Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality

- Pros and Cons 
The pros of Net Neutrality are: making information/knowledge free,not having to pay extra money to receive quicker/better service (everyone's service is the same for the same price), and having no restrictions on content on the Web.It also encourages the creation of new products/the willingness of people to try them out without the fear of being charged. Some people are supporters of Net Neutrality because they do not want to have to pay more money for the services they are already receiving now. They believe the system is not broken, so it doesn't have to be fixed. The cons of Net Neutrality/why some people are against it are: information that some deem to be inappropriate can not be blocked and people with commercial interests can not capitalize on the Internet. 

-Network Neutrality Related to Freedom of Speech
Network Neutrality is related to freedom of speech because without it, certain things on the Internet can be blocked. People can say whatever they want on the Internet, whether it is offensive or not. Without Network Neutrality, whatever is deemed unacceptable is hidden from public view, thus peoples' voices can't be heard. 

-How it Affects Me
The current news regarding Net Neutrality affects me because if it goes away, my life with technology will change drastically. If providers are able to give out access on their own terms, I could have to start to pay for things I now get to do for free. If I want fast service, good video quality on YouTube, or the current price and quality of Netflix to stay the same, it would cost me a lot of money that I just simply don't have. I feel as though I would have to cut out a lot of technology, and I would be moving backwards instead of forwards with all the progress technology has made. 

-My Stand
I support Network Neutrality. I, as a poor college student, obviously like not having to pay more money just to use YouTube or to watch Netflix. If Comcast wants to make a deal with Netflix and pay money to stop the degradation of videos, that is fine. However I do not want to do it.I also disagree with people blocking things on the Internet. Just because some people find something offensive, doesn't mean others will. I think everyone has the right to decide for themselves what they do or do not want to look at on the Internet. I really do not want to have to pay more money just so that my Internet will be quicker and have better quality. In college, being able to use the Internet quickly and effectively is so important. I feel as though without Network Neutrality, my life would have less technology and be far more difficult. 

-Other Links 
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/01/15/us-net-neutrality-ruling-explained-andrew-stevens.cnn.html

I generally find CNN to be a very credible site. In this video, the anchor states specific peoples' names from which he got the information from. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/02/17/we-people-response-reaffirming-white-houses-commitment-net-neutrality

This is a credible link because the response to this recent petition is made by two men, both with strong titles and assistants to the President. 

Social Media and Privacy

Reading this article was a huge wake up call to the implications of social media. Yes, I realize that in come cases, the pictures and videos of sexual assaults shared on the Internet created more witnesses to implicate the attacker. However, it also created more witnesses to the victim's pain, embarrassment, grief, etc. How is it right that the world can know what happened to an unconscious girl at a party before she even knows what happened to her herself? 

Social media is great for keeping in touch with people, but it is a shame that it is being used to publicly humiliate the victims of sexual assault, and to egg on their attackers. While these videos and photos create awareness for issues such as rape and bullying, there are better ways to raise awareness than using the humiliating evidence of an unwilling advocate's assault for the cause. A person might not have been physically involved in the attack, but by sharing the evidence, I think they are almost as bad as the physical attacker. No matter what their reasoning is for sharing the post, they are only worsening the victim's situation. When social media becomes involved in these situations, I think they become so much worse. They often end in suicide of the victim. It is bad enough having people you know comment on your life, but when strangers start to attack you through comments, a line is crossed. 

I Have Nothing to Hide...

I think whether or not a person thinks they have nothing to hide or not, they should be concerned about online privacy. Nowadays, people don't even realize how much information they post about themselves online. On Facebook, for example, lots of people provide their full name, birthday, and the town they live in. They also post pictures of themselves and others. Saying "I have nothing to hide" may be true in some ways. For instance, a person who has committed a crime might think that they have something to hide. People who have done no such thing feel safe to post whatever they want because they don't fear getting in trouble for anything. But everyone has something to hide. No one wants everyone in the world to know every little detail about their lives. Sometimes providing just those few bits of information I mentioned above is enough for someone to get their hands on more of you personal information, stalk you, or to give your information to more third parties. We should all be concerned that by posting every little detail about our lives that it could fall into the hands of the wrong people. Not all of your 1,000 friends on Facebook are truly your close friends. You have no idea what some people are capable of.

As for myself, I am concerned about online privacy to a certain extent. I'm not really worried about posting my birthday, where I attend school, or pictures on Facebook. However, it does sometimes cross my mind that information I post could fall into the hands of people I don't trust. When Instagram added to their Terms and Conditions that they could use your photos and give them to third parties, concern did cross my mind. I don't want to look up one day and see a picture of myself that I took to share with my friends and family on a billboard or online somewhere where I did not give permission for it to be used. We are young; we like to think that everyone in the world is good and no one is out to get us. My mom always says that our generation is naive when it comes to the Internet, and I am learning that she might be right.

Excited To Learn...

I am really hoping to take away some useful information from this class. I hope to learn more about the internet, social networking specifically. Social networking interests me because nowadays, everyone seems to place such a high importance on it. I hope to discuss the ethics of how people act on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.