Week 15: Audit Your Online Presence

 Our online footprint is a huge presence, From using facebook to instagram, or simply other websites. Every site we go to, every password we use, every email we use, every location we sign in on from, is what is our online footprint. Knowing in todays world, everyone has a online footprint (mostly). I have one for sure. Now knowing that google or your browser is taking your information and selling it, i have learned that i can keep my information secure by using a private browser and a VPN. A Private browser and a VPN will allow me to access the internet without being tracked or having my data be sold. 

I don't personally have a huge online footprint, but i would say that i have a good amount of accounts for certain things i need. I don't own my own website because i don't need it. I use instagram, facebook, twitter and tik tok. I have posted about trips i went on with my family, friends of mine and events that i had a good time at.

If a visitor were to visit my page i would assume they would think i am a fit guy that enjoys photography, traveling, spending family time , and spreading his experiences. 

To instagram and facebook i have given them my phone number. I chose this option because i wanted to receive text updates, i also wanted to ensure my account had a two step verification process. 

I personally believe that social media makes people mental state decline rapidly, i don't believe its good for our own self worth. We as individuals seem to tune into social media so easily, but why cant we tune out? I know it can cause a-lot of issues, but also has a huge bright-side to it. 

We are never safe no matter where we are, we can always have our information stolen. So just watch out, use a VPN and a private browser, as well as don't give instagram or facebook your real information if your so worried. 

Week 13 EOTO pt. 2 Blog #10

 While reviewing all of our classmates presentations, the one that i enjoyed the most was group 1. Group 1 talked about Awareness in the world. Awareness is a huge asset to have in your life, it doesn't only help you understand life more as a whole, it allows you to be who you are. It allows you to know where you are, who you are around , what your doing, everything consist of awareness in our lives. Group 1 focused on six different fields of information. Propaganda, Disinformation, Smith-mundt act, Total information awareness, False Flag, Five Eyes. 

As a whole, Group 1 made me understand the impact that awareness of information has on us, and how much we don't realize the effects it has on us. Such as propaganda. For example, propaganda is used everywhere in the US, now do we notice it? No, well thats because its become a common commodity and is everywhere. Newspapers, news, tv, posters, military, etc. 

Great presentation, i think this group killed it. 

Week 12 EOTO Blog #9

What is Section 230?

While being put in a group to work with many different partners, i learned that we all benefit from section 230. During the Early 1950's Section 230 was created because, of issues regarding telecommunications. In 1996 the government created a new law, revolving around section 230. The law was named the CDA, CDA is a short abbreviation for Communications Decency Act. The law was created to protect companies from being sued over the content they post on their website. This Act was created to help ensure our freedom of speech. So individuals and the companies can talk / post about what they want. 

Now, there are a-lot of Pros and Cons that affect society as a whole. The pros of section 230 start with, Free Speech On the Internet, Expression without censorship from company's, Allow large internet companies to operate the way they do, such as facebook, instagram or twitter, etc.  The cons of section 230 start with, The promotion of sex trafficking,  Holds companies unreliable for events that would actually destroy the company if the act of 230 did not take place. Illegal and harmful activity. 

To be honest i only see this as benefiting our society rather than making people not a fan of it. Section 230 has not affected me until i started to read about it. I understand what it means, but i don't believe it affects me or even relates to my life. I know that in some places in our world this has to be a burden for someone out there, but i couldn't find any information regarding new section 230 news. 

During the presentation my group was the very last group to go, Group 4 (Policy) . Not all of our members came so we had to fill in the gaps for the ones that weren't there. 

Blog #7

 

While discussing and researching the Diffusion Of Innovations Theory, I found the true meaning to this theory. In 1962 Everett Rogers, a Professor of Rural Psychology created a theory called The Diffusion Of Innovations Theory. The Diffusion Of Innovations Theory is a theoretical model that is used to see the spread rate of new technology within our society. The Theory can be utilized within 1 of 5 different adopter groups basing off of citizens that show how early or how quickly innovation affects them. The stages of the groups start in order with Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and Laggards. The theory helps us understand why some technologies are adopted and some are not. 

Group 1: The Innovators 

The Innovators are always the first to learn and to adopt new innovations in their society. The Theory can be applied to the use of an Iphone. The Iphone was introduced in 2007 by Steve jobs, the sole innovator of the start of a new world. When the Iphone came out it was a huge hit to people that were in the Innovators/ Early Adopters. People were lining outside of stores before the release because of being so eager to get their hands on something they've never seen before (adaptation). 

Group 2: The Early Adopters 

As time went on with the release of the iPhone the Early Adopters were on the cusp on adapting to a new generation of freedom. Usually they are known for their forward thinking abilities and are highly respected as opinion leaders. 

1. International calls 

2. Unlimited texting to anywhere in the united states

3. Unlimited Freedom 

4. Adaptation to new software / social connections

5. App / Software development

Group 3: The Early Majority 

The Early Majority take their time to make decisions and will observe others experiences and will only adapt to a product once they learn that it has real benefits for them.  Making sure its the new "trend". They don't want to be left out but feel as they need to keep the adaptation process going within the society that they live in. 

Group 4: The Late Majority

The late Majority is more resistant towards change. Peer pressure is what makes this group more responsive towards change. For example, Such as their friends or family trying to persuade them to get the new iphone. They want to ensure that the product or service is well tested and has good reviews before trying to use it. These people would be looked at in society as the knit pickers. 

Group 5: The Laggards 

The last group is named the Laggards. The Laggards are known to be a highly resistant group revolving around change. These are typically people in that are growing in age. A study shows that approximately 16% of our population are strict Laggards. They usually have minimal exposure to media and are the last to gain interest in new technologies. Marketing Agency typically do not know how to market towards laggards, because of their inability to change and open their mindset towards newer technologies. They like to make sure its mainstream first before even taking consideration. From personal experience with my grandparents , I have noticed that it is hard for them to change their routine. New technology will always come out and its not like they don't have access to it, they just have the choice of choosing weather its worth it or not. 

Blog #6 EOTO Technology Research

    During my group's presentation I discussed the topic twitter. Twitter is a Social Networking platform that allows individuals to talk to one another about real world issues or simply jokes/ fun. It's a widespread platform that is used all over the world. Our own president even uses the app to share his thoughts about certain things he is mad over, or simple to promote himself. When you tweet something, anyone in the world can view it, which is actually quite scary. Twitter was founded in San Francisco, CA and was established on march 26, 2006 by Evan Williams and Blz Stone. As the networking platform took off, so did the fake news. There are some known advantages and disadvantages to having twitter as a platform. 

Advantages: 

• Social Networking application that allows for people to attain new knowledge. 

• Potential of reaching national headlines. 

• It's all about your interest and what you want to write to post. 

• Staying informed

Disadvantages:

• If there is fake news, then you can get huge backlash for retweeting it.

• Not enough tools (like Snopes.com) for information to be fact checked right on the spot. 

• Insults or hate crimes shared. 

• False profiles, such as catfishes, or bots, or fake celebrities. 

    From the presentations in class, I chose to write about instant messaging. Instant messaging (IM) was created back in the 1970s, but was actually implemented in the 1990's. This form of communication is one of the biggest platforms of widespread communication that has ever been brought to the entire world. The creation of IM was a revelation in the world of telecommunication and dramatically changed the way in which people communicated. At first messaging started off with a small telephone that could send short messages to a contact of yours. It gave people personalized numbers to remember so they could contact other individuals, such as family, friends, work etc. The United States first patent towards "phones" was directed towards a company called AOL. AOL back in the day was a service provider as well as a web portal. Meaning that they started the first service for the internet and a phone company. Being able to look up whatever you wanted on your time was something that was completely unheard of in the time. 

Advantages: 

• Instant response times 
• able to reach another part of the globe without having to send letters. 
• A new way to live life 
• Convenient 
• New opportunities 

Disadvantages:

• Non face to face communication
• No emotional appeal as to how the person is really doing
• Possibility of being cat-fished
• Waste time

Sources: 

http://www.whoinvented.org/who-invented-instant-messaging/

https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060025091A1/en

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1pNZiLX9ctBnhWW_0lchVpY-i_R4Y85MwhpbisrSh0OE/edit#slide=id.g9db58e1be5_0_5

Blog #4 - Military Operations that are hidden from the General Population

Wonder why we never hear about covert operations that happen in the west? A huge reason as to why is because the media sources focus on mainstream events that take place in the US and disasters that happen in rural places such as the west. I've come to realize that the public is being hidden from the real truth that we need to hear. A big reason as to why we never hear about the media sustaining from real-world news is because the government doesn't want to scare our population into thinking that we are doing the wrong thing. as the government knows they aren't making the most legal and notable decisions. When speaking specifically about why our government would silence anti-war websites, in general, is for a simple reason, and that is capitalism. War, like anything, in the United States is treated like a business. National arms deals bring in a substantial portion of the government's funding. If the citizens of the United States were more aware of information that would make going to war difficult without an uprising by the people, they would lose a lot of money. When looking at the latest news during the BLM protest, the citizens around the united states wanted to defund the police for a mass amount of actions that could have been dealt in other non lethal way. knowing that a huge number of our population doesn't know the actual truth about what our nation does behind the scenes, it would bring a huge uproar to the funding of the military. Thus, many would be chanting and rioting to defund the military for unnecessary missions that could get us into un wanted war. The American people have the fundamental right to talk back to the government, as this is called Protect Dissent. We have the right to tell the government "No government we do not want you going into Syria to chase out unwanted Russians" Ex "No government we do not want you trading black listed sources with China". We have the First Amendment Right to chose where we put our money and whether its worth it for our country. These sources are extremely important as its an eye opener the media does not cover them. 

Sources:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/web-categories/realism-restraint/

  

Blog #5 Eight values of free expression

While reading over the eight values of free expression, I

learned a lot about how our system works. One expression that really stuck out to me, was Protect Dissent. Protect dissent is the cause of which our fundamental system works as a whole to create rights about talking back to the government. No matter what or who you are, you still have the right to talk back and explain your views on what the government is doing wrong! I believe that this is very relevant to the time we are currently in. Such as the debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. we as a community have the say and vote whether one of them wins or not. more importantly recently the population has been turning on Donald trump, because of ignorant and unnecessary actions. For example, recently he stated that we would be taking out all of our military troops from Afghanistan by Christmas. How would this be possible for one, and for 2 why in the hell would the president let the entire enemy regime know that all of our troops are leaving. All the work we have done over there. our president is making a fool of our troops, which is making the enemy side celebrate. Protect Dissent is very relevant to every topic within 2020's debate. Here are the Eight values of free expression that are extremely important to us as Americans.  

1. Marketplace of Ideas 

Marketplace of ideas is the idea that if fake news is put out into the world, then we will always find out the truth but within time. This is why publishing real stories for news sources takes a degree in order to influence the population with your story views. 

2. Participation In Self - Government 

Freedom of speech and the relation it has to the self government. Community Participation in self government is extremely important because most citizens do not choose to part take in views/ votes. My professor explained that citizens will not make the most logical vote in elections, because they do not know who to vote for, or they simply do not know how to voice their opinion. That's why having others to explain open minded views helps individuals make a more logical system. 

3. Stable Change 

Is the effect where, when the public is angry the government wants them to vent about how they feel. This is a more stable change because then these public groups are less likely to resort to violence. While these groups can speak freely, the government can also monitor if there are militia, facist or overall dangerous groups. This is very helpful in making the public less violent in general, i could only imagine what would happen if this law was not a thing. 

4. Individual Self-Fulfillment 

Individual Self- Fulfillment is freedom of speech. Which allows the individual to express how they feel creating their own narrative of who they are. Freedom of speech is apart of who we are as a nation and as a whole. 

5. Check On Governmental Power

Is the review by the population to make sure that the government or press does not have abusive power. Freedom of press allows citizens to learn about governmental use of abusive power within our own government. 

6. Promote Tolerance 

Hateful speech or speech that makes us upset tunes us to be more tolerant towards events such as this. The more tolerant we are, the more we can understand each-other. 

7. Promote Innovation 

A society where the influence of freedom of speech is highly valued and protected. Which allows people to have differences in opinions but still respect one an-others. 

8. Protect Dissent 

Protect dissent is the cause of which our fundamental system works as a whole to create rights about talking back to the government. The right to criticize the government and to uplift your unvalued opinion.