Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality.

Personally, I believe that there are more pros to net neutrality than there are cons. Net neutrality is the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites. The pros to this is that people will always have an equal opportunity to use the information available on the web. Net neutrality has caused the Internet to grow significantly and without it websites like YouTube, Google, and eBay would not be nearly as successful as they are now. Net neutrality also allows its users to have creative expression and allows them to express themselves. The only con to net neutrality is that websites like YouTube and Skype are having a hard time keeping up with the instant demand and streaming  of videos. They would be able to provide these services quicker for a small fee, but if a fee is required then there is no net neutrality.

Recently, net neutrality has been in the news because a recent court hearing talked about getting rid of net neutrality. This would result in YouTube being allowed to charge a fee in order to stream a  video at full speed and sites like Soundcloud being allowed to stream their music at slower speeds than other music sites like iTunes. In a way, this effects a persons freedom of speech. If certain sites require you to pay a fee in order to use their site or service than some people might not be able to afford them, therefore, they do not have the same rights as someone who could afford to pay the fee. Lets say that someone is an avid blogger, who enjoys writing about equal rights, but one day net neutrality is taken away and that person is now required to pay a fee in order to use their blog. This is taking away their  freedom of speech because they can no longer express how they feel freely, unless they want to pay, which defeats the purpose.

I agree with net neutrality and I would be very upset if it was taken away. I love using YouTube, but I would never pay to use is. Taking away net neutrality would take away from the millions of activities I can do on the web. If the websites I currently use started charging fees and slowing down their servers I would probably stop using them because I would  not be able to afford them. The loss of net neutrality wouldn't really effect rich people, but it would have a negative effect on the middle class and poor. Personally, I believe that  by taking net neutrality away, you are also taking away a basic human right.

http://www.savetheinternet.com/net-neutrality-101

I thought this website was valid because it was written by an organization that stands for universal and affordable internet. I thought that the information on the site was extremely helpful while working on this assignment.

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/open-internet

I thought this website was valid because it was written by the Federal Communications Commission. It also ends in .gov, so I know that it is an official government website. I thought the information written on the site was relevant and related to what I discussed in my article.  

Social Media and Privacy

The article, When Rape Goes Viral, discussed the negative and positive effects that posting images and videos of sexual assault online has. Some victims of sexual assault actually benefited from their offenders posting their assaults online because it helped prove that the assault actually happened. In other cases, it made things worse. Once you post an image or video online it is there forever. I personally don't think it's right for someone to post images or videos of sexual assaults online, whether you'd doing it to raise awareness or because you're a sick human being that thinks that it's alright to do so. Images like these are extremely personal and can ruin someone's reputation. Several of the stories discussed in the article ended in suicide. 

I agree that in some circumstances posting these horrible images and videos can actually be a good thing because it can help prove your case happened, but what happens to the people whose cases aren't proven to be true? These people have to deal with the fact that they were assaulted and then deal with the fact that it is posted online for the world to see. It is something they have to live with for their entire life. Sometimes things posted online aren't even reported or taken seriously. One girl in the article talked about how she witnessed her peers watch a video of a girl being sexually assaulted and when she reported it to her school, they did nothing about it. 

Social media sites should immediately flag images and videos that are posted that contain sexual content. This would insure that sexual assaults and other traumatic events are not posted on the internet for the world to see. Once these images are posted, anyone can save them and share them. Personally, it's something I think social media websites should take more seriously and try to prevent. 

I Have Nothing To Hide

A lot of people aren't concerned with the issue of diminishing privacy online because many people believe that they have nothing to hide. Let's be real, we all have something to hide, whether it be a criminal offense that's in our past or something as simple as saying we hate our boss, we all have things that we would rather no one know about us. This sort of information is private and is something that people don't tell a lot of other people besides their close friends and family. Today in class, we watched a movie about companies privacy policies and how many people actually read the terms & conditions before clicking okay. I know that I never read them before clicking okay and I'm assuming many people like me don't either. The truth is, there are hidden facts in those terms & conditions. By selecting "I agree" we are giving companies permission to have access to every fact about ourselves. Personally, I have nothing to hide, but there are also things in my life that I wouldn't want to share with many people.

I think people should start to care more about this issue. If we continue to click okay to the terms & conditions without really reading them, who knows what companies will throw in there next. They already have access to so much of our private information; credit card numbers, phone numbers, addresses, full names, date of births, etc., and some companies, like Instagram, can even republish our posts without giving us credit for it. People need to be aware of this issue so we can do something about it. Personally, I don't like the idea of the government knowing everything about me. I don't think  that it's right for the government to tap my phone and listen to my personal conversations. What if I was having a really bad day because my boss fired me and I jokingly threaten to kill him? The government could hear that conversation and come to my house and arrest me, all because they misinterpreted my conversation. Things like this happen and if the government just kept to themselves instead of listening in on everyone else's business, then this wouldn't be an issue.

I think that privacy is becoming a huge issue. Even  if we click private, some people can still find it, and even if we delete things, they are still there forever. There is no privacy anymore. There is always away to get around things nowadays and people need to be extra careful about what they post online.

CS 408.01

I actually really enjoy this course and I am looking forward for what's in store for the rest of the semester. We have already talked about so many interesting topics. This class has really opened my eyes to how much my generation relies on technology. Yeah, it's a great tool that we can use for just about anything, but on the other hand, it's taking away from our ability to interact with other human beings. I walk into to classrooms and can't even make eye contact with anyone because they're all starting at their phone screens. Don't get my wrong, I'm guilty of this as well, but this class is definitely  making me realize how big of an issue this actually is.