Why is privacy such a contentious issue for internet users?
Communicating is an essential part of life, we communicate by speaking face to face, by writing letters by talking on the phone by texting each other. Though a form of communication that has really developed and changed over the past decade is the Internet. We use Internet for a number of reasons, though arguably the most popular thing it is used for is communicating. We email people, we use Skype, Messenger and social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to communicate. However, communicating via Internet does put our privacy at risk. This essay will investigate and answer the question of why privacy is such a contentious issue for Internet users?
Facebook one of the internet’s most popular and largest social networking sites was launched by Mark Zuckerburg an American university student back in 2004. Zuckerburg created Facebook originally just as a social connectivity network website for students at Harvard University, though Zuckerburg’s website went on and developed into a social networking site that has connected millions of people around the world via the web. Zuckerburg’s invention genius as it maybe has put many people’s privacy at risk. Lipford suggest that millions of people who sign up to social websites like Facebook or Myspace don’t realise that they are putting their privacy and identity at risk. (Lipford:2008)
One hot topic that is constantly talked about in the media in relation to privacy on social networking sites, is employer’s or companies checking their employee’s social networking profiles. Many people have lost their jobs or potential employment opportunities because of what has been posted on their Facebook profile. According to the Pheonomen Institute, a think tank on privacy, stated in research that they conducted that upto 35% of employer’s will check the profiles of potential employees that they are going to hire or even current employees (Du:2007).In 2008 16 year old office worker Kimberly Swann from the U.K was fired from her job at Ivell Marketing and Logistics because of several facebook status updates she had posted about her work place. Her boss Stephen Ivell had found her comments and deemed them to be offensive towards himself his company and subsequently fired her. Swann had argued that the comments weren’t a personal attack on him or his company and that her privacy had actually been breached. (Levy:2009) Certainly a case such as this definitely raises the issue of privacy on social networking websites. Recently the German Government have been looking at introducing laws that will block employers, companies ands investigating their employee’s or potential employee’s by searching their social network pages. (Stott:2010)
The use of social networking sites has even lead to worse things than people losing their jobs. People have taken their own lives or been murdered due to privacy problems on social networking websites like Facebook. Cyberbullying is an issue that has plagued the social networking community. In January 2010 14 year old U.S teenager Phoebe Prince committed suicide due to constant bullying and harrasment over Facebook. This case which was reported heavily in the news over in the U.S brought up the question of privacy, and how administrators of these networking sites can monitor and block bullying behaviour which can occur on people’s personal pages, or on groups pages that have been created to attack an individual. (James:2010)
Even though a lot of the privacy issues with social networking sites that are reported on predominately occur in the United States, many of these issues with internet privacy have also occurred in Australia. 18 year old Sydney teenager Nona Belsesmoff was murdered in May 2010 after she had been lured by her killer over Facebook. 20 year old Christopher Dannevig created a fake account and made contact with Belsesmoff. Dannevig posed as a worker for an animal welfare organisation and said he was able to get a job for Belsesmoff who had a passion for animals. Dannevig arranged a meeting with Belsesmoff at location via facebook and murdered her. After this terrible incident occurred ,the NSW Government, and police department urged teenagers who had a Facebook accounts to delete their profile pictures or get rid of their account all together. (Breen:2010) NSW Premier Kristina Keneally said “People may not be who they purport to be on social networking sites and that can be the case, It is a reminder to us all no matter what our age that we should be careful of the people that we meet online”. (Keneally:2010)
One other major issue that is linked with privacy worries on social networking websites is stalking. There have been many reported cases of stalking over the Internet. Recently this month there was a reported case in Australia where a man had been harassing and stalking his ex-girlfirend via facebook. The man had been warned several times by the police to stop, though he continued harassing her,Eventually the police went in search of the individual to serve him an AVO to stop harassing his ex. They weren’t able to get in contact with him so they issued the AVO to him via Facebook. The man acknowledged and complied with it AFP’s demands. (Roberts:2010) A case like this definitely shows that law enforcement agencies such as the Australia Federal Police are starting to use social networking sites as a tool for monitoring and communicating.
Social Networking is a tool that has been proven to be a major driving force with linking millions of people and organisations around the world together. Though as this essay has investigated there have been many associated risks with this major social phenomenon ,especially the issue of privacy. Advancements with internet secturity and other forms of technology may one day be able to fully protect users without having to worry about their privacy.
References
Lipford H, Besmer A. 2008. Understanding Privacy Settings in Facebook with an Audience View. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.usenix.org/events/upsec08/tech/full_papers/lipford/lipford_html/. [Accessed 15 October 10]
Du W. 2007. Job candidates getting tripped up by Facebook . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20202935/. [Accessed 20 October 10].
Levy A. 2009. Teenage office worker sacked for moaning on Facebook about her 'totally boring' job Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155971/Teenage-office-worker-sacked-moaning-Facebook-totally-boring-job.html#ixzz13x0Qm0u0. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1155971/Teenage-office-worker-sacked-moaning-Facebook-totally-boring-job.html. [Accessed 19 October 10].
James S. 2010. Immigrant Teen Taunted by Cyberbullies Hangs Herself. [ONLINE] Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/cyber-bullying-factor-suicide-massachusetts-teen-irish-immigrant/story?id=9660938. [Accessed 19 October 10].
Stott P. 2010. Protecting Job Seekers from Themselves: Germany Considering Facebook Hiring Ban . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/blogs/entry-detail/index?blog_id=1465&entry_id=11761. [Accessed 20 October 10].
Breen G. 2010. Teen's murder sparks Facebook privacy plea. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/17/2901537.htm. [Accessed 20 October 10].
Keneally K. 2010. Keneally urges online caution after Facebook murder. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/16/2900709.htm. [Accessed 20 October 10].
Roberts G. 2010. Stalker faces facts online. [ONLINE] Available at: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/stalker-faces-facts-online-20101020-16sua.html. [Accessed 21 October 10].
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Week Nine and Course Evaluation
Course Evaluation
Throughout semester two 2010 I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed taking New Communication Technologies subject. I’ll admit I originally I didn’t want to take the course because I had no interest in what it had to offer. However, it was compulsory core subject that I had to enroll in with my Bachelor of Communications degree.
I really have liked the idea of creating a blog and updating it weekly. I’ve never had my own blog though have always thought about starting one. This was certainly a kick in the backside for me to start one. I think I’ll start my own politically based blog and continue it after this course. As I said in my first weekly post I take a major interest in politics and many political figures and commentators use blogs to communicate to the public, so a blog would certainly pave the way for my ambitions.
I learnt alot about technology in this subject, and ideas and theories that are derived from commincation technology. Cyber Punking and Cyber Jamming were main themes that were covered in the course. I had alot of fun creating our cyber jam with my group partners Sherie and Jay, that would definately be one of the highlights. I honestly didn't enjoyed these last few weeks of the course where we have discussed virtual philosphy and William Gibson's theories. I haven't developed an interest or passion for these topics hence that's why I don't like them. I enjoyed learning about Creative Commons and privacy and ownership on social networking sites.
Overall I have enjoyed taking New Communication Technologies. I think the lectures were fairly average, though I thought the tutorials were very engaging and we were able to discuss lecture content in further detail which was helpful to me. I would certainly recommend this subject to other first year students who take an interest in technology and like the thought of publishing their work via a blog.
Online Essay
The question I have decided to do for my online essay is:
Why is privacy such a contentious issue for internet users? Discuss with reference to at least ONE social network service (or other web2.0 service).
I think that this would be a great topic to write an essay about. It covers an issue that has been mentioned in the media in recently. An issue like this definitely puts an emphasis on the issue of privacy on social networking websites like Facebook.
I have already found several academic journals for this topic.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Week Seven
Lecture Review
In this week's lecture we talked about the use of freeware (free software) that can be used on operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac. Many programs that we have on our computers are expensive, like Office or Adobe Photoshop. Sometimes these programs can come with the operating system, though most of the time they have to be purchased separately. However, the internet has several websites that offer free alternative software programs thatare similar to those that you would pay hundreds ofdollars for.
There were many freeware programs that were talked about in the lecture, Mozilla Firefox was one of them. It's a very one popular freeware program that is used. It is an alternative to Internet Explorer a default web browser on Windows or Apple Mac OSX default browser Safari. Another freeware program mentioned was Gimp. Gimp is a free photo editor similar to that of iphoto what would be used on Apple. There were many other freeware programs that were discussed.
Linux an alternative operating system was mentioned as well in the lecture and we were given a challenge to trial it for 10 days.I know several people who use this system and say it is alright but I certainly won't be taking the dive and trying it out. Several videos were also shown in the lecture one about Stephen Fry endorsing the Linux Operating System and theother was about the organisation Creative Commons.
Tute Exercise- Creative Commons
Creative Commons founded by Lawrence Lessig in 2001 is a U.S based organisation that is aimed at distributing creative works by organisations or individuals. Creative commons allows other people to build on and share the work of others without infringing on copyright laws. This certainly would be beneficial for a student at university, say in the area of scientific research, where a person may have made progress ona certain subject and they can further add to it with out infringing on the other person previous work.
Here are some pieces of work that are under Creative Commons licensing: The of Honour of Knights a novel by Stephen J Sweeney, Sita Sings the Blues a 2D animated film by American Artist Nina Paley Sita Sings the Blues Nine Inch Nails album Ghosts: I-IV.
This journal article Insiders Guide to Creative Commons by Michael Baumann mainly discusses the legal aspects of Creative Commons. Baumann in the article also talks about the history of it and the general concept of Creative Commons. He makes a comparison of Creative Commons against Copyright Laws.
http://libraryproxy .griffith .edu .au/login ?url=http://proquest .umi .com .libraryproxy .griffith .edu .au/pqdweb ?did=859561461 &Fmt=7 &clientId=13713 &RQT=309 &VName=PQD
Portable Apps (Applications) is computer software that runs by portable devices such as a thumb drive (usb stick), CD-ROM and Floopy Disc. The software is run via the portable device without actually installing the software to the computer. This could be very useful for a person who wants to use their program(s) or applications on public computers like internet cafe's where they can't install the software to the computer.
Here is a video that talks about and gives a further insight into creative commons:
Tute Spark- Free Software
For a few days I decided to use Mozilla Firefox, the freeware web browser designed for Windows and Mac. I found this piece of free software to be fantastic. I own a Mac and have been using the default web browser Safari for several months. I found Mozilla to be much more faster than Safari. It also has more features than Apple's default internet browser. I use to use this program when I owned a Windows operating system, because it was the first web browser that had used and introduced the concept of tab browsing. I will continue to use this freeware, and I strongly recommend it to other people who want a change from the boring old default browsers.
Sources:
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/images/6/62/Creativecommons-informational-flyer_eng.pdf
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/19321
http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Books
Week Six
Lecture Review
In this week's lecture, the topics of New Media and Social Media were discussed by Adam Muir. This lecture gave an insightful overview of what new media is, how it has developed, and also how the internet has created and contributed to the phenomenon of social networking. Muir stated that technology and the media have very close link to each other especially in today's society. Muir focused on two important themes from early internet studies in the first half of the lecture, the virtual community and individual identity. He described the virtual community 'as groups and people communicating via the internet'. He explained that individual identity was how people expressed who they are via the internet'.
The second part of the lecture Muir talked about the transformation of the internet from web 1.0 to Web 2.0 after the dot com crash post 2000. With Web 2.0 there was much talk of how the social community via the web could change and develop. He discussed economic aspects of the development of Web 2.0 but he also brought up ownership and privacy. In the lecture he asked us who owns the photos and the personal content we upload to social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace.
Culture Jam- Parking Increase at Griffith University?
After a lot of thought and discussion between Jay, Sherie and myself we finally came up with a brilliant culture jam that did create quite a bit of attention and controversy. We came up with the idea that the parking fees at Griffith were going to increase dramatically in 2011. Our idea was that Queensland Government had acquired a majority of the parking at the university, including the undercover carpark. This was because they needed car spaces for the construction workers at the Gold Coast University Hospital. We started off a group on Facebook titled " that caught the attention of several people and it nearly grew to 200 people within a couple days. To stir the pot further, we even got in touch with a journalist at the Courier Mail, who wanted to publish a story about the group we had created. In the end we were strongly advised by our tutor to pull the plug on our jam by shutting down our Facebook group, incase we got in trouble off the university. I can fully understand why we had too, because an issue like this would cause alot of havoc for the university through the media. However, I'm really glad that our culture jam did catch some attention.
Below are some screenshots of our Facebook group:
Tute Spark- Social Networking
Facebook, Myspace, Bebo even Flickr are great social networking sites where you can share your life with friends, family, co-workers and the wider community. However doing this can involve risks. Privacy is one big risk. People have been able to commit fraud by stealing people's identities through social networking websites such as these. Though fraud isn't the only big issue here, ownership is. The photos, videos even publications that you post on social networking sites such as Facebook belong to the website. So those personal images that you took and posted up on your page can become automatic property of sites like Facebook and Myspace. They virtually can do what they want with anything on your page that you or your friends have posted. Recently this sort of issue has raised question and caused much confusion and controversy. There have even been stories of people trying to file lawsuits against companies and individuals for stealing their photos and infringing on their privacy.
Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/terms.php
http://consumerist.com/2009/02/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever.html
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Week Five
TUTE SPARK- Culture Jamming
Culture Jamming is consider to be an over the top hoax that can involve many aspects of society. Dictionary.com defines it as 'a form of political and social activism which, by means of fake adverts, hoax news stories, pastiches of company logos and product labels, computer hacking, etc, draws attention to and at the same time subverts the power of the media, governments, and large corporations to control and distort the information that they give to the public in order to promote consumerism, militarism'. (dictionary.com)
The first form of culture jamming is believed to have occured in the 1950's by a European Group called the Situationists led by Guy Debord. Since then there have been several different types of culture jams that have caught the media's eye and some have had an impact on society.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Week Four
LECTURE REVIEW- Big Screen to Small.
This week's topic was titled Big Screen to Small. Many things were discussed in this lecture. Digital Technology and it's impact on big and small screen were menionted in the introduction. The lecture followed pretty much a structure of a timeline. The birth of cinema photography in 1895 Paris, France was mentioned as starting point. Walt Disney's Snow White was the first full feature animated film released in 1937.The lecture covered the introduction of Television in the U.S in 1939. The introduction of movies on television in 1955 were talked about. Many advancements in relation to television and movies were basically discussed up until present day. I was somewhat disappointed that Australia television and screen history were hardly talked about in the lecture. However I can understand much of the technology did not originate from Australia, maybe that's why it didn't get mention. The end of the lecture covered small film and how the internet currently plays a major role in distributing short films and even full feature length ones.
TUTE SPARK
The first short film is titled 'Beyond Words'. The film was 2009 Tropfest Finalist.
The blurb on the website states that this small film is categorised as a thriller, and it certainly lives up to that category. It's about a young deaf girl being stalked and taunted. The silence throughout most the film gives the viewer an insight to what it would be like being deaf and scared in a situation such as this. I'm fairly certain this has only been distributed for the internet use though it was funded with help by the NSW deaf society. So it could have been distributed for awareness on deafness.
The second short film I chose is titled 'This Is Perth'. It is a film by Vincenzo Perrella and Dan Osborn.
The film is about the Australian City of Perth. The film is sending out the message that Perth is apparently the best city in the world. The film is actually a satire. The makers have gone around the city of Perth saying it’s a vibrant lively place but in actual fact they show images and scenes of dead quiet, boring streets. This film could be used to lure people and promote tourism in Perth.
The third film probably has no actual merit though I think it relates to the topic of short films and it is quite humorous. WARNING IT DOES CONTAIN SWEARING!
This film is a mash up and parody of the 1968 film '2001: A Space Odyssey' and the 1990 film 'Goodfellas'. It just consists of a dialogue between several of the astronauts and HAL 9000. The HAL 9000 system's voice has been dubbed over by Joe Pesci's character Tommy DeVitto from Goodfellas. HAL 9000 system swears and throws insults at the astronauts throughout the clip. Some may not find this funny if they havent seen both of the films. There isn't really a meaning or message behind this clip just fun and entertainment.
TUTE EXERCISE
1. Where and when did usable online video start?
Viewing online videos and video clips have become a popular over the past five or so years. One place where people do much of this online video viewing is Youtube. Youtube was launched in early 2005 and has become on the of the most popular sites on the web. Bloomberg's Business Week reported that Youtube viewings between March 2006 to July 2006 had grown from 30 million views a day to 100 million views.
http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2006/07/youtube_100_mil.html
2. What recent innovations are being used to lure us to the movies?
Many advancements in screen technology are luring consumers back to the box office. 3D movies have made a big splash to the screen again. James Cameron's 3D science fiction film Avatar has made nearly $3 billion at the box office. It's the highest grossing film of all time. Even though the concept of 3D movies have been around for several decades major advances in graphics and computing are appealing to audiences.
3. Are short films still being made? Why? Who may pay for them?
Short films aren't a thing of the past, they still prove to be popular. The Academy Awards award an Oscar for this category. Many short films are most likely made by university students or graduates some for assignments or some for their portfolio's. Some short films may be funded by a government department or an organisation that raises awareness about social issues that could be affecting society.
4.-
5. Several television stations in Australia such as SBS and ABC have opted to distribute some of their programs online instead of television. There could be several reasons behind this. One reasons could be that the certain show may not be as popular on television though there is still a demand for it. It's costly to air it on television so they upload it to the internet instead. ABC's website iview is a prime example of where several shows have been uploaded to the internet instead of being aired on television. One downside to uploading shows online is that people may not have a fast internet connection to stream them.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Week Three
LECTURE REVIEW- Computing and the Internet
This week's lecture was on the history of computing and the internet. I'm not computer nerd though I did enjoy this lecture's insight and analysis into this topic. I knew a majority of the things discussed in this lecture because I had to do a assignment on the history of the internet and computers back in Year 11. However it was interesting to hear somebody else's point of view on the topic rather than reading it from a textbook or on the internet. The two big players in the computer business were discussed Bill Gates of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. Charles Babbage a 19th century inventor of the Diffrence Engine was mentioned,. The internet and it's emergence in the mid 1990's was heavily discussed. How the internet has changed was talked about. Many applications of the internet that have shaped it to what it is today such as email, twitter, facebook were talked about as well.
TUTE EXERCISE- Treasure Hunt
This week's Tute Exercise is to answer 10 questions without using google or wikipedia. This may be hard?
1. What is the weight of the world's biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?
The world's largest machine is called the V CAT D8R. It's an excavation machine built by the German manufacturing company Krupp. It weighs 45,500 tons, it took five years to construct, and it cost over $100 million to build.
Source: (http://edwindwianto.wordpress.com//12/20/the-largest-machine-in-the-world-the-v-cat-d8r-awsome/) 2009
Accessed: August 9 2010
2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Ozzy Osborne?
The quickest way to contact Ozzy Osbourne is through his wife Sharon. Sharon is also his manager.
Sharon Osbourne Management
9292 Civic Centre Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Phone: 310-859-7761
Source: (http://famous-relationships.topsynergy.com/Ozzy_Osbourne/Contact.asp)
Accessed: August 9 2010
3. When and what was the first example of global digital communication?
The first example of digital communication was demonstrated by Samuel Morse in 1836 over short wires. Morse is infamously known as the inventor of Morse code.
Source: (http://www.datacottage.com/nch/cablinghist.htm)
Accessed: August 9 2010
4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?
Tiger Airways known for its cheap and unreliable reputation offers flights from the Gold Coast to Melbourne one way at $58.95 including taxes.
Source: (http://www.tigerairways.com.au/au/en/real_deals.php)
Accessed: August 9 2010
5.Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?
Hatsune Miku is a vocal singing synthesiser from the Vocaloid Vocal Series developed by Crypton Future Media. Her 'birthday' or release date was August 31st 2007.
Source: (http://myanimelist.net/character/7156/Miku_Hatsune)
Accessed: August 9 2010
6. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.
The link below provides some form of live stream from Mawson Station in Antartica. http://www.antarctica.gov.au/webcams/mawson
From information I have gathered apparently there are no hotels or lodges on the continent of Antartica surprise surprise. I thought a place with 24 hour daylight and below zero degree temperatures would be appealing to the masses. Apparently not. Tourists who visit Antarctica usually stay on their boats or camp in tents if on expedition.
Source:(http://iguide.travel/Antarctica/Hotels_and_Accommodation)
Accessed: August 9 2010
7.What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980?
According to the Kent Music report and answers.com Lipps Inc 'Funkytown' was at the top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980. This was Lipps Inc only well known song and number one hit. I actually like the song it's quite groovy.
Source: (http://www.answers.com/topic/funkytown)
Accessed: August 9 2010
8. How would you define the term 'nano technology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?
Dictionary.com defines the term 'nano technology' as, a branch of technology dealing with the manufacture of objects with dimensions of less than 100 nanometres and the manipulation of individual molecules and atoms.
I would define nano technology as branch of science and technology that deals with small things on a nano molecular level.
Source: (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nanotechnology)
Accessed: August 9 2010
9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’
The Dodeca 2360 is the camera Google uses to take its street view images.
Source: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_type_of_camera_is_used_to_make_Google_Street_View
Accessed: August 9 2010.
10. Translate these questions into Klingon.
1. nuq 'oH [the] [weight] vo' [the] [world’s] [biggest] [machine] chay' 'ar ta'ta' 'oH [cost] Daq chen
2. nuq 'oH [the] [best] [way] [quickest] HochHom [reliable] Daq [contact] [Ozzy] [Osborne]
3. ghorgh 'ej nuq ghaHta' [the] wa'DIch [example] vo' [global] [digital] [communication]
4. nuq 'oH [the] [cheapest] [form] vo' [travel] vo' [the] SuD baS [Coast] Daq [Melbourne]
5.'Iv 'oH [Hatsune] [Miku] nuq [company] ta'taH ghaH [belong] Daq nuq 'oH Daj qoS
6.tu' [a] yIn [webcam] Daq [Antarctica] tu' [a] Daq Daq [stay] Daq [Antarctica]
7. nuq bom ghaHta' [top] vo' [the] [Australian] [pop] [charts] vam [week] Daq
8.chay' [would] SoH [define] [the] [term] ['nano] [technology'] Daq lIj ghaj mu'mey nuq ta'taH 'oH [really] [mean]
9. nuq [type] vo' [camera] 'oH [used] Daq chenmoH [‘Google] [Street] [View’]
10. [Translate] Dochvammey [questions] Daq tlhIngan
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