Below find the prompt for e-journal #10, due Tuesday 11/9.
After reading Braden, consider any lines of thought presented in the following prompt when responding: Many would argue that the Internet is merely another window through which the public may be spied upon by “big government” or by secret agencies. Do you feel that Braden and Westlake share a similar argument regarding this issue? According to these authors, and in your opinion, what are the weakest points (literally, sites) of the Internet? What are some potential results of the Internet’s ability to replicate and publish information? Do you feel that you participate in citizen-surveillance? Do you contribute to content on the web? If so, what kind? What of the Internet are you most wary about? Use at least two, properly cited textual examples in your response.
Both Braden and Westlake agree that people on the Internet will be kept under surveillance by systems like the government. In Braden’s essay he states that “Edits to [Wikipedia] ranged from those preserving corporate image [….] to more disturbing modifications […] CIA amending estimates of the casualties of the war in Iraq” (3). With information becoming more public companies try to change facts to satisfy their needs. If technology continues to advance in this direction then history can end up being a fabricated lie to suit the government or any system running a nation. In Friend Me If You Facebook Westlake says “The internet as a phenomenon [that] easily falls under the panoptic gaze”(34). He explains that the Internet can easily make you feel as though you are being watched, so in a way you are going to police yourself according to your government’s laws. I believe that I do participate in citizen surveillance since I have a Facebook account but I do not contribute to the web. I have never blogged or added anything to Wikipedia. I am wary about sources online since you can never be to sure whether it is the real truth or not.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of us spend our time on the internet, on social networking sites like facebook, myspace, twitter, and so much more. We share personal information without thinking about who can see it.
ReplyDeleteIn E.J Westlake article “Friend Me if You Facebook” and Braden “Is The Internet The Harbinger Of Orwell’s Nightmares?” they both argue that the lives of network users are being spied on by the government and secret agent. In Westlake article she emphasize the display of personal information on face book for example “I read time-stamped list of who had friended whom, who changed profile picture, who had written on other people’s Walls and what they wrote, and who had posted new photographs, joined or left a new group, started dating, broken up, written a public note, or altered their lists of favorite books and movies”. Facebook has let people share personal information with the world and the information maybe be exposed to government or secret agent. Many people post information on face book without thinking about how public it might be. I can even say I do it without thinking about how private it might be. Even though on face book you have the option of setting your page private there is a chance someone that you don’t want to see it can. In Braden article he stated “ with such close ties to the government intelligence agency, it is no wonder that many people are so suspicious of face book, but the dangers of privacy violations may lie elsewhere” most jobs search the web to see who they are hiring and face book is one of the sites they look into. I actually do participate on citizen-surveillance. I spend a lot of time on face book looking at family and friends pages leaving comments and so much more.
I feel that the internet like television, a merely tools which can be very useful to an individuals everyday life but I can not deny the fact that, like with everything, in the world corruption seeps through and causes problems. I believe both authors Braden and Westlake write about how even thou the internet is suppose to be this open space in which people should freely share and create information, government, big business, and or other people are takeover and trying to watch over the public and limit and or manipulate or ideas/emotions. In Westlake article he mostly dives into the issues of privacy and how it lost when one chooses to involve themselves in social internet interactions. The author Westlake recalls feeling " a little strange knowing that my every move [...] would be seen" which if we take time to reflect on this sensation the fact of privacy invasion becomes more daunting (22). With all this access to one's person the internet can be "indubitably a tool [...] used by corrupt regimes"(Braden 6). Human beings hold freedom of speech so very close to their heart because it is part of what makes us unique creatures that when restrictions are place with no proper rational the very thing that makes us special is being striped.
ReplyDeletePeter Braden feels the internet is an aiding medium to the government’s access to the publics’ personal information. Braden, when talking about the surveillance of the average citizen, states, “… it is computers and the internet that pose the greatest threat in today’s society” (pg. 4). Braden believes the internet helps the government and other secret agencies obtain information about the public. And E.J. Westlake would agree would Braden’s belief. Westlake states in his own article, “The government has actively pursued customer records from internet providers and telecommunication companies” (pg 32). Both authors agree the internet makes it possible to be spied upon by the government. They also agree that social networking cites, specifically myspace and facebook, provide an excessive amount of personal information onto the internet. The ability for other people to attain this information online is disturbing. “It is probable that intelligence agencies use information from such social networking tools in profiling and it cannot be long before advertisers start scraping up the data for their own use” (pg 4 Braden). If this information was attained by unwanted people it can lead to stalking or other unwanted attention. Employers can reach this private information and use it to assist there opinion on a person without them knowing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, many people still offer their information on the web. I have provided my own information onto the internet when creating my facebook account. I gave personal information, including my birthday, my hometown, and the school I attend. Although I have given this information willingly I am still wary about my behavior on facebook. I consider what I publish on facebook either in general or to any specific person.
In this day, the internet has become a kind of a world of its own. People can do things they do in their real lives on the internet like making friends and other forms of socialization. Apart from that, people that is with bad intentions can take advantage of this opportunity and break rules even acts of terrorism. In Bradens article "Is the internet the Harbinger of Orwens nightmare" he mentions how the government surveys the privacy of all internet users. with me so far as we get protection, it doesnt matter who surveys my perivacy unless you have something to hide.
ReplyDeleteThe internet today is used for many different purposes and is there for a range of age groups, from the young to the old. Social networking, gaming, and even the news are all apart of what we call the world wide web. Some of the most weakest point in the internet I would think to be are the social networking sites. I believe thaat since everyone is posting, tweeting, or updating that there is a certain amount of privacy that is being given up in the process, whether it be to your friends or to a complete stranger looking to make friends. People who use the internet are most likely the ones contributing to the content which is placed there.
ReplyDeletePeter Braden and E.J Wakefield do share the same argumente that the internet is another window in which the public can be spied on by the government. Wakefield says in his article that " given the kind of access both the government and stalkers have personal information available on social networking sites."(wakefield,32)By this statement wakefield agrees with Braden. Braden ays " private internet access will be virtually impossible in the U.K."(Braden,5) The authors and I believe that the weakest points in sites like facebook would be where absolutely everybody can see everything one does on the site. It just shows that we are not allowed to have privacy. some potential results of the internet's ability to replicate and publish information is that privacy would be impossible. Almost everyone would have access to one's personal information. I do believe that I have participated in citizen serveillence, for the simple fact that I am a user of facebook and as we can recall facebook has a newsfeed where one can view what our friends do. I myself do not contribute to the web and I am wary about websites with unaccurate information.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Braden and Westlake share a similiar arguement about the effects of social networking sites and privacy. Braden however includes a much broader arguement, including the internet privacy as a whole and not just limited to social networking sites. Acccording to Braden one of the weakest points on the internet is the ability to change and edit content posted on the web, He goes on to state that " A major problem, however, is that whilst much of the information in the encyclopedia is accurate, fraduelent edits are commonplace, resulting in the confusion over the accuracy of data"(Braden,3). Westlake tackles the issue of too much public knowledge on social networking site via Facebook's new feed. She points out weaknesses in the ability to have the public know your everymove and having it broadcast. Westlake states " The news feed controversy is a flashpoint for the users' threshold of discomfort with the availability of personal information onn the internet" (Westlake,33). The ability to replicate and publish content has resulted in Colberts coining of the term Wikiality, which explains how fiction can become fact and vice versa if a person simply wills a change and encourage/ convinces the masses of its validity.
ReplyDeleteIn this current day and age I do feel that most everybody contributes to citizen survailance with constant updates and posting of photos on social networking sites. It allows for strangers to monitor your behavior your likes and dislikes and your actions because of what we choose to share. It is a bit daunting, although I can choose what to share and what not to share, other users can still post pictures of me without my permission of make reference to me without my knowledge. I am very wary of the level of privacy that is allowed or shared via the internet, at times I am tempted to completely unplug, but this is not really an option given the day and age we are in. The internet is the future and it is not going anywhere.
In the article “Friend Me if You Facebook” and “Is The Internet The harbinger Of Orwell’s nightmares?” both author Westlake and Braden agree that many network users’ life has become public. It is true that the internet is merely another window through which the general public is being surveyed by government and secret agent. Many people share their personal information on internet without thinking about their privacy, hazard and who will see their personal data. In Braden and Westlake’s articles, they both agree that lives of network users are being spied on by the government and secret agent. In Braden’s article, he states that “In 1984, one of the chief methods of controlling the population was the constant surveillance of every citizen- the fear that they were being watched enslaved the population into the servitude of Big Brother"(Braden 4). The society that we live in right now is full of surveillance. As Braden argues that “privacy life came to the end” (Braden 4), the government, secret agent and even enterprise are spying and gathering people’s personal information. Especially when people visit network sites such as Facebook and MySpace, they may be spied immediately by all types of organizations. About the concept of surveillance, Westlake shares the similar argument with Braden regarding this topic. Westlake states in his article that “at the same time, the Patriot Act has opened the door for the Federal Government to uses the internet for intelligence gathering. The government has actively pursued customer records from internet provides and telecommunication companies”. After 9/11, the congress passed the Patriot Act into law for protecting citizens from terrorism. This would be the perfect excuse for government to have surveillance on people’s web using without owner’s permission. Because of the threat of terrorism, the government had reason to spy people’s lives on internet. Even the companies would do the background check one new employees before hiring them and they often include an examination of the employees Facebook profile.
ReplyDeleteAs Braden states that “privacy life came to the end”, I try to avoid visit any types of net site too often. I do contribute to content on the network. I have Facebook and MySpace accounts, but I haven’t used them for a long period of time. First of all, I think it is wasting time to visit these net sites. Second, I feel hazardous when I provide too much personal date to Facebook and MySpace. In addition, I am wary from spyware when I access internet. I feel like people are watching me and stealing my profile without my permission. Therefore, I do feel that I participate in citizen-surveillance when I log in to MySpace and Facebook account. Most important of all, I am more wary about the viruses and the hackers, because I would be sure how much damages I would receive in my computer and network when I visit MySpace and Facebook.
The term "Big Brother is watching you"(Braden 1), is the direct reflection of the governmental watch of internet activities by millions of people that use the internet daily. The internet has developed into the everyday source of people's lives. As the two articles of "Friend Me If You Facebook" by Westlake and "Is the Internet the Harbinger of Orwell's Nightmares" by Braden explain the internet is a global society whiose infrastructure is determined by the overseers and hierarchy of the internet world. this hierachy would be defined as the web developers and government. The governmental control of the web lies within the Panopticon as decribed in Westlake introduction, he states, "The concept of masked power such as the U.S. giovernment watching, or potentially watching, the content of electronic communication, operates on the bodies who perform throught the internet." Whereby we understand that the governmental watch not only affectS the individuals but the individuals that are surrounding each other due to the idea of panopticonism.
ReplyDeleteBraden and Westlake share a similar argument regarding the issue of the internet being another window through which the public may be spied upon by “big government” or by secret agencies. Braden and Westlake share what they believe to be very weak points of the Internet. From what I have read, the weakest point of the internet according to Braden is its failure to have any kind of privacy. He says, “While an estimated 300 CCTV cameras watch the movements of the average British citizen daily [15], it is computers and the internet that pose the greatest threat in today’s society" (4). He also backs that up by talking about Facebook saying "Over 60 million users sharing pictures, messages and interests on the site it is an advertisers dream" (4). The Internet gives a lot of access to what people do, especially in social networks like Facebook and with everyone sharing their personal info on a public website; you will never know who has access to it. From what I have read in Westlake's text, her weakest point of the Internet is that information could possibly be available for state surveillance. She also talks about social websites like Facebook and MySpace. She says, “Given the kind of access both the government and stalkers have to personal information available on social networking sites, one could conclude that Facebook users are both exhibiting themselves in risky ways that are open to predators and showing a clear disregard for government intrusion." Not only does she blame the Internet but she also blames the users of these social sites because they display their personal information with complete disregard to who could see it. Knowing the amount of access government and stalkers can possibly have on the internet, we should be cautious of what we display. I believe that I participate in citizen surveillance because there was a time when someone hacked onto my Face book and sent out a bunch of spam to almost all of my friends and it was really weird because the hacker seemed to have known exactly what those people's relations were to me. For example, whenever the hacker wrote on my cousins wall, they would say "hey cuz" and I don't remember putting on Face book who my cousins are. The only social site I go on is Face book but my page is private to whoever I am not friends with and I only add people I know but now I know that not even setting my information to private can for sure make it private. .
ReplyDeleteI think the internet is a very sourceful device which can be used in a way to find useful and important informations, but like most other technologies ever made, if used wrong it can turn out to be a dangerous and manipulative device. In both article "Friend me if your Facebook" and "Is the internet the Harbinger of Orwell's Nghtmares?" by E.j. Westlake and Peter Braden, they both in their own way talk about how social networks on he internet can somehow secretively violate our privacy.
ReplyDeleteIn Westlake's article he mostly talks about how in facebook we can be survailianced, " a little strange knowing that my every move [...] would be seen" meaning every post or new change made to your profile will be seen by others so in some way you are more aware and careful of the things you post up.
The author Braden argued in his article that the government is sort of like our big brother, watches our every move stating "With [...] facebook's close ties to the government intelligence agency, it is no wonder that many people are so suspicious." also how "before hiring new employees, many companies do a bakground check on their internet presence which can often include an examination of their Facebook profile." he was using those quotes to back-up his ideas.
The trend for mostly teenagers is TV, cell phones, and Facebook. These outlets allow us to share personal information for practically anyone to see. According to the articles, “Is the Internet the Harbinger of Orwell’s Nightmares?” by Peter Braden and “Friend Me if You Facebook” by E.J. Westlake both a similar argument regarding this issue. In ways such as privacy isn’t really private, for example government uses. In Westlake’s article she argues about this topic by stating, “internet has changed the way we read text […] reading the web involves more than traveling to read text” (25). Westlake believes the internet is making everything public and easy to be accessed. Braden emphasizes on this topic stating, “As society relies more and more on the internet for communication […] technologies will lead to the breakdown of privacy and freedom of expression,” meaning that if this continues, it will cause “destruction” (1). Both authors discuss how social networks and the internet can one way or another violates ones privacy. I personally use Facebook and share not so private information. Many don’t realize the amount of information one publishes can potentially harm someone. Dangers such as stalking or harassment are weaknesses of the internet and personal publication. In a sense I believe that the government does citizen-surveillance, weather it is screening calls or camera it invades in ones privacy.
ReplyDeleteThe internet’s potential to replicate and publish information is quite scary in the aspect of how quickly it can spread. This is shown in Braden’s article,
ReplyDelete“AACS encryption key fiasco where the MPAA tried to censor one of the 128 bit keys for Blu-Ray and HD DVD encryption […] the forum containing the key leveraged the power of social networking sites such as Digg.com to spread the number across the web until it was published on over 400,000 websites.” (5)
In the time that the MPAA took to try and remove the key from the website it had already spread to 400,000 websites. The power the internet provides small web publishers is immense in that the information they publish can spread so quickly from one site to another and thus provides them with the ability to stand up to large corporations.
I would say no I do not participate in citizen-surveillance or that I never had the cause to do it. There have not been any content on the internet that I felt necessary to report. When it comes to contributing content to the web I hardly do so, especially personal information. I feel that if someone wishes to find out anything about me personally they can ask me, but even then I am cautious because it depends on my relationship with that person. Also the information you provide about yourself on sites such as Facebook maybe harmful depending on what you may have up. “It is now known that before hiring new employees, many companies do a background check on their internet presence which can often include an examination of their Facebook profile” (Braden, 4). This quote is precisely why people should be wary of the content they provide on the web because it may not only be potential employers monitoring your web access.
Many would argue that the Internet is merely another window through which the public may be spied upon by “big government” or by secret agencies. Do you feel that Braden and Westlake share a similar argument regarding this issue? According to these authors, and in your opinion, what are the weakest points (literally, sites) of the Internet? What are some potential results of the Internet’s ability to replicate and publish information? Do you feel that you participate in citizen-surveillance? Do you contribute to content on the web? If so, what kind? What of the Internet are you most wary about? Use at least two, properly cited textual examples in your response.
ReplyDeleteBoth Westlake and Braden both agrue on the issue that internet is being used as another window throught the public. Baden states, " the use of this information by employers is a definite sign that such sites are being watched. ...agencies use information from such social networknig tools in profiling." it is clear many companies look through peole's facebooks to deteremine wether they would hire someone not. Your job is depended on based on your facebook. Weslake would agreee with Barden on this. Westlake stated, 'anyone may come and excercise in the central tower the functions of surveillance, and that, this being the case, he can gain a clear idea of the way in which surveillance is practiced.' Basically, we all have a right to privacy, however when it comes to internet we don't. Since internet was made peoples' privacy has been expressed to the government espically through facebook. Now we in a world where we have to use internet in order to function at a certain pace. yes, i follow along with this facebook trend, but im very careful of what i put on facebook for privacy reasons. However, i see many people who don't care what they have on facebook and they put up anything.
Both Braden and Westlake agree that the internet is invading our privacy. In Bradens article he stated, "While an estimated 300 CCTV cameras watch the movements of the average British citizen daily [15], it is computers and the internet that pose the greatest threat in today's society." Westlake also made a similar point in his article. He stated, I remember thinking that it was a bold move for Facebook, but I also remember feeling a little starnge knowing that my every move (well, almost every move) would be seen by all of my Facebook friends." This shows how invading the internet can be of our privacy. I beleive we all participate in citizen-surveillance by going on the internet. I contribute to content on the web everyday by logging in to Facebook and on Twitter and updating my status. The one thing that worries me about the Internet is how non secretive information is.
ReplyDeleteBraden and Westlake have similar arguments about the internet and how is the government privacy in between our freedom to express things. Braden's article show that "Is the internet the harbinger of orwens nightmare?". This illustrates that the government spied on us the users of internet. In the other hand, Westlake's article states that "internet has changed the way we read text". This meaning that now people are more able see what each have in their profiles and leaving aside privacy. Both articles tell us how privacy has influenced internet nowdays. While some people dont care what they put their social networks, thanks to these articles I will be more aware of what I put on my FB or Myspace.
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