Assignment 4: Thoughts on Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is the idea that all websites and web surfers are treated equally in all aspects of their internet use. The pros on this issue strongly outweigh the cons. For example, net neutrality allows every user of the internet surf the web at the same speed as any other person making discrimination impossible. On the other hand, the main con pertaining to the net neutrality is that internet providers, such as Verizon and AT&T, believe they are missing out on money to be made. Telecommunications companies would be able to charge websites to stream videos without net neutrality which would then be deferred to the website users to pay the fee every time we watched a YouTube video for example. This is because streaming sites, such as YouTube and Skype, take up a lot of bandwidth where text and images take up far less because the amount of time they need to load it far less. However, smaller websites having to pay a fee may not be able to make it and there are thousands and thousands of websites on the world wide web. Therefore, those not in favor of net neutrality are those looking to capitalize on it and those who aren't is the everyday users of the internet and people who have smaller websites to run. Recently net neutrality has been in the news because the FCC is trying to stabilize net neutrality although the federal appeals court ruled that the FCC does not have the power to enforce such rules. Many see the abolition of net neutrality as an issue of freedom of speech because it will no longer allow people to use the internet freely. Groundbreaking innovations have gotten to where they are today because of net neutrality and without it we will stunt the creative flow that a neutral net allows. If laws are passed to allow internet providers have a strict rule over the internet this will directly affect me in multiple ways. There will be slower internet connection, I might have to pay to watch videos online or Skype with a friend, and if I was to start a website I would have to pay for that as well. I personally think that net neutrality is essential because the internet is no place to discriminate against anyone who isn't rich because we all pay enough for our computers and connection services as it is. The internet is a place of innovation and like one man said in the video, many ideas would never be hatched due to the fear of huge internet bills.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/the-fcc-tries-again.html?ref=netneutrality
This article called The FCC Tries Again discusses the role of the FCC in net neutrality. I found it particularly helpful because I wasn't clear from the other articles whether the FCC was in support of net neutrality or against it.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/27/technology/open-internet/
This article called New Chapter Begins in Net Neutrality Fight examines the roles of telecommunications companies in the fight against net neutrality. This article looks at the issue from the side of the commercial mind set and shows how a few main players and going to have massive unconstrained power while shareholders sit back and capitalize.

"I have nothing to hide"

Online privacy has decreased more and more as years have progressed since privacy policies first starting having us click our rights away. No one reads privacy policies and if we did would be agree to them anyways? I think that we probably would anyways because everyone wants to stay connected on every aspect of social media. People say they have nothing to hide but everyone has something to hide. No one wants every little thing about them to be common knowledge. Although we post pictures and status updates on the web we expect them to be only for our friends or followers but when it becomes apparent that we are being watched that is when we start to fight back. The film we watched in class on Thursday showed multiple people who posted statuses on the web that red flagged them to be terrorist when in every instance it was a complete misunderstanding and a breech of privacy. We know we are being watch so why do we continue to post and upload every aspect of our personal lives? I think we give companies like Facebook and Twitter too much trust and they abuse it. Privacy policies have been changing within the past 15 years rapidly and with every new edition it seems that we are less protected, giving the companies and government more access to our information. I keep my privacy setting so only my friends can view what I post on Facebook but I don't believe that they are the only ones who have access to my information. We cannot be careless with what we post on the internet because there are always going to be people out there looking to use our own information against us.

Reaction to "Social Media and Privacy"

The first thing I have to say about this article is, wow. I consider myself to be an informed human but I really had never heard of any of these cases before or the implications they had on their communities. This article uncovers the reality that rape is happening all around us and social media is playing a huge role publicizing it. Social media makes it almost impossible for a victim to forget or heal from such a horrible experience because when suddenly peers and the community you live in all know what happened, a victim is an open target for degradation. Unfortunately people are still under the impression that women who are rape victims were "asking for it" because of the the length of her hem or because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although it's a good thing that social media makes it easier to incarcerate a rapist, the protection of the identity of the victim is completely lost when pictures and videos are posted to Facebook and Twitter. This is a devastating reality for our country and the victims of rape and America needs to face this problem with more urgency especially on college campuses and in urban areas because truly no one is safe.

CS408-03 Assignment 3A Claire Barstow

Hi everyone! My very first blog post, this is exciting. A topic around computers I find very interesting is social media and advertising. It's absolutely fascinating how companies are marketing to us constantly and with the explosion of social media within the past decade it's to no ones surprise that advertisers are using this new medium to sell products to us. I think the hashtag may have been the most ingenious invention of the 21st century because now just like that we are able to click on a hashtag and see who else is the world is tweeting, blogging, or instagraming the same thing that you are, or are interested in. Companies use this to pull you into looking at their pages and get you interested in what they want you to buy. For example, I was watching the Olympics the other night and Geico insurance commercial came on with the little gecko dancing to a song about philly cheese steaks and of course appears in little lettering #CheeseSteakShuffle. Geico is trying to get people tweeting #CheeseSteakShuffle so they will get more publicity and using this silly gecko dance. I looked it up on twitter and found that hundreds of people were tweeting with that hashtag therefore their marketing strategy is working. Companies know so much about us from the things we search and constantly are showing us things we might want to buy based on that knowledge. I've been really into a certain band recently and on the Facebook side bar I keep seeing ads to buy their newest CD. Computers have changed the way advertisers market to us in a monumental way which I'm sure we will continue to see progress over time.