The Final & Last Reading...& It's Number is 5 :)

The End of Privacy

The End of Privacy, written by Daniel J. Solove, is an article describing the advantages and disadvantages of our ever-changing, technologically advanced world. Many different elements are considered when discussing the subject of privacy. 

The 15 year-old “Star Wars Kid” experienced deleterious social and psychological effects after a video he made of himself was stolen and leaked out onto YouTube.  In 2007, Facebook members were outraged when their personal purchases were made public on their newsfeeds, for everyone to see.  Privacy loss is not within a person’s control anymore. Internet service providers collect information about the websites you surf, cable stations keep a tab on the shows your may be watching, and whenever a purchase is made online, your personal data becomes less and less secure. So what do we do?

As some legal scholars say there is no hope, nothing we can do.  However, in my opinion, privacy can be protected to an extent. High school, college students, and adults, could refrain from sharing so many personal details about themselves via their social networking sites. People should make a conscious effort to keep their firewalls and Internet security updated on their computers, and limit using credit cards over the Internet.

However, those suggestions cover the aspects of privacy under our control. It is unfortunate that for the rest of our lives, those of us a part of the “Google Age” will forever leave behind digitized trails of our pasts that can never be erased.  I particularly liked that Solove used John Dewey’s quote, "a person is not something complete, perfect, [or] finished," but is "something moving, changing, discrete, and above all initiating instead of final." The elders in my generation have for the most part been forgiven for their recklessness and bad decisions, because their misdeeds have long been forgotten or erased from the memories of others. In my generation, we will not be able to just transform our reputations with such ease. We will forever have digitally archived reminders of the past.

Scary.

Mobile Extra Credit

I am actually very impressed with the library mobile site. It is much better than I was expecting. I use a simple LG enV3 with 3G Internet, so the Internet looks much different on my phone as opposed to an Iphone or Blackberry.

I really like how the buttons are big and visible. One of the most interesting features is that the mobile website shows the availability of computers in the library as well as how many computers are being used. I look forward to seeing the mobile library catalog, but I am impressed with the regular version.

I think it is nice how the floor plans, news, catalog, articles, directions, computer availability, and help are the main buttons on the site. It makes navigation much easier because those are some of the most important searches.  The site also loaded surprisingly fast. It is a very useful tool.

News Report #5

“V” For Vendetta Hacker

Earlier this week, Washington State University experienced one of the oddest breaches in security ever. A hacker infiltrated the Washington State University academic media system. However, this hacker was not the ordinary virus. The culprit, who is now being coined “V” dressed up as a notorious character from the movie, V for Vendetta. V set up a video discussing trivial issues like the squirrels on campus. However, through anonymous email correspondence, V claims he used this diminutive issue to actually spark new ideas and interest. V quotes, "I was hoping that everyone would generate their own list of problems which they are passionate about." This video played every hour in various classrooms via projectors. V’s voice is disguised, and authorities are still searching for leads to his true identity. The hacker’s software was said to be very sophisticated and many IT officials had to go to extreme lengths to prevent the hack.

I think that this story is very relevant to our society, to our morals, values, and our culture. Especially, like myself, the college youth. Before I begin a long drawn out analysis of this event, I would like to first off give kudos to Washington State’s steadfast network security…HA! Ok, I love how this hacker chose to use the V for Vendetta theme (as well as attire) to make his point. V for Vendetta has a powerful message. However, the hacker used it in a sense that was almost trivial. He spoke about issues that were of really no serious concern or of debate among the student body. This was a great strategy, because it alleviated controversy, and it sparked the attention of the students, the hackers main target audience. It also relieved any reason for panic, but it did however have a very creepy quality.

This instance just goes to show the lengths some people have to go to get their voices heard. It also shows the value we place on technology in our current society for sparking interest among people, especially in my age group...the college group.

This is today’s culture, breaking laws to infiltrate networks to talk about a large distaste for squirrels in hopes it will be seen as analogous for great issues of much larger magnitudes that are being faced.  Way to go “V”!

"V For Vendetta Hacker Infiltrates Washington State University." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2010. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/09/v-for-vendetta-hacker-inf_n_780840.html>.Link to Video & Original Article

News Report #4

Help for Slow Mobile Phone Typists

Cell phones have come a long way from the early late 1990’s when they became popular. Now, practically everyone has a cell phone and cells are being used for much more than just making a typical phone call. Now, people can pay their bills, make dinner reservations, and have a long conversation with their best friend, without even verbally talking to anyone.

Texting has become a huge revolution in communication. People often prefer it because it is fast, and eliminates that extra personal interaction. In fact, I myself much prefer texting my mom as to having a long-winded conversation on the phone. Texting was once a rather slow and tedious process only using the twelve keys on the front of the cell phone, however, in recent years, after to explosion of text messaging, easier, convenient methods of texting are emerging. The QWERTY keyboard boosted the ease in which people could sent texts. It made the process faster and much more precise, but of course, technology is always changing.

Two students, Michael Fester and Volker Schlue, at Cambridge University in England, have created a new method that replaces the keyboard, synonymous among most “texters”. The design is called the 8Pen. This new phone interface contains no keyboard, just a colorful X with a black dot. The letters are placed along the X on each side, but the tricky part is that the letters are not placed in alphabetical order. The students placed the letters using a logical rhythm…they just placed the letters most used first, to make the ease of selecting those letters quicker and much more efficient. The whole process is rather confusing to understand, but the method has been claimed to be much faster, after you get the hang of it..of course.

This is very interesting to me because it shows just how technology evolves. This new method, which seems more complicated than ancient keyboard, will actually prove to be much easier. It is completely different from any typing method currently used, but it focuses on using common logic to create something that better fits out technological needs.  I will definitely be keeping my eye out for the 8Pen.

BILTON, NICK. "8Pen Mobile Keyboard Aims to Speed Up Typing –

NYTimes.com." Technology - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Nov. 2010. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/8pen-hopes-to-reinvent-the-mobile-phone-keyboard/?ref=technology>.