Do This

In conclusion to the blog I wrote about Sandvig’s article on Internet uses by children in the inner city, one of the concerns of this proposal was how will they keep children from accessing indecent material such as porn. Some of the solutions that were mentioned by the FTC were to require the community center that are receiving funds to use filtering technology in hopes to keep children from being exposed to it. But I have done a little research of my own and I found a article that talks about what porn sites are doing to make it even harder for the FTC, the government, and those who make the filtering technology.

In this article by Warren Richey he talks about how creators of porn sites are getting more and more creative each year.

Some website operators, seeking to attract new customers to pornographic sites, were creating hard-core “teasers” and linking them to common search terms. For example, an Internet search of “toys” turns up a lot more than just Frisbees and hula hoops

This article contains a lot of heated arguments. Ann Beeson of the American Civil Liberties Union, states, ” You can’t restrict adult viewing habits to protect kids. That is what this law does, and we think it violates the Constitution” referring to COPPA.

When I read this article, I had to actually think deeply about this situation. I feel that children shouldn’t be exposed to this “indecent” material, but I also feel that trying to filter out adult content, whereas adults cant even look at it, I feel is ridiculous. Now that I mentioned that, I do feel that children shouldn’t be exposed to porn, but it depends on certain variables. For example, I don’t think it’s inappropriate for kids to be able to look at pornographic site in a public area, but I do feel that they shouldn’t feel like porn is the forbidden fruit. I remember when I was younger, porn was such a bad thing and it made me want to se it even more. I would try my hardest to get my hand on it. I feel that children nowadays are the same as I was back in the day. I hear that in France they don’t make a big deal out of porn. In fact they might even have an advertisement for porn right in the middle of the towns square. What I’m trying to get at is yes, porn is inappropriate to a certain degree, but to me it’s certainly overrated.

In DiMaggio’s article, he talks about non-users who adopted the use of information technologies and users who dropped from using information technology. Through out the article, the author goes back and forth arguing the reason why some people use the technology and the reasons why they use and the reason why certain people don’t use it. The author claims that “First, not everyone who adopts a new technology continues to use it. Second, not everyone who uses it, uses it in the same way.” I agree with the author, it’s pretty obvious that people across the nation uses this technology for different reasons. But in some cases I feel that those on the other side of the “digital divide” don’t make up much of the numbers of those who adopt the use of the web, but of those who don’t adopt it.

“Research on other forms of innovation has often found that dis-adopters are usually characterized by ‘less formal education, lower socioeconomic status,’ and more generally, ‘the opposite of the characteristics of innovators’

After reading this article, I had to sit back a really think about what point is this article trying to get across. The author has talked about those of lower socioeconomic status are usually the ones that drop from using the technology. And later on in the article, he mentioned that 80 percent of the African-Americans who uses the web drop out. Now with that said I think that the author is trying to relate a message to us that nowadays, the Internet is an essential tool needed to help advance our education and I totally agree. Every year there are schools are getting more and more rooms that have the Internet. I know this may sound strange, but after awhile not only will the Internet, but other technology will play even a bigger part in our society. In a decade or two, I can see certain courses being taught over the Internet like they do in the movies. It may seem like a conspiracy to you, but for me, it’s just another episode of reality television.

In Howard’s article talking about the merging of Internet and politics was more interesting than I thought. One of the main points brought up in the article talks about Internet media versus the traditional televised media. Howard states,

The internet reduces the distance between the governed and government. Television news, on the other hand, seems to have more of an influence on public concern than vice versa, so a multidirectional medium might create a news agenda that reflects public interests. Whereas traditional media have a reinforcing affects that benefits political parties

I feel that the Internet allows people to build those online communities we talked about earlier on the quarter. These communities allow for people who share the same interests elaborate on certain political issues. Internet technologies permit users to create new social contexts for themselves based outside neighborhood, friends, and family, through which they might convert to minority partisans or independent political positions.

Before every election for president, not only are there campaigns for the people running for president, but there are also campaigns that aim at getting young men and woman to vote. For example, I’m quite sure that many of you heard of Sean “P.Diddy” Combs “Vote or Die “ campaign, which was successful getting 4.6 million people between the ages of 18 – 29 years old. I think that through the Internet and the way it’s being more involved with politics can lead to something real special. If this relationship continue to grow, we will have more campaigns like “Vote or Die” and we can get even more teens to vote and make a much bigger difference at the next election.

Before reading Norris’s article, Wired World, I hadn’t even thought about this whole concept of the “digital divide.” In the article the author talks about the digital divide being the separation from those societies who don’t have the telecommunication technology that will help them grow as a society. UN Secretary General Kofi Anan stated,

“People lack many things jobs, food, shelter, health care and drinkable water. Today being cut off from basic telecommunication services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce chances of finding remedies to them.”

With all these problems, he then go on to talk about how something as simple as a computer cna make drastic changes.

“In poorer villages and isolated communities, a well-placed computer, like a communal well or an irrigation pump, may become another development tool, providing essential information about storm warnings and crop prices for farmers, or medical services and legal land records for villages.”

I also feel that something as simple as a computer can make a big difference in small villages or in other countries that are trying to rise above the economic threshold. I also believe that it can also help with the economy. Imagine every country in the world having access to some type of telecommunication technology; we would be able to buy, sell and trade from countries we would have never thought of trading with. Also, if a lot more countries had access, just think of the many job opportunities for many Americans and others across the globe. I think this can be big for our economy, but even bigger for families across the nation.

In Sandvig’s article talking about public Internet use for children in the inner city, he focuses on 3 main initiatives of the policy to promote Internet in the city. The first initiative basically bring up the fact that if the Internet is indeed available publicly, it can maybe start to help solve the problems of the “digital divide,” or “information inequality.”

The second initiative mentioned in the article talks about how the COPPA or the Children Online Privacy Protection Act was passed by the FTC or Federal Trade Commission to regulate sites directed toward children to have knowledge if the children are 13 and under. The article also mentions that these sites are required to have “verifiable parental consent” in order for the site to gain any information from the children.

Last but not least, the third initiative mentioned talks about the concern of pornographic material being accessible of the children using the Internet. There were a couple of solutions to this problem that was mentioned in the article. One of the solutions to the problems is to filter out the indecent material and that is exactly what the Children Internet protection Act (CIPA) and the Neighborhood Children’s Internet Protection Act (NCIPA). Both of these acts require schools and Institutions who receive federal funding to enact in Internet safety policies and filtering technology.

When I first read this article one of the first things that came to mind was that it was a great idea and why didn’t I think of it myself. Even though the thought of having Internet is a great advance for neighborhoods with families who don’t have access to it, but I also feel that there are of problems that could occur that aren’t mentioned in the article. One of the problems I think that can occur is children damaging the equipment or the computers or the staff not letting the children use it as often because they are afraid of the computer being damaged. Do you think this can be a problem? What problems do you think your neighborhood would have if they received computers for the neighborhood center?

Trust. It sounds like a good word and many organizations are solely based on trust. But how far will you go when trusting someone? Where do you draw the line with trust? I know where I certainly draw the line and it starts with ebay.

In his article, Paul Resinick talks about trust among stranger Internet transactions. He starts off by stating that trust among sellers and buyers over the Internet rely upon reputation. He then goes on to talk reputation is built through 8 factors. One of the factors mentioned is that most transactions are conducted locally, where as the buyer get the chance to actually meet the seller, unlike Ebay. Another factor states that buyer often stay in contact and often go through several transactions over a period of time. Once again, unlike Ebay. And that’s exactly what’s wrong with ebay. Ebay doesn’t have any of the factors that help a seller build reputation. That’s why it’s so easy to get ripped off by someone on ebay. He also talks about how buyers hardly ever leave feedback. I’ll give you one factor to why its so easy, its just the opposite to one of Resnicks factors, you never meet the seller. As a buyer on Ebay you never get a chance to meet the person you are buying from. The example given by Resnick, you can’t examine him or her like you can the fruit at a super market. Ands when you cant examine the fruit; it results in a rotten surprise. Unfortunately I had gotten one of those rotten delights.

I had bid and won a pair of shoes on ebay. I securely transferred my money through pay pal and sure enough I never got my Jordan XI mid tops. I left several emails and I ever got a response. And what did Ebay have to say about it, ” We are not responsible…” and ” take caution” etc. So before you feel the need to bid one something on ebay, I sure hope it’s for practice because you too will know how those rotten delights taste like.

After reading Paul Starr’s article on the Sims, he gave me a whole new perspective on simulation games such as “The Sims.” AT first I thought the game was just a cool way for the player to break the law, create a player that breaks the law or create a stable couple with children that break the law. But Starr made me realize that there is no playing “games” with simulation games.

What struck me first about the article is that Starr is sitting at the computer playing The Sims with his children. He commented on his some knowing the cash flow of the city in just a matter of weeks of playing the game. It amazed me how his daughters were actually looking and managing the city budget. If it were I I would have filed for bankruptcy by the first day (real-time). In the article Wright made it clear that these types of games is more than just pure entertainment, but more so educative calling it “edutainment.” For example, Wright talks about The Sims as”capitalistic land value ecology” and it uses of a “bid rent” model to determine land valuations. He is clearly stating that this can be more for education than entertainment.

Although simulation games can be educative but can it be used as a credible source to reply upon when thinking about how it relates to our very own economy? I don’t know the answer to this one, but I would have to say that since our economy is a forever-changing environment, which makes it hard for simulation games to keep up with society. Some would argue that since most of the simulations games are usually for pc usage, it would be easy to update on-line. But I feel that there would have to be some updating on the monthly basis or weekly even. Although Starr and Wright talks about how educational simulation games are I still feel that there are a whole lot of people out there will do the same thing I plan to do the next time I play a simulation game… continue to BREAK THE LAW!

After turning everything off in my apartment, I began to lie in my bed and let thoughts creep in as I try to get rid of them. It was very hard because the only way I could get rid of the thoughts was by letting others overcome the old ones. I started thinking about a whole lot off things that I will have to face in my life like after college plans. I started thinking about how it would be to become an athlete on the professional level. Not so much for the money…well…okay, a lot for the money, but also for the chance to actually achieve one of my greatest goals. Once I started thinking about that, I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. I then imagined that I was already in the “league” and life was so wonderful. I was living the American dream. Everything was so happy until my alarm went off to let me know 5 minutes was up, but I would have to say it was a great 5 minutes. The first IT assignment I would say was much easier than the second one. In the first one all I had to do was take a log of all the It technology I use in a 12 hour period. It’s amazing that this assignment was more difficult and it only takes 5 minutes! At least I hope I’m not the only one who thought it was kind of hard, but if everyone else thought it was easier than the first one, just disregard anything I said about how hard it was…

My method of trying to find out information about John was quite a simple one, although I didn’t really find out too much information about him. I started off by searching his name with my default search engine (yahoo). I had gotten about a million search results. I knew I wanted to narrow down the results and be more specific so I ran across a web page from NU that had his name on it. When I read that page it was clear to me that both John was a part of the NU family. But one phrase popped out at me that would allow me to do a more specific search. The phrase read, “political blogosphere”. After I re did the search adding the phrase I found, I was exposed to more specific WebPages and blogs that John and his colleague collaborated on, sort of speak. So I guess what I learned about John is that he show a lot of interest for IT … and blogs! Lol.

Ok, I just read Lessigs article, Piracy, it talks about the ideas of peer-to-peer sharing. Lessig talks about how it is wrong to take someone else’s work or prized possession and distributing it all over the World. Lessig also talks about how the Internet made it that much easier for peer-to-peer sharing to blast off. Now days there are so many software programs that allow you to connect with a network of users to share files. There are programs that allow people to rip DVDs and share those over the net. Even computer companies such as Dell, include Cd burners that allows you to burn music downloaded from the net or from your friends new 50 Cent CD. But with all the talk about the piracy law and how bad we think peer-to-peer sharing is, it can be a good thing as well, I believe Paris Hilton will concur.

In the last couple of years, some people have been made very famous through peer-to-peer sharing, such as Paris Hilton. I know everyone heard of her Sex tape scandal. If you think it’s her or not, it has built her stock up heavily and has made her the talk of the town, and everyone wants something to do with Paris Hilton. Many Music entertainers do this as well. Some entertainers would leak a couple of there songs on the internet knowing that it will be shared through peer to peer. with hope of it boosting record sales.
Now, can peer-to-peer sharing be that bad?