Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Blog 4-Online Privacy
When we log onto the Internet, little do we know that our every move can be tracked. Companies are spending millions of dollars to track Internet users every move so they can have a better understanding of their market and the users preferences. But how much is our privacy at risk? Some say that privacy does not exist anymore and we are always under surveillance by the government, advertisers and companies. There is a sense of insecurity now when consumers log onto the Internet.
The way that companies have been able to track our preferences on the Internet is through cookies. By placing cookies into our computers they can track our every move on the Internet and watch what we read, what we are interested in and buy. By tracking the users, advertisers will be able to put up personal advertisements depending on what interests the user.
No software can help prevent these cookies from being placed onto our computers and if you were to block them, then you would have limited access to the Internet sites. It is a no win situation for the Internet citizens.
For some time we have had the federal government on the citizens side banning cookies to track users, the government created this ban so the citizens would have privacy. Although recently, they have reversed the nine-year ban and are going to allow the government and companies to track our every move.
According to Joshua Miller from Fox News he says, “the shift in policy is being billed as a way for government to enter the 21st century and for federal agencies to use the same technology utilized on news sites, retail sites and social media networks.”
The question is why does our privacy have to be taken to transform with the 21st century. They should make privacy the number one priority as technology becomes more advanced, not take it away from the consumer As citizens of the United States, it seems like we are no longer covered by the Fourth Amendment and our every move will be watch by cameras, the Internet and the telephone.
The government is trying to transform this new bill into a three tier process when it comes to tracking users. “OMB is currently considering a three-tier approach that would track users over single and multiple Web sessions, either to analyze Web traffic statistics or to remember the data, settings and preferences unique to individual users,” said Miller.
The government is trying to make it so they can track the consmers on all different levels of the Internet. The consumers need to restrict the information that they put out on the Internet because it will not be private.
Right now, online privacy is a major issue that needs to be taken seriously and put back into the citizens hands. The consumer needs to feel safe when they log onto the Internet and they should not feel like all of their private information is going out to the public. Instead of the government changing with the 21st century and take away privacy, they should be changing technology so that the consumers are more protected.
The way that companies have been able to track our preferences on the Internet is through cookies. By placing cookies into our computers they can track our every move on the Internet and watch what we read, what we are interested in and buy. By tracking the users, advertisers will be able to put up personal advertisements depending on what interests the user.
No software can help prevent these cookies from being placed onto our computers and if you were to block them, then you would have limited access to the Internet sites. It is a no win situation for the Internet citizens.
For some time we have had the federal government on the citizens side banning cookies to track users, the government created this ban so the citizens would have privacy. Although recently, they have reversed the nine-year ban and are going to allow the government and companies to track our every move.
According to Joshua Miller from Fox News he says, “the shift in policy is being billed as a way for government to enter the 21st century and for federal agencies to use the same technology utilized on news sites, retail sites and social media networks.”
The question is why does our privacy have to be taken to transform with the 21st century. They should make privacy the number one priority as technology becomes more advanced, not take it away from the consumer As citizens of the United States, it seems like we are no longer covered by the Fourth Amendment and our every move will be watch by cameras, the Internet and the telephone.
The government is trying to transform this new bill into a three tier process when it comes to tracking users. “OMB is currently considering a three-tier approach that would track users over single and multiple Web sessions, either to analyze Web traffic statistics or to remember the data, settings and preferences unique to individual users,” said Miller.
The government is trying to make it so they can track the consmers on all different levels of the Internet. The consumers need to restrict the information that they put out on the Internet because it will not be private.
Right now, online privacy is a major issue that needs to be taken seriously and put back into the citizens hands. The consumer needs to feel safe when they log onto the Internet and they should not feel like all of their private information is going out to the public. Instead of the government changing with the 21st century and take away privacy, they should be changing technology so that the consumers are more protected.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Blog 3-Conflicts in the Digital Age
With war being talked about constantly in magazines, television, radio, podcast's and newspapers the public is constantly reminded about the type of world we are living in and the physical wars that are taking place. But did anyone think that the Internet would not be safe as well.
The Internet is the fastest growing technology that the world has ever seen and with the on going physical war in Iraq, it is difficult to think that people would be using the Internet as a weapon. Little did the world know that the Internet, when it was started, can harm or ruin an entire country by hacking into computer networks and stealing information.
According to 60 Minutes, “much of it was still theory, but we were told that before too long it might be possible for a hacker with a computer to disable critical infrastructure in a major city and disrupt essential services, to steal millions of dollars from banks all over the world, infiltrate defense systems, extort millions from public companies, and even sabotage our weapons systems.”
This is known as cyber warfare and it is a serious crime that the world is dealing with. More and more, there are reports of countries and people hacking into other computers and stealing private information. Others are creating Trojans and viruses and sending them out to the public to ruin computers systems. This is not just a theory anymore, it is FACT and it actually happening everywhere and it is making the Internet more dangerous to be on.
It is reported that Russia, Brazil and China are the world leaders in cyber crime and malicious activity. The United States and United Kingdom are reported as the top two countries to be victims of cyber attacks. Countries all over the world are investing more money into cyber security.
Back in 2008, Pentagon officials told CNN, “U.S. military unclassified computer systems were broken into and information was taken.” The allegations stated that Chinese military tried to hack into U.S. military systems and plan to destroy satellites and invest in nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles with the use of Kylin, China‘s security operating system.
There are also threats that China’s spending would increase by 18% in the past year for cyber warfare. China denies the allegations of the cyber crime and claimed that they too were victims of cyber crime. Although, the United States has yet to drop or ignore this issue.
Today, there is a constant verbal battle between the United States and China of what really happened and “who did what.” The United States Homeland Security and other government parts are teaming up together to create a safer and more protected computer system that will prevent this issue from happening again.
The United States is more aware of the threats cyber warfare can have and they focused on fixing and creating a better cyber security to protect our nation. President Obama addressed this issue during a speech and he stated: "It is now clear this cyber threat is one [of] the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.”
The Internet is the fastest growing technology that the world has ever seen and with the on going physical war in Iraq, it is difficult to think that people would be using the Internet as a weapon. Little did the world know that the Internet, when it was started, can harm or ruin an entire country by hacking into computer networks and stealing information.
According to 60 Minutes, “much of it was still theory, but we were told that before too long it might be possible for a hacker with a computer to disable critical infrastructure in a major city and disrupt essential services, to steal millions of dollars from banks all over the world, infiltrate defense systems, extort millions from public companies, and even sabotage our weapons systems.”
This is known as cyber warfare and it is a serious crime that the world is dealing with. More and more, there are reports of countries and people hacking into other computers and stealing private information. Others are creating Trojans and viruses and sending them out to the public to ruin computers systems. This is not just a theory anymore, it is FACT and it actually happening everywhere and it is making the Internet more dangerous to be on.
It is reported that Russia, Brazil and China are the world leaders in cyber crime and malicious activity. The United States and United Kingdom are reported as the top two countries to be victims of cyber attacks. Countries all over the world are investing more money into cyber security.
Back in 2008, Pentagon officials told CNN, “U.S. military unclassified computer systems were broken into and information was taken.” The allegations stated that Chinese military tried to hack into U.S. military systems and plan to destroy satellites and invest in nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles with the use of Kylin, China‘s security operating system.
There are also threats that China’s spending would increase by 18% in the past year for cyber warfare. China denies the allegations of the cyber crime and claimed that they too were victims of cyber crime. Although, the United States has yet to drop or ignore this issue.
Today, there is a constant verbal battle between the United States and China of what really happened and “who did what.” The United States Homeland Security and other government parts are teaming up together to create a safer and more protected computer system that will prevent this issue from happening again.
The United States is more aware of the threats cyber warfare can have and they focused on fixing and creating a better cyber security to protect our nation. President Obama addressed this issue during a speech and he stated: "It is now clear this cyber threat is one [of] the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation.”
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