Final Exam

A digital footprint is a very real thing, and the idea of a digital footprint is just as important. From the readings we read, information digitally has very different privacy issues than publicly. Once something is put up on the internet, its data remains there forever and its public unless if the settings for this information are disabled. While I do not use social media very often, it is not because I do not want to post things, it is simply because I do not have many things to post online. That being said, I do still have my phone information, email account and othe rbasic information that is usually kept private but I will state that my opinion on this matter varies in my point of view.

Most of the time, I don't mind the stuff I post online, as normally I am not just posting that for my friends to see, but things that I simply do not mind that the public sees. I am mostly open about my life, and if people that know my friends that see the pictures of me they are posting, I mostly do not mind as for the most part I trust them if my friends trust them. While yes, these images stay with me forever, they also showcase memories that I do not mind people knowing about.

"But what about people you do not know posting images of you?"

The people do not know me and my name and if they were to look me up, chances are they would not know where to look. On facebook or instagram they will not tag me as they will not know who I am. Furthermore, How I act online and how act in person are one in the same, and most of the time they should stay like that as being online should not change me as a person let alone showcase I am a different person.

In regards to getting a job, I do not have any information on my facebook that would cause issues with this but let's say that I did. If I am unable to get a job because of some pictures that were private and only meant for a few friends, then I do not see that business lasting long and see that it may come across some controversy related to this. I am a strong believer that something that I said five years ago should not come back to haunt me just because I had different beliefs back then. If I said a satirical joke online, first of all I would not say this publicly and it would only be said via text, in person, or online chat, but if I said this publicly on facebook or instagram or whatever, I should not be judged for it as it was meant to be something in my personal life, it does not replicate my beliefs. What matters to a business should be the person you are in the workplace, the person you are at the interview, and the person you are in reality. Digital and private information should not be the only determining factor.

As such I feel a strong issue with the idea of privacy is partially done by mishandled information and understanding what should be public and what should be in your private scrapbook. You should not be judged for your internet self but should be judged for your real self and I think that is another large issue in the whole digital information age. We start straying from who we are on our personal digital information page rather than an official and formal business one like linked in. It makes us escape the reality of the world and who we really are and I think it is one of the largest issues in a digital information age.

Here is an article that exemplifies this issue and truly shows what this online self vs. real self has become nowadays.
http://www.emilymagazine.com/?p=741

Week 11

The internet is such a strong form of communications. With people from around the world to contact each other, it has become a strong topic for both technology and communication. Because the internet is such a vast ocean of information, people who are on the internet have a greater value of both privacy, and creativity. They can speak freely without having to have some sort of KGB knock on their door and have them in handcuffs in five seconds.

Because of the advancement of the internet, It has truly created its own culture and society and is associated largely with promoting innovation amongst its citizens. Using forum posts like reddit or social media gatherings like Facebook, users can craft their own ideas and speak freely without ever being questioned. As such the safety behind a computer screen is a large part about keeping free expression safe. It is why a large part of games, movies, shows, etcl are on the internet as it is a safe haven for creativity and ideas alike. 

The internet is an amazing place to share and make creative ideas, many companies even use it to help with group projects. People aspiring to be news reporters will even use it as a way to blog about local issues just so they can speak out in their own way. As such I feel the internet is almost the embodiment of the promotion of innovation.

EOTM Pt 2

A hoax is a falsehood that is meant to mask the truth. Most of the time it is used to prove something exists and reinvigorate the ideas of urban legends and rumors. They have been used time and time again, and have been progressively more clever than the last. Hoaxes have been a form of deceptions that confuse both researchers and society to this day. The term hoax comes from the old english word hocus, which means to cheat on. Although hoaxes are similar to practical jokes, the difference lies in their complexity. Whilst a practical joke is normally not very in-depth but meant to only impact a few people.

Zhang Yingyu, a chinese writer around the Wanli period of china (1563-1620), wrote the “Book of Swindles”, a book compiled with several short stories about deception, swindles, fraud, and hoaxes.  Each story is classified with over twenty four types of swindles based on a number of features. The main point of the book is to teach society how to avoid getting swindled, though it also gives tips to the art of deception, strangely enough. Many of the stories involve ordinary folk like peasants or peddlers. The book takes place in an imaginary realm of rivers and lakes, called jianghu. Jianghu itself was meant to be a safe place for political exiles, criminals, and spiritual people. However, it can also be dangerous as the strangers of the land may turn out to be preying on your goods.

The book categorizes twenty four types of swindles, these types are as follows.

1.Misdirection and theft

2. The bag drop

3.Money changing

4.Misrepresentation

5.False relations

6. Brokers; 

7.Enticement to Gambling 

8.Showing Off Wealth 

9.Scheming for Wealth 

10.Robbery 

11.Violence 

12.On Boats 

13.Poetry 

14.Fake Silver 

15.Government Underlings 

16.Marriage

17.Illicit Passion

18. Women

19.Kidnapping

20. Corruption in Education

21. Monks and Priests

22.Alchemy

23.Sorcery

24.Pandering

Although hoaxes have actually existed since the dawn of the human age, the earliest hoax that has been documented is the drummer of Tedworth in 1681. The drummer of Tedworth, was a hoax of a poltergeist haunting of a drummer, though experts state that the noises of the drummer were done by small children making an impractical joke. At first, this hoax did not go very far, it was only communicated about from word to word, or mouth to mouth. As communication advanced however, hoaxes started to spread more rapidly, to the point of becoming a rumor or an urban legend.

Hoaxes are commonly used today for a variety of purposes. Many militaries use them as a way to deceive incoming troops, or use it as a way of creating psychological warfare. Many politicians use hoaxes as a way to get ahead of their opponent, or create falsified information to further their own agendas. They are used to create some sort of myth or change in the way a large amount of society sees things. Other times, like the hoax of the hodag, they are used to make a quick buck on unsuspecting victims.

The hodag of wisconsin

Book of swindles

http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-book-of-swindles/9780231178631

Blog #4

Unfortunately, the article does not work as it shows up with a 404 error so I'll do my best to relate it to current events.

The six clauses or freedoms of the first amendment are among the most important part of the constitution. Many consider them to be the backbone of our law and society in the United States and society as a whole. As such they have been called into question in our current state in the government, the news, and our societal issues at hand.
Recently, a black man named George Floyd died to corrupt police officers who strangled the poor man. This cause an outroar of protestors who reinvigorated the black lives matter movements. However, President Donald Trump ordered the protestors to be tear gassed and controlled and prevented despite their peaceful protests. This escalated into riots with people responding with physical violence out of sheer rage and aggression. This event sparked the questioning of our society's and our government's racial relations and how well they are handling society as a whole. Donald Trump later commanded the national guard to bring in helicopters to control any protestors with violent force. Luckily, this was stopped by the supreme court, but it does not change Trump's handling of the situation who has tried to show much aggression towards these peaceful protests. Looting and other illegal activities have also started occurring amongst the protests where peaceful has suddenly turned into violence.

These threats against the common people should not be taken lightly at all. Trump is in clear defiance of the constitution's first amendment, the right to petition. He is enforceing these protests using the military which is a dangerous abuse of power and should be brought to the attention and questioning of the supreme court.

article explaining the situation
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-considering-move-invoke-insurrection-act-n1221326

Blog #5

My assumptions for why these 2 sites aren't used very often is due to their extreme bias. While its fine to have bias, news articles focusing too much on one side or the other tend to be not great when connected to journalists as it's a sign of unprofessionalism and yellow journalism especially when it is as blatent as this. But even when going over the ANTIWAR.com, a site that claims to be the best source for anti war news, has strong opinions about their opinions and expressions towards their criticisms of the government. Therefore, most news businesses will not want to cite them or introduce them as they will blow up much controversy for the news programs as well as the governments themselves. These sites are probably not well known due to examples of how government controlled expression in the past. Perhaps strong anti-war voices are also drowned out by governments not just from the past, but also in the present and most news crews do not want to come under scurtiny from the government from strong conservative/anti-war propaganda. They also do not want to be showcasing flat out yellow journalist propaganda either.

I personally believe this is unfair and drowns out a lot of voices. Though at the same time, informing the media with two different stands both from radically different perspectives is a smart idea as well. Critiquing the government is always best, but I think the issue lies in how the government can change from this critique. As such representing both sides of the voices is important for helping the nation have a better government.

Week 7

Flash drives were an innovation for their time, as they could be kept in your pocket and carry any sort of information on them. However, the issue connected with them was related to their super secret information that could be hidden could have also been to blame for their uprising. Having a small device that could stealthily conceal and carry information during the 90s was extremely useful.Though how did the device catch on? How did it get so popular? Well during its deployment in the market, the Flash drive was commonly used for its additional storage. This would help users have more megabites of information, FAR more as before all they had was a floppy disk that could only hold a very miniscule amount of data. less than 2 megabytes. As such the flash drive rose in popularity. My assumption why it may have declined is probably because of the invention of the cloud. The cloud is where information is stored on the web, instead of carrying the information around, you put it into a shared storage place you can access it from anywhere you'd access the internet. Now the Flash Drive wasn't entirely forgotten, but now it's associated with some illegal things as people can use the flash drive without notifying authorities or setting off a alarms.

 My assumption why it may have declined is probably because of the invention of the cloud. The cloud is where information is stored on the web, instead of carrying the information around, you put it into a shared storage place you can access it from anywhere you'd access the internet. Now the Flash Drive wasn't entirely forgotten, but now it's associated with some illegal things as people can use the flash drive without notifying authorities or setting off a alarms.

Document of the flash drive vs. cloud
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/cloud-computing-vs-flash-drive-79074.html#:~:text=Cloud%20storage%20services%20require%20an,ranging%20from%204GB%20to%20256GB.

Week 6 project

Topic: Flash drives

You're finishing up your work, you have all the documents done for a presentation you are working on to present to your co-workers. But you find out you do not have enough room on your computer to hold all the documents you worked on. Luckily, you have a special device desined for this sort of thing. A flash drive.

Flash drives were designed to hold digital documents and carry them from place to place from the safety of your pocket. Its small size and flexibility to work on all computers no matter what type or how small is what made the flash drive so important in an office environment. Though they have also been used for questionable means as well, such as stealing government documents that are meant to be confidential. As such a large number of national facilities for this reason and only high ranking officials with special permissions may use them.

Flash drives were first made as flash memory, a method widely used for storing information on smaller devices such as phones or flash drives. It was a method that was extremely expensive when it was invented in the late 1980s. It was the first piece of technology that would have made up flash drives and would have later become widely used as well as very inexpensive. The second piece of technology, Universal serial bus (USB) was developed in the mid-nineties to both simplify connnecting computers as well as creating a standardized port that works on all devices. By the end of the 90s, both these technologies would ahve become inexpensive and easy to use for the mass populace.

The invention of the flash drive is very dubious and controversal. Some say a now non- existing Israeli company called M-systems (Which is now part of SanDisk) was responsible, while another company, I.B.M. filed a patent of a flash drive that was designed by Shimon Shmueli. Who invented the flash drive is controversial as we do not know who to really credit with its invention, but the first company to sell it was Trek 2000, a singaporean company who marketed the flash drive as a ThumbDrive.

Originally, flash drives held only 8 megabytes. Which considering that the only form of portable memory was 1.44 megabyte floppy disks, it was a needed quality of life for most officeworkers and business nonetheless. As time has gone on, Flash drive's capacity has improves and so has their prices. Flash drives which can hold not just megabytes, but gigabytes of data barely cost anything when around the time of their release, they could only hold eight megabytes. To put this in perspective, a single megabyte is one million bytes. A gigabyte is a thousand megabytes, so a flash drive containing that many bytes of information is a huge development.

Unfortunately, this is not without its controversies. Why should someone use flash drive when they can backup their information on the cloud? Since the cloud is completely non-physical and your data will always be safe and easily accessible over the internet. Well since flash drives are not over the internet, they become untraceable. As such, they became a covert way of both stealing and distributing information.

Like all technologies, flash drives still have their faults as well as things they can offer to companies. One should still find value in flash drives as a seperate space of additional storage.

Flash drive Timeline:

https://www.usbmakers.com/history-of-the-usb-flash-drive/