FInal Blog Post

 As someone who is an avid user of social media, this semester really opened my eyes to the terrifying side of not only social media but technology in general. I thought I had some privacy online but I was very naive to all the issues with privacy that our world has at the current moment. This was major when Facebook was taken to court in how they compromised user privacy. Mark Zuckerberg got up and was shocked and nervous as they presented facts and evidence that was found against his company that he founded. Many were outraged by the way Mark Zuckerberg conducted the hearing regarding the privacy issue. I was outraged by the way he acted and blew everything off as if it wasn’t a big deal. He should have been charged criminally with what he committed with Facebook in my opinion. But this isn’t really the worst piece in all of the big tech committing crimes, google is at the forefront of all of this. They have been despicable in the way they sell information to third parties about me and all their other users. Google is also big buddies with Apple when it comes to compromising user privacy. This was one of the worst things I found out during the semester. I found out that a product that I use everyday and that I heavily rely on is taking away my privacy. This is the main reason I see ads that are tailored to my interests and likes. This also is creepy from the standpoint where I have spoken about a particular event or product and then later in the day, the ads are coming up on my phone and computer. James Franco was not kidding when he said he was whispering because Mark Zuckerbe

rg was listening to him. While this has been a concern being privacy on the internet and social media, a bigger concern is the effect it has on your mental health especially for young people. As someone who is 19 years old and has battled mental health struggles, social media has become overwhelming at times. Social media has become a constant comparison of looks, money and status as a whole. There are many teens and my own friends that I have talked with about this topic as well. I have wanted validation through social media. Whether it was wanting to get likes on a particular picture or wanting a certain number of followers. I then realized recently that none of that matters. Your worth as a person is not based on your followers, number of views on your story and the number of likes you get on a photo. This is something that I had to face and I decided to use social media less and as a result, I was much happier. I also stopped the terrible habit of comparing myself to others and my own aspirations with someone else’s. Social media and technology can be a great thing but at the end of the day, social media is not reality and technology is not private, ever.  

EOTO #2

 Net neutrality has become a hot topic in the tech industry over the last 5 to 10 years with its controversy. There was a huge discussion about the net neutrality getting repealed and how that caused so much anger and confusion among the average american. At the time, I was simply just confused on what net neutrality even was and how it affected both my life and lifestyle as a whole. Net neutrality is that internet users are not to be discriminated against based on how much they pay for their internet service and that it essentially makes the users equal. This has been proven to be false with different electronic devices slowing users down. There have also been problems with different network providers for internet and cell phone service as well. This causes problems between the users and their income level. As someone who agrees with the act, people should have access to internet access regardless of the service and plan they purchase. Unfortunately, this has not been the case which is why it was almost repealed at one point in November of 2017. This was a major step in the controversy as I had mentioned earlier. Net Neutrality is a major issue in this case and the big tech companies like Google and Apple are to blame. Apple has been known to slow connection speeds for specific and certain kinds of users. Google has never been in the clear either when it comes to these types of issues as they have contributed similarly like Apple has as well. 

Eight Value of Free Expression

 The eight values of free expression are extremely crucial for the first amendment rights. The value of free speech is critical for a society that tends to censor and silence other controversial opinions in our case. There are certain things in our society that should be censored in my opinion. I find it far too often that society tends to censor opinions that are not hateful but they just don’t agree with. A major example of this is google and facebook censoring their content. Big tech companies tend to censor and drive out the opinions they don’t want nor agree with. This is a major violation of one’s first amendment and freedom of expression rights in this case. The major social media companies such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter tend to censor conservative content. This is a violation of their own community guidelines and I have a major issue with that. The most important freedom in my opinion that comes from the first amendment is freedom of expression. Without the freedom of expression, we would be in a communist regime and dictatorship like the Chinese government or North Korea for that matter. These are examples of very little fundamental and basic freedoms like freedom of expression. If you were to speak out in one of these countries about how you disagree with their government system, you are thrown in jail. The beauty of our country is that we believe in our system and our own freedom of expression that other countries don’t enjoy. 

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter has become a major movement throughout the country and has been a major influence on the issue of police brutality. As a country, we understand what the movement has become but we may not all know how it began. It started when Trayvon Martin was killed by police officer George Zimmerman. This happened as a result of racial bias on George Zimmerman’s part. This unjust killing made a huge impact on our country as a whole. There was panic, anger and frustration that was in the streets for a significant amount of time. That’s when the Black Lives Matter movement was formed in this case. This did not divide the country as much as it did unite it in the sense of fighting for equality. Race relations have been a tough topic and unfortunately they are no different now. My friends from high school has faced discrimination from police officers and has been cussed out for protesting. The moment that made me greatly distraught was when it happened to my own friends and teammates that I care deeply about. As a country, race relations must become better and I think the best way to solve it is by having a conversation. The main claim I am trying to find is why are Black people subject to police brutality more than other races. Law enforcement is important for a safe community and law is needed to keep people safe. However, when there is a system that has routinely discriminated against Black people it is institutional racism. The police force has implicit bias when it comes to Black people.

Living in the Age of AI

 The age of AI is both fascinating and exciting at the same time. I think the idea of being able to prevent online identity theft and catching criminal activity is a positive. This has allowed us to stop terrorists and stop terror attacks from happening. I think this has to be seen as a huge plus for the world we live in currently. It also is helpful to unlock your bank account with your face and your fingerprint. This can help prevent someone from hacking into your bank account. It can also prevent someone from hacking into your phone and social media accounts as well. This can be incredibly beneficial for security purposes all around. The terrifying part is how companies and China can abuse this information collected on you. China has taken the face technology and has used it to track and stalk their citizens essentially. Which is an invasion of privacy and they claim they do it to track criminals. They collect data on your online search history as well. My problem with all of this is that Google literally does the same thing as China in that regard. That’s why this is an issue in my opinion and it’s an invasion of privacy. At what point does protecting national security and personal privacy conflict? This is something that I have pondered for quite a while now. This is something that I want the tech companies to change and they have to be held accountable for their actions in this instance. AI has both its pros and cons but there needs to be less information collected on other people. 

The Progressive Era

 I think the reason many of these sites are silenced is because war makes money. War is seen as good in our country, it’s something the United States wants to be involved in. The politicians in our country preach about being peaceful but are they? They know war is good for our economy and if the US wins a war there is praise. George Bush left the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for longer than they needed to be in my opinion. It caused problems as a result of this for our troops and our relations with that country. The first amendment should still protect anti war rhetoric even if most people don’t agree with it. Whatever happened to all speech should be protected? Is this just a suggestion or something we take to heart? It should not be speech that most people agree with that should be protected. It is amazing that people were thrown in jail for expressing their opinions about the war in the World War I era. While there has been progression from there, but there has been anti war doctrine that has been basically silenced. There is censorship across the web for opinions they don’t agree with which is wrong. The United States still has many war operations across the globe and therefore it’s affected free speech for anti war rhetoric. This is a major problem and needs to be stopped in my opinion. Opinions are opinions at the end of the day and they should not be censored in any way. 

EOTO Presentations

 A major technology I learned more about from the presentations from EOTO was Facebook and Google. Google was created as one of the first major search engines. It gives an abundance of information right at your keyboard. This also made it very convenient to find news stories and entertainment news. With this there became information overload with the product. There are many fake news sites on google and sometimes they can be there on the first page as well. There are many positives with google but there are negatives that come with it. They also do not take user privacy as seriously as they should. There have been instances where Google will share your search history with the FBI, CIA and other agencies in the United States. This is a major problem that many people have with the company and the search engine. They also sell your personal information such as your email and other information to third parties and other companies. This is why many people have junk emails with companies that they aren’t interested in. Facebook is another major technology that I learned about in the presentations. It started with Mark Zuckerburg but it was only available to college students. It eventually grew past that stage and it was a major breakthrough for social media. It allows you to share pictures and write public messages. A major issue with the company was that the CEO revealed they had breached privacy. This led to lawsuits and Mark Zuckerburg having to testify in court.