COM 125- Assignment #5

I never usually worried about my privacy online, but now that I have credit cards and use online banking, it scares the shit out of me that my personal information could be shared with who knows how many people and they have the ability to make my life a living hell. Privacy is defined as “the state of being free from intrusion or disturbance in one’s private life or affairs.” Also, it is information that is revealed selectively, and content of which is private differs among cultures and individuals. To an extent, it is an individual’s responsibility to keep important information to themselves and not display it on the internet, but in some cases individuals have no control. It has been a big issue that employers will check the Facebooks of future or current employees and if they see pictures or information they don’t like, then the individual will not get hired. This is an example of how you are responsible for yourself. It was the person’s decision to put that information and pictures on their Facebook, so they need to face the consequences.

Also, your information from external sites is being sent to Facebook to allow targeted advertisements and it shares your activities with your friends or whoever can view your profile. This procedure is run by Beacon Advertising. Beacon is a part of Facebook’s advertising system and is also partners with sites such as; eBay, CBS, Fandango, Travelocity, etc. If you have ever experienced using one of these sites, you might have noticed that information of your activities then shows up on Facebook. In 2007, the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, posted an apology in one of his blogs. In the blog, Zuckerberg apologizes and takes blame for the violations of privacy. In an article for Forbes.com, he states that “We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize  for it.” In this same article, it goes on to say how due to the Facebook group, “Petition: Facebook, stop invading my privacy!”, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook will add an opt-out of Beacon button on the privacy settings. This will allow all Facebook users to end the violation of privacy if they choose to turn it off. Research shows that of the sites 50 million users, only 70,000 users (0.2%) are members of this group. This means that the rest of the 50 million users most likely don’t know what Beacon is and won’t know that there is an opt-out button.

I have experienced the privacy violation that I discussed in the paragraph above twice. One time was when I signed up for a March Madness bracket on CBS Sportsline and the second time was when I ordered tickets for The Dark Knight on Fandango. After I submitted my brackets on CBS Sportsline, the next time I signed into Facebook I noticed that I had a new application. I don’t quite remember the name of it, but it had to do with CBS and March Madness brackets. After I purchased my tickets on Fandango, I had received an application on Facebook for Fandango. This whole situation did not really bother me that much, because I didn’t mind the two applications, but what if I had purchased something I didn’t want anybody to know about? I tried signing up for one of the Fantasy football leagues on CBS Sportsline to see if the application would show up, but it didn’t.

 

 Sources:

"Facebook Beacon." Wikipedia. 26 Sept. 2008 . 

Greenberg, Andy. "Facebook's Overblown Privact Problems." 5 Dec. 2007. Forbes. 26 Sept. 2008

"Privacy." Wikipedia. 26 Sept. 2008 .

COM 125- Assignment #4

In “The Economies of Online Cooperation,” Kollack refers to a “gift economy” as an online economy where help and information is offered, without the expectation of any direct compensation. Many people participate in a gift economy every day, but they probably don’t know that they are. A good example of a gift economy in which I am familiar with would be Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a gift economy, because it offers millions of articles to its online users and because none of the millions of authors and editors receive any kind of material reward. Of course, Wikipedia makes a minor amount of money of the sales of logo tee shirts and other merchandise, but they must also pay for their expenses, such as servers, domain registration and other maintenance. This part of Wikipedia would not be considered a gift economy, but the information on Wikipedia is a gift economy.

People can truly benefit a lot from the use of Wikipedia. The information that is available through Wikipedia is digital. This means that more than one person can access the same exact piece of information at the same exact time. Kollack refers to digital information as “exhibiting pure indivisibility”.  Using the information does not diminish what is available for the next user and the user after that. If you were to go to a library to research a topic, you would have to take out a book. When you take out a book, you need to pay money and worry about late fees. Also, when you take out a book, that information is the removed from the library and nobody else who visits that library can access that information until you return the book. Kollack also states that when you receive information from digital public goods such as Wikipedia, it can act as an incentive to give back and contribute to the public good yourself. In his blog, Dave Pollard agrees with digital public goods like Wikipedia. He tells us that our time is precious and suggests we should spend it as much as possible doing the things we enjoy. In doing this, we need to only buy goods and services that we cannot make available on our own. Why spend the money on something that you can get faster and easier and most importantly for free? I know that I try to use the internet as much as possible when doing research, because it takes less time and it’s much easier to use.

Sources:

 Kollock, Peter. (1999).The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace. Retrieved on September 17, 2008, from http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm

 Pollard, Dave. (2005). “The Gift Economy” Retrieved on September 17, 2008 from http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2005/04/17.html

Gift Economy. Retrieved on September17, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy

 

COM 125- Assignment #2

At first when I read this assignment I thought it was going to be difficult finding an internet technology that was developed in the year 1994 or earlier. When I remembered that the internet was really created forty years ago, I thought that maybe all of the internet technologies I was familiar with were created a long time ago also. I decided to research a technology that we are most likely all familiar with and that is instant messaging. I figured that I must be pretty familiar with it, seeing as my nights in middle school and high school were dedicated to AIM.

Instant messaging is defined as a computer application which allows for communications in real time. A live chat and email service. It is actually surprising that instant messaging has been around longer than the internet has. Instant messaging was first seen on multi-user operating systems dating back to the mid- 1960's. At this time, these systems were used as notification systems for services such as printing, but were quickly utilized as a means of communication with another person logged into the same machine.

During the Bulletin Board System in the 1980's, chat systems such as the Freelancin' Roundtable, located near Houston Texas, provided as a means of instant messaging. The Roundtable was independent from the Bulletin Board System. To use this chat system, you would call the chat system using an analog phone and a computer with a modem. Then when you were connected you would use a password and enter what name you were going to use, then you could send messages to other members who were also connected. Just like the instant messaging we are used to today, text would be seen in real time and the newest messages came at the bottom and then eventually would move up as other messages were received. It also allowed you to read the text that had previously been sent before you had logged on.

I believe that the internet has been influenced greatly by instant messaging. It would be hard for me to believe it if someone in our class told me that they had never used any form of instant messaging before. Over the years, instant messaging has become so much more advanced. Back in the 1980's you couldn't send pictures or smiley faces or any of that stuff. Now, you can choose your own font and color. Instant messaging has become more personal to fit our fast paced lifestyle. Conversations have adopted slang and abbreviations to shorten sentences and quicken conversations. It is also a great way to keep in contact with friends or family out of town. Instead of emailing or Facebook messaging them, instant messages allow you to have a real time conversation, and there is no hassle of waiting for emails. Instant messaging has come a long way since the 1960's and since then it has certainly gotten way better.