c) or (C). (Reference)
There are a few requirements needed in order to obtain a copyright:
1. has to be original to the creator. The creator can't claim copyright on someone else's work.
2. has to be creative. Facts, for example, cannot be copyrighted.
3. has to be fixed in a tangible medium (which includes digital media). Ideas cannot be copyrighted, but the tangible expression of these ideas is copyrighted. This is often referred to as the idea/expression dichotomy.
(Reference) Ok, so then what is copyright INFRINGEMENT?
Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of material which is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the original copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. (reference)

So what are these “exclusive rights”?

Several exclusive rights typically attach to the holder of a copyright:
· to produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies (including, typically, electronic copies)
· to import or export the work
· to create derivative works (works that adapt the original work)
· to perform or display the work publicly
· to sell or assign these rights to others
· to transmit or display by means of digital audio transmission (XM Satellite Radio, Sirius)

The phrase "exclusive right" means that only the copyright holder is free to exercise the attendant rights, and others are prohibited using the work without the consent of the copyright holder. Copyright is often called a "negative right", as it serves to prohibit people (e.g. readers, viewers, or listeners, and primarily publishers and would be publishers) from doing something, rather than permitting people (e.g. authors) to do something. (Reference).

Now let’s be honest!!

Who knew that downloading off www.limewire.com was so highly illegal?? Well I really did not know until about 2 or 3 years ago that I was actually stealing! I always thought it was just so great that I was getting all these free songs, and I always wondered why everyone was always going out and buying the cd rather than downloading it offline. Now that I think about it, these artists are putting a lot of time, effort and money in to making these songs and then losing it all when we go on these websites and download it for free.
· For electronic and audio-visual media, unauthorized reproduction and distribution is occasionally referred to as piracy or theft! (Now that is scary!)

Ipods! (do they increase or decrease chances of copyright infringement?)

Ipods Ipods Ipods, almost everyone has one! How do you get your music on to your ipod? Well apple offers a program called Itunes in which you can pay $.99 per song and download it legally off the internet. Sounds easy and great, however do the math. I have an Ipod that holds up to 1,000 songs!! IF I decided to never change the songs on my Ipod (chances are slim to none!) then I would have already paid $1000!! I find that a little ridiculous! I personally avoid using websites like www.limewire.com and www.napster.com because I am not willing to get in trouble for stealing songs. Instead I just use old cd’s or buy the cd and then copy that on to my ipod. Honestly, I dont listen to my Ipod nearly as much as I would if I had all the latest songs. I am sure many people just take their music right off of the illegal websites and put them on to their ipods. I would say Mp3 players have definitely increased the chances of someone copying music illegally.

NEWSGROUPS AND WHAT THEY ARE ALL ABOUT!! (COM125; ASSIGNMENT #2)

NEWSGROUPS AND WHAT THEY ARE ALL ABOUT!! (COM125; ASSIGNMENT #2)

What is it?

Newsgroups can be defined as “a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations. The term is somewhat confusing, because it is usually a duscussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on the World Wide Web.” (reference)


How they work!

Usually newsgroups are organized under specific topics. For example you might join a newsgroup titled “House decorating” if you were interested in decorating your house. Usually you do not have to pay for use of these services. Mostly anyone can join and it provides an easy means of information. “Newsgroup servers are hosted by various organizations and institutions. Most Internet service providers host their own news server, or rent access to one, for their subscribers. There are also a number of companies who sell access to premium news servers.” (reference).

Where it all began!

Newsgroups have been around for a long time, although they haven’t become all that popular up until recently. “There are presently more than 120,000 groups within Usenet and only a few providers carry them all. The newsgroup history dates back to 1979, when Usenet was just a simple computer network used to connect several computers in a number of universities. Usenet users then had the ability to only transmit text, in the form of discussion forums. The newsgroups have since evolved and now provide surfers with the ability to transfer large binary files, such as movies, software, mp3s, videos, games, and much more.” (reference). Newsgroups make our lives easier since we can now rule out downloading programs such as limewire which tend to have viruses attached to them. The internet we use today has been influenced by this technology development because we now use forums and blogs to share our thoughts and ask others questions. Newsgroups were the beginning to a whole new means of communication among people through the internet.

Their advantages!

There are quite a few advantages with using newsgroups. The first and I’d say the most important advantage is having the ability to communicate with so many people interested in the same topic you are. When questioning whether or not to buy something, you can ask hundreds of people how the product works since they have already bought it. You can get advice on certain topics as well as share information you have that you want to spread to others.