So, Congress just passed a bill allowing internet service providers to sell information they collect from their consumers to compete with telecom companies. Well, congratulations to the ISPs, my condolences to anyone who uses the internet. We might as well get rid of the incognito window in Chrome, the only thing that saves us from is the extra two seconds it takes to delete a search from our history. Even then, it still exists and somebody out there knows.
How much money is your sanity worth? Now, there will be people out there that you don't even know, buying information about you that you didn't even know existed, and use it to turn a profit. Nothing is sacred anymore. Everything is about money, it's like we're human trafficking without the humans. Are we even human anymore? Who does this benefit other than big business?
When will we stop? We all complain about privacy but when it comes to the people that matter, they are willing to sell everything for a few extra dollars. It's like the whole world is a a market and the consumers are the goods. I don't remember becoming an item for sale.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Thursday, February 9, 2017
That Better Be My Leg
When I was in junior high, I accidentally left my cell phone in my mom's car before school. I was freaking out because I thought I needed my phone on me at all times. Albeit, I didn't even have a cell phone until that year. I called my mom in the office and begged her to come back and drop of my cell phone, but I was unsuccessful. Then, the principal of my small junior high noticed me and said, "I know. I fell naked without my phone, too".
When I was a freshman in high school, I begged my parents to get me the newest smartphone out for my birthday. My parents relented and spent $600 on my new phone. Not even a week into having my phone, I dropped it on cement and the front of the phone shattered. My phone was still functional, don't get me wrong. But there was glass everywhere. My parents refused to replace it and I didn't have a phone case (it would have been pointless at that point) so I grabbed myself some packaging tape and placed it over the phone. After that, I stopped worrying since there was nothing I could do about the phone. My phone definitely bothered more people than it did me. I ended up keeping the phone until my next upgrade which wasn't until my junior or senior year.
The point is that worrying about my phone has cut time off my life and possibly given me a few premature gray hairs. I can't help but be a bit envious of those before us because they weren't carrying hundreds of dollars worth of technology in their back pocket everywhere they went like we do. Like, obviously, there were things they were obsessed with (i.e. CD players, Walkmans, etc), but they weren't so expensive that it made your wallet hurt. Nowadays, if we'd rather lose our car keys over our cell phones. Hell, when we fall down and hear a crack or break, we pray it is our leg and not the phone attached to our leg. In all honesty, this kind of paranoia I could so live without, but my phone I can't. Phones aren't expensive but we all need the latest technology which is super expensive. If I can go back 20 years or so, I would probably get a cheaper, sturdier phone. That way if I fell and heard a crack, I'd pray it was the phone.
When I was a freshman in high school, I begged my parents to get me the newest smartphone out for my birthday. My parents relented and spent $600 on my new phone. Not even a week into having my phone, I dropped it on cement and the front of the phone shattered. My phone was still functional, don't get me wrong. But there was glass everywhere. My parents refused to replace it and I didn't have a phone case (it would have been pointless at that point) so I grabbed myself some packaging tape and placed it over the phone. After that, I stopped worrying since there was nothing I could do about the phone. My phone definitely bothered more people than it did me. I ended up keeping the phone until my next upgrade which wasn't until my junior or senior year.
The point is that worrying about my phone has cut time off my life and possibly given me a few premature gray hairs. I can't help but be a bit envious of those before us because they weren't carrying hundreds of dollars worth of technology in their back pocket everywhere they went like we do. Like, obviously, there were things they were obsessed with (i.e. CD players, Walkmans, etc), but they weren't so expensive that it made your wallet hurt. Nowadays, if we'd rather lose our car keys over our cell phones. Hell, when we fall down and hear a crack or break, we pray it is our leg and not the phone attached to our leg. In all honesty, this kind of paranoia I could so live without, but my phone I can't. Phones aren't expensive but we all need the latest technology which is super expensive. If I can go back 20 years or so, I would probably get a cheaper, sturdier phone. That way if I fell and heard a crack, I'd pray it was the phone.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Citizens of the World Wide Web
Internet citizenship sounds like one of those ambiguous terms that, originally, mean nothing and then eventually end up in a Merriam-Webster. Like sure, it sounds like a thing but is it really a thing? Regardless of whether or not this term is a "thing", let's talk about it.
We all know what the internet is. Hell, you're reading this post on the internet. I'm not saying we can define it off the top of our heads, but we get the jist of the concept. Citizenship, though. That's something that history teachers have been trying to drill into young minds since day one. Citizenship is defined as "the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen". Well, that sounds pretty spot on to me. To be a citizen it to be a part of a collective whole and have a duty to your fellow citizens to protect and honor.
With this in mind, I personally think that "internet citizenship" is to not only be a member of the billions of users on the internet, but to also respect those who are also citizens. Of course, every website has rules and regulations but then there is also the moral responsibility. We all want to be free on the internet, be whoever it we want to be without being shunned because others don't like it. But at the same time, we are the ones doing the shunning because we don't agree with who someone else is.
I have a duty, you have a duty, we all have a duty to respect the uses of the next person. If someone likes to read fanfiction of an OTP you don't agree with, leave it alone. It does not affect you nor anyone else. If someone is using the deep dark web to watch child pornography, then yeah. Report that. That's creepy and illegal. As long as we are not disregarding another human beings legal rights or stealing their creativity (works of art, literature, etc), mind your business. Don't be one of those cyberbullies whose only purpose in life is to make other people feel bad. Just go to a different webpage, it's not that hard.
If I had to generalize this entire post, I'd say: don't be a dick. Respect other users and hope they have the decency to respect you in return. Treat the internet like it's a country with its own government . Yeah, we're "free" to do what we want but follow the rules. Respect your common man, mind your business, and don't steal.
We all know what the internet is. Hell, you're reading this post on the internet. I'm not saying we can define it off the top of our heads, but we get the jist of the concept. Citizenship, though. That's something that history teachers have been trying to drill into young minds since day one. Citizenship is defined as "the character of an individual viewed as a member of society; behavior in terms of duties, obligations, and functions of a citizen". Well, that sounds pretty spot on to me. To be a citizen it to be a part of a collective whole and have a duty to your fellow citizens to protect and honor.
With this in mind, I personally think that "internet citizenship" is to not only be a member of the billions of users on the internet, but to also respect those who are also citizens. Of course, every website has rules and regulations but then there is also the moral responsibility. We all want to be free on the internet, be whoever it we want to be without being shunned because others don't like it. But at the same time, we are the ones doing the shunning because we don't agree with who someone else is.
I have a duty, you have a duty, we all have a duty to respect the uses of the next person. If someone likes to read fanfiction of an OTP you don't agree with, leave it alone. It does not affect you nor anyone else. If someone is using the deep dark web to watch child pornography, then yeah. Report that. That's creepy and illegal. As long as we are not disregarding another human beings legal rights or stealing their creativity (works of art, literature, etc), mind your business. Don't be one of those cyberbullies whose only purpose in life is to make other people feel bad. Just go to a different webpage, it's not that hard.
If I had to generalize this entire post, I'd say: don't be a dick. Respect other users and hope they have the decency to respect you in return. Treat the internet like it's a country with its own government . Yeah, we're "free" to do what we want but follow the rules. Respect your common man, mind your business, and don't steal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)