Online Privacy

     Privacy isn’t officially protected by law.  Once something gets posted to the Internet, it remains in the public domain, forever.  The Internet makes everything so instant, so permanent; is it really safe to allow our youth to use it so willingly?

            
     According to an article from The Washington Post, published back in September; http://www.washingtonpost.com,“In this era of technological change, kids are often tech savvy but judgment poor.”

            
     I think this is entirely true.  There are so many ways for children to access the Internet nowadays; it’s all they’re every doing.  This is contributing to many negative effects.  The physical health of our nation is at its worst and children, now, are even mistaking “text talk” for actual English.  Some don’t even notice that they’re doing it.  But the reality is that kids are failing spelling tests left and right because they mistakenly spelled “through” like “thru,” just as they would in a text message.

            
     In the article I posted above, it discusses the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) new plan to bump-up Internet privacy for children.  The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, nicknamed “COPPA,” was first established in 1998.  Now, the FTC wants the act to cover all evolving technologies, like the web, IPods and smart phones.

            
     Younger children are so prone to business advertisements on these devices, too.  They’ll give any personal information out at the drop of a hat, simply to access their favorite video game or song.  They have no knowledge of hackers and cookies and hackers know that.

            
     The new FTC rules would require parental consent before children give out any personal information to businesses and would offer many different ways for parents to receive that consent.  Operators would also then have to provide proof that they could keep the child’s information completely private.  They would no longer be able to track any child’s geographical location or information and cookies wouldn’t be allowed to track their web browsing. 

            
     This may make dozens of advertisers angry, but we’re living in a world of marketing and advertising.  Just take a look at the picture below: 

Photo taken by James Porto. Website: http://www.jamesporto.com/

     This is exactly the kind of world we're living in and it's only getting worse.  Notice the man's frustrated look in the rearview mirror; if he's that annoyed by all the ads, just imagine what they're doing to kids.  

     The FTC hopes that the new COPPA rules will help parents better protect their children, without putting too much burden on businesses.  Written comments on the proposal must be submitted to the FTC no later than Nov. 28th.

Conflict in the Digital Age

     With the recent killing of Moammar Gaddafi, this subject seems almost perfect.

     Conflict is viewed by the public much more easily than once before. And with the continuing widespread use of all electronic media devices and social networking sites, it’s only getting easier. It’s scary to get on YouTube and know that if I wanted to see exactly how Moammar Gaddafi died, I could.

     It resembles the time of the Salem Witch Trials; when it was humane and normal to willingly watch such acts of violence. They would burn accused witches at stake, or force them to drown. Aren’t we all human? Is allowing this kind of torture to be largely seen or televised is wrong, or right?

     The question is as old as war itself. Since the Revolutionary War, individuals have been documenting war activities. From sketching and drawing to pointing and shooting, people are fascinated with seeing the woes of war; without actually having to witness any violence themselves.

     The war on images may also be viewed quite differently. The digital age makes photo-sharing more possible, enabling easier copyright and trademark violations by users. The ease and availability of the Internet leaves the uninformed user vulnerable.

     There is another way that virtual image-sharing has actually been a benefit. Through social media sites, not-for-profit agencies and goodwill organizations have been able to share images of traumatic or special events to help rally public support for the cause.

     “Today society is plagued with hyper-individualism that is exasperated by social media sites, but do they have the potential to be more than just spaces that promote consumerism and cultural hegemony?” (Quote taken from: mediate.com/articles/kingm1.cfm)

     I believe they do. Social media sites also provide an outlet, for an otherwise frustrated world. They allow us to share our interests and with the whole world as the setting, the numbers get pretty interesting. Again, according to the article: mediate.com/articles/kingm1.cfm; “They (social networking sites) have millions of members worldwide, “81% of members of online communities use the Internet to participate in social causes, up from 75% in 2007, finds a survey by the Center for the Digital Future at University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication."

     Any way you look at it, social media and file-sharing sites aren’t going away. Whether we decide to embrace them or hate them is up to us. They’re used in so many ways; I think it all passes over our heads. What is interesting is to reflect on what the article also suggests, “Just imagine how Dr. Martin Luther King or Cesar Chavez would have utilized Facebook…”