Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality

             Regardless of the topic, there will always be pros and cons to everything. In regard to net neutrality, there is not a lack of either. Some of the pros of the concept of net neutrality are for starters the idea that there are no internet restrictions. You can access any information at ease aside from the things the local government decides to lock. You are free to send what you what in e-mails, messaging, facebook, and tweet what you like. Another pro is the rate at which information can be accessed is equal across the board. YOu can download photos and videos at a constant rate. With net neutrality nothing is censored so you can access upload and say what you would like across the internet; all of which falls under the first amendment of free speech. With net neutrality everything is an equal playing field. No site would get priority over another. Google wouldn't trump Yahoo! and Netflix wouldn't trump Hulu.
           But, all that being said it has its cons as well. Without net neutrality  websites could charge for access to certain parts of the internet. Certain websites would have less importance than other sites and their information wouldn't be able to be as easily accessed as the other sites would be. The government could censor all of the things viewed on the internet and the idea of free speech demolished. People couldn't view and access  what they want. Another con of net neutrality is since everything is easily accessible say a child was going on the internet it would be extremely easy for them to wander onto the wrong page. Another con would be that since it is a matter of free speech and we can say what ever we would like, say someone started a website talking about how to make bombs and explode buildings... a lot of information would end up in the wrong hands. But with net neutrality they can't do anything about it.
          Net neutrality has been in the news a lot recently in regards to comcast and Netflix. It was a  deal made between the two companies in order to connect netflix users to comcasts server with a undisclosed fee. It has something to do with making the streaming more efficient. The controversy is saying that Netflix isn't going to get preferential treatment on the web but something is definitely brewing. This new deal is striking up a lot of talk about net neutrality and if they can actually do what they are planning on doing. Comcast is rumored to be buying Time Warner Cable. If they do this they are going to be in control of 1/3 of all broadband providers. It's a sneaky way to get around the idea of Net neutrality. They are taking control and getting more access on the internet without directly taking it.
           I'm not honestly sure how this recent news would affect me personally. Yes, I am a loyal netflix watcher. But would my web browsing become slower since my internet provider is AT&T and not comcast? This is something I'm am not so sure of. I guess it is something we will learn to find out in the months to come.
         I feel as though there should continue to be net neutrality. The internet is a free space where people can express themselves and learn new things. We preach free speech so we should always be allowed that liberty. All sites should be created equal just like all people should be. If people don't want their children seeing something on the web there are software programs they can specifically buy to fit their needs. All websites should have the right to run and download and do all of those things equally. It's worked thus far, why change it now?
         http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/netflix-comcast-and-net-neutrality/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

The link above gave me a lot of new in site on what is going on with net neutrality now and how it could affect us down the road.

http://inthecapital.streetwise.co/2014/03/20/118917/

This Article was also interesting on the topic and gave me in site on the possible comcast and time warner merger. These things could potentially change how the internet is going to work differently for a long way to come.

Victims of Lack of Privacy

        Social media, if it has done anything, has made the spread of information faster than ever. Twitter has become my number one source for news on celebrities, sports, and even the weather. With all this information spread it could be good to be in the loop about things so quickly. But, there are serious consequences to the spread of information as well. With social media, we see a lot of cruelty towards specific people or in cases peers. One person posts something and everyone see's it. Like the article "When Rape Goes Viral" we see that social media could have the ability to destroy lives. It's making it very difficult to hide things and keep other things in the dark.
        Social media in most of these rape cases has been a huge tool in figuring out who the perpetrators are and that is a beautiful thing. However, the not so beautiful part is that the victim no longer has privacy. With social media, pictures and videos, and even tweets about to event stream online for all of the victims classmates, peers, friends, who ever to see. This takes away all privacy and probably makes for some tough living conditions for the victims. Many probably want to try and forget and move on. With all the social media circulating around it is next to impossible to forget and move on for it is continuously in your face and everyone has seen the terrible event.
         One of the victims in the article was so traumatized by the events and that the whole school had seen pictures of what had happened that a week after the party the event had occurred at she committed suicide. She hadn't even told her parents what had happened. They found out later through the social media that was posted on the event.
        These victims aren't given the chance to move on and forget. They are forced to relive the torturous event. Privacy has become a scarce thing and its a shame that social media has been transformed into this intruding thing. The only positive i can relate to the lack of privacy in these types of events is when the Anonymous group got ahold of the information about the Jane Doe girl. They publicized everything so that justice could be served to those that committed this crime to her. When the victim saw the pictures of herself she was probably feeling horrible things on the inside but at the end of the day justice was served.

Terms and Conditions: I have nothing to hide.

        Many people, when it comes to the internet and what pieces of information of theirs is readily available for the world to see, feel like they truly don't have anything to hide. But lets be serious here for a second, don't we all have a few secrets we wouldn't like to get out?
       In my most recent Computer Science class, we watched a video that talked for an hour and a half about the troubles with "The Terms and Conditions" pages when making accounts. How many of us actually read them? I can tell you that I do not. But this video really got me thinking. It made me realize that maybe written in the fine print of some of these great long terms and conditions pages is something truly important. Most of the time when we are agreeing to these terms we are agreeing that any and all of the information in our profiles including pictures, conversations, and posts belongs to the company and another portion of those things can be used and given to the government. Is this a breach in our privacy? Yes, I think it is. Is it our own faults though; yes I think it is as well. We are the ones who accepted these terms. 
       I am one of those people that believe that within all of my searches on search engines, posts and conversations on social media that I do not have anything to hide. If the government got ahold of any of that information I don't think they could find any reason to arrest me or anything of that nature. However, needless to say a lot of other information about me because of these terms is out there for anyone to see, no matter how private you make it. If certain information gets into the wrong hands like my address, email address and other things of that nature i'm sure problems could arise. 
      We should all be a lot more concerned I feel with the things that we are posting to the web. Our lives are all over the place for everyone to see. No matter how safe we all feel and how comfortable we all feel, someone somewhere knows something about you that you didn't know. How safe could all that be ultimately? And if the government has control over all of our information through these companies could it later be used against us need something go wrong? 
        Right now, we might not feel directly affected by this and maybe years to come we might not either. But down the road I feel we all will start to feel the affects of losing our privacy. Anyone anywhere can know who you are. Things aren't kept a secret like they used to be anymore. Our lives are way to accessible and its nothing but our own faults. Our lives wouldn't be put out there... if only we read the terms and conditions. 

Ah, just like me to do half of the assignment and then forget to do all the rest. None the less, here is my first post for Computer Science. Hopefully I can get my head screwed on a little tighter and not forget the next time!