dangers of posting on facebook

While social networking can be a great and amazing thing people need to be careful with it.  Most of the time people don’t care about the little privacy options they have to protect themselves until it is too late. Most of the time people just post whatever they feel like and have no fear of any possible repercussions they may face due to their actions. It is all the more amazing when people post rude, provocative or other horrible comments and they feel that since it was just a post on a social network site that it doesn't reflect their attitude in the least. Now I am not saying that every now and then someone has a God awful day and they say something on accident they might regret or in a moment of anger. I am referring to the people who continuously do stupid things and expect to be fine because of it. Over the years, there have been some advances in the way the police see technology. Heck because of the lack of sense that many people have now days, they post their own doom in a sense. Whether its college kids taking photos of themselves drinking alcoholic beverages and posting it for everyone (including the school) to see or people running from the law and bragging about it. The lack of common sense never ceases to amaze me nor does it cease to frighten me. I myself am very careful with everything I do as I don’t want anything to come back and haunt me in the future. If all teens attacked social networking with something similar to these thoughts then they would have nothing to worry about and fear no possible. However kids will be kids and continue to post stupid things from time to time. But even adults do this to so it is hard to say if it ever really gets better over time or just gets to the point where it is not as bad. So the next time you are thinking about posting some horrible photo, status, or any other possible thing take a moment and think about the possible repercussions.     

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/arrested-over-facebook-po_n_683160.html#s127067&title=Student_Busted_For

The NSA and our personal information

When are people going to stand up for our own personal privacy when it comes to the government violating our rights in order to “protect” us? In my opinion, yes it is necessary to monitor some things to a certain extent however the NSA has gone to unprecedented levels. Based off new data we can see that they have more than enough technology to retrieve the information of individuals however is that what they do? No, they take everyone’s information for no good cause other than they don’t feel like taking the time to do their job properly. Yes all things come at a certain price, however as life tells us again and again, freedom is not free. But does the government need all our personal messages, emails, bank statements and other personal information? Some say yes but how often does this actually truly help the government. Maybe I would feel a little more at ease if the NSA released some documents of incidents that they were able to prevent (that were of true concern and danger to people.) But until then I am not sure what to really think of the NSA. However knowing someone somewhere can access my personal information for no other reason than they just feel like it really makes me uneasy and annoyed with the government.  But as I look around, most people don’t seem to concerned about this invasion of privacy. They are too concerned over other issues, whether it’s important personal problems or the fact that their favorite sports team can’t win for anything. I swear foreign governments are more concerned about how our rights are trampled over us than we are. The German, English and Australian governments have said this is not the necessary steps that need to be taken in order to protect America. So while only time can tell if these “precautions” turn out to be useful, we can only hope that all these infringements of our rights yield some benefit to us rather than it be stolen in vain.   

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-collects-millions-of-e-mail-address-books-globally/2013/10/14/8e58b5be-34f9-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_story.html?ref=twttr

social action idea

I think a speaker coming in would be the best way to raise awareness to both the local community and student body on how serious we care about what is going on in the world. If we could bring in a person who is well known and experienced in their line of work it will give us an experience to learn from their own. I think someone like John King, Larry King, or Anderson Cooper who has amassed large amounts of experiences and knowledge with the problems going on in the world. These men are just examples of the many great newsmen who have been around through the years and seen both the highlights of America and its slight regression over the years. Or even if we were able to bring in someone like comedian John Stewart it would be a great turnout for both his knowledge and comedic talents. Yes his show can be a bit much at times, however he raises key points that some others are unwilling to do and he also reaches a different type of audience that may not even know of these situations otherwise. Both of these types of new casters are skilled in their own manner and have a unique style in which they connect and spread their perspective of the world events going on. Another good speaker who could come and relate would be Hazel O'Leary. She was a former secretary of energy who did much good and helped the government when she was in. She could help spread awareness of ways to conserve energy and start ways to do programs that could help the local community.

internet freedom

I believe internet freedom should be a basic right to everybody everywhere. As I have done further and further research, it continues to amaze me how so many people across the world don’t have the same accessibility that I as an American have. It’s another surprising factor that it’s the governments enacting these crunch downs on the people’s internet usage. But not to prevent them from doing illegal activities such as hacking other people’s accounts or the selling of illegal narcotics, but to supposedly “protect” the people as well as the government. It’s a sad world we live in where we can no longer have basic access to information and knowledge. And when I hear of this it makes me think of a quote from the movie V for Vendetta, “People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” Now I’m not saying we should topple all governments and start a new world order or anything but we need to do at least something about this. In Egypt, the internet was restricted (amongst numerous other things) which helped prompt people to rebel and use what internet they did have to coordinate the protests that helped stopped the reign of Hosni Mubarak who had ruled Egypt as he had seen fit for 29 years. But Egypt was lucky in the sense that the even had somewhat internet access in the first place. Places like China, North Korea, and Iran (amongst numerous others) have restrictions on their internet so they have hardly any access to the internet (If they have any internet access to begin with) compared to the many numerous nations of the world where internet action is freer and less restricted. But even now governments are beginning to monitor and surveil people’s internet access on a level that has not been seen before. Even America who is supposed to be the land of the free is starting to watch its own citizens more and more. Even the US House of representatives opposes international regulation for the Web but favors US censorship in order for its own and the people’s protection. Is there truly anything we do anymore that isn’t monitored and or kept on file? And while I can’t speak for everyone else but that sure as hell scares me a little.

 http://rt.com/news/internet-freedom-house-report-706/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

"Petopia" questions

1.) Have you ever had an account to anything that you once deemed "useful/necessary" that you had to pay money for? Do you still use it?

2.) Does having technology that can access large amounts of data (or even the internet) create possible threats for the people that use them, why do you believe this?

3.) Do you think people are using technology to take advantage of other people in order to get their money? Has this gotten easier as technology progressed or gotten harder?

http://www.lightandmatter.com/fiction/petopia