The Price of Connectivity: Privacy, Online & Off

 

    No one knows us better, most of mankind couldn't function without it, we trust it with our most personal information. This type of diction might indicate that I am speaking of a person, however, the "thing" we are discussing is the internet. The World Wide Web has been in use since the early 90's but the idea of keeping an "identity score" has been around since the time of the second world war. The idea that we as humans are being tracked for our every move, our every search, for the places we visit, and the ones we love. Online privacy has come under scrutiny over the past decade for its lack of transparency in the ways the devices, apps, and browsers we trust have collected data points on its users. These services have been collecting pieces to a puzzle about our lives and now know our personalities, families, and goals for the future. 

    On individual and societal levels these safety concerns affect all aspects of the community chain. Several decades ago, internet security was not a problem because it was never as heavily intertwined into our lives, as it is today. The issue was primarily furthered by the invention of Apples iPhone in 2007. This marked the start of the pocket supper computer. Since most of society today uses their smartphone for every aspect of their lives, it allows the devices services to create a permanent tattoo of the person you are.

    When society is trusting sensitive personal information with site operators, the need for strict internet security is ever more crucial. In June of 2021, the professional networking giant LinkedIn was scraped for its personal identifiable data by hacker with the screen name "God User". This individual posted 90% of the platform's user base on a dark web forum. The personal identifiable information exposed included phone numbers, emails, geolocation records, and genders. This breach gave additional hackers a tremendous amount of data to pull from in order to conduct additional fraudulent acts. LinkedIn was not alone; these types of data breaches have happened to almost all social and professional services. This means hundreds of millions of U.S. residents are affected by internet hackers, data breaches, and lack of proper storage of personal information on the web each year.

    With so many data related issues compromising the security of the users each year, the call for sweeping changes to internet privacy regulations have never been louder. Citizens around the world are calling for tech companies to not store or better safeguard the information generated by each user so that no data breach can inflect such serious harm. Such changes will require governmental action to take shape as laws must be passed in order for the most powerful and cunning organizations to comply. While this type of affirmative action will take time, we, as the user do have the capability to protect parts of our digital lives. One simple step each individual can take is to "reject the cookies" on each website they visit. This click of a button will prevent websites and apps from placing small pieces of malware, on your device and tracking your movements across browsing tabs.

    While nothing will keep all of your personal data safe on the internet until companies are forbidden from storing it. The diligence in attempting to protect yourself goes a long way in your personal fight for internet welfare.  

AntiWar Voices in America

 

    Growing up in American schools, it was mundane to hear about the most recent American troop movements or troop confrontations abroad, in our history classes. It was never discussed that we are at "war" with any nations, rather that our troops are fighting for the freedoms of the American people. No teacher ever described our troop movements or actions as a negative either, instead telling the class that international conflicts bring work and industry to Americans in order to provide the materials necessary for battle. This misconception shaped the lives of our earliest teachers who then passed that information off onto my generation over 20 years later. This false narrative stems from decades of government interest in war. 

     When the US government declares they are at war with any nation or group across the globe, the powers that are now at their disposal are considerably more powerful than our founding fathers ever intended for each branch of government to be. When in wartime, the Executive Branch has the power to deploy troops under the War Powers Resolution, without the approval of congress. This gives the government enhanced surveillance privileges both domestically and abroad. The NSA, FBI, and CIA now have the power to monitor threats and gather intelligence with few limitations. This is often seen as a backdoor for the US government to encroach on its citizens privacy and the information they hold close. Wartime powers even reach into the restriction of foundational civil liberties like that of freedoms of speech, press, and assembly. The government and its agencies can now monitor and regulate groups which it deems to be a threat to international security. Just the addition of these three powers is enough to give the US government a much wider look into the lives of its citizens. The increased powers protect government interests and prevent unseen political weapons from arising without prior government knowledge. The interests of the government have colluded with the ways we educate Americans for the past 80 years, causing rapid misconceptions on the true nature of wars on our nation. 

    In today's mainstream media, the broadcasts we often hear explain the "wars" America is in, but never focus on the broad opposition many Americans feel or the negatives it brings along. When first hearing about websites like ANTIWAR.COM and The American Conservative (TAC) it is not surprising that I have never heard of them before. Even after searching "stop war" into Google, these sites don't appear for several pages based on Google's search optimization. The voices of these writers are a strong contrast to both sides of the aisle's views on war. The authors depict war as a recession starting legal manslaughter. Both sites claim to be speaking on what is right for America, not what suits one political party over another. This type of language can pose a threat to American politicians who often act in ways that is not solely the best for our nation, rather for their presidential candidate and their political party. 

    Since it has been known that Google's search engine is highly filtered, aligning with governmental interests. It is now apparent why these sites are buried under hundreds of less strait forward, antiwar voices. Since most Americans will not seek out obscure websites to gain various news perspectives, keeping these sites off the first page of a Google search is a considerable course of action to keep their content from Americans, who are looking for convenient news. If Americans cannot find these sources of news, they will simply never hear about them, as mainstream news sources would never attempt such objections. To be as blunt as the authors of the articles posted on ANTIWAR and TAC requires a publication that does not fear censorship as mainstream news sources do, as the hidden government contracts the big sources hold provide substantial revenue to their bottom line.

    Either way Americans fall on their opinions of war, they deserve to be shown the most unfiltered news. News that does not put the desires of the government before the truth and the opinions of the masses. News that our founding fathers would have been proud to read, that discusses all avenues of disagreement and allows the people to make their opinions up for themselves. 

Communication Technologies - What I learned about YouTube

   

    While Valentine's Day is a day know for love and adoration, in the year 2005 the world was given a very different expression of love. February 14th, 2005, Steve Chen, Jawed Karim, and Chad Hurley released their labor of love, a video streaming platform, YouTube. As the brainchild of three former PayPal employees, YouTube was designed as its name states, with "you" the user in mind. The platform highlights its consumer on both ends of the platform's purpose, with the consumer uploading their own videos and viewing those of others. This was the first time the world had seen a video streaming service and especially one which the user has control over both the content uploaded to the site and the content available to all users. 

    In the months following its official launch in December of 2005, the platform was experiencing about 2 million video views each day. This level of public interaction with the platform brought the company to societies main stage. People were using YouTube, people were talking about YouTube, and people were learning from YouTube. When its founders were searching for the main goals of the platform they knew they wanted global collaboration of content, but they never expected the boom that would follow.

    After mounting success for the young company in 2005 and 2006, internet giant, Google took interest. With a current valuation of 1.65 billion, Google purchased YouTube from the three founders with the hope of taking a foothold into a region of the internet they had not yet been able to gain traction in, the video sharing side. When Google acquired the startup, YouTube was losing money annually as the main corporate trajectory was to gain users and viewers with less of a financial focus. In the years following the acquisition, Google introduced advertisements within the streaming service. In August of 2007 the first ads were introduced with the buyers being Fox, The Simpsons Movie, BMW, and Hairspray. These 2 years marked the start of YouTubes profitability, which has led to its almost 200 billion dollar evaluation today. The interest from the ad purchasers was that they could create ads from a range of industries that would appeal to the likes of all user demographics, as the platform began to see some of the youngest and oldest in mankind viewing their content.

    Looking back, YouTube has changed global society. What started out with the concept of video online dating, with influence from the website Hot or Not turned into one of the world's first portals of communication. The YouTuber is born! The first YouTuber, co-founder Jawed Karim posted, "Me at the Zoo" on April 23, 2005. As video capabilities have been enhanced, we have seen the rise of content creators like Mr.Breast and DudePerfect. These creators have been able to make a considerable amount of money by way of ad and product deals that was previously only reserved for A class celebrity income.  

    YouTube has transformed the ways everyone, no matter socioeconomic status nor geographical region can learn, share, and experience. The platforms free nature allows for those who cannot afford high ticket streaming services to enjoy a laugh over a funny video and entertain themselves for the simple price of a several second advertisement. This type of accessibility has powered educators and pros to post content onto the platform, encouraging the best form of public information sharing. This has become essential for every DIYer and math student alike, as the free unfiltered assistance makes all the difference. The new experiences YouTube has given mankind can only be compared to the early 20th century when the radio was first introduced. The radio and YouTube both instantaneously connect its user with the world around them as they immerse the user's senses in the information at hand and connect individuals' oceans apart, like never before.

Communication Technology - The Radio

     In a time when communication took days, an invention that bridged the communication gap changed the lives Americans. In 1885 Germany, Heinrich Hertz proved the existence of radio waves through the use of an induction coil. Hertz attached a spark gap to an induction coil, and a separate spark gap to a receiving antenna. As waves were created by the spark gap attached to the coil, small sparks were shows to be "jumping" as waves were received by the antenna. This simple homemade experiment proved to Hertz that radio waves were indeed real and could be transmitted. As his discovery revolutionized communication across the world, the frequency Hertz discovered was accredited with is name. In the time from then until the early 20th century and the use of Nikola Tesla's Tesla Coil, radios were able to be mass produced.

    Before the radio was invented, news our nation was seeking to spread had to be communicated via face-to-face conversations, print messages, and even telegraph messages. These means of communication worked well for their time but had many limitations to their use. Face to face communication worked wonderfully in areas of close proximity to the news source but was limited to the radius those individuals could travel. At the time, print communications were the most popular means of message dissemination, as they provided detailed and accurate transmissions. The drawback came as the mode at which they traveled took days. Telegrams required the least amount of effort but took at least a day for a message to travel from New York to Los Angeles, depending on density of current telegraph communication. These messages were often lack luster as many details were omitted. Before the radio, when news left its source it took hours to days for that news to reach its destination. The time passing as the news traveled proved to be incredibly inefficient in the evolving world. 

     By 1906, the radio had made its way to American society. On Christmas Eve of that year, Reginald Fessenden makes the first radio transmission of both voice and sound. Fessenden preformed an on-air concert to the ships of the United Fruit Company who sailed off the cost of his Brant Rock Massachusetts broadcasting tower. Just a few short days after Fessenden performed his historic on-air concert the radio was further improved upon with the development of the audion vacuum tube. This glass tube, created by Lee De Forest allowed for the transmission of radio waves across any distance, with no limitation as long as its means of transmission ended at an accepting antenna. This addition to the radio solved the limitation of a mile in transmission distance as well as allowed for the instantaneous message transmission our advancing nation required. 

    In the years following 1906, the radio was fully incorporated into American society. By 1920, most towns and cities across the nation had both public and private radios. This allowed for the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Corporation, known by the callsign KDKA, to transmit the results of the presidential election live to all of America. On November 2nd, 1920, KDKA's Leo Rosenberg was heard across America sharing with all Americans that Warren G. Harding has won the White House over opponent James Cox. This marked the first time in history that all Americans could hear the same news at the same time. This created a shared sense of pride in America as everyone could hear Rosenberg's 18-hour live broadcast. His broadcast not only brought the information directly from the source to its audience, but the radio did so in a speed never before seen. A little over 10 years later, starting in 1933 and taking place until 1944, US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) conducted his messages to the American people over radio, these speeches were dubbed the Fireside Chats. The radio gave this US president the first ever opportunity to speak candidly to the American people. Having a radio in your home gave FDR a foothold into your everyday life and listening to any of his 30 speeches calmed the nerves of Americans across the nation during some of America's darkest hours. 

    Americas emersion into the possibilities of the radio revolutionized the shared experiences citizens had the privilege of experiencing. No matter the age, when the radio came on people gathered. It became the everyday man's eyes into the world, the central source of accurate, detailed, and reliable information. One

of the greatest benefits of the radio was its ability to actively prevent the spread of disinformation. This was common in the days of person-to-person communication as it was a game of telephone but the radio served as its permanent solution. The newly informed America pulled its citizens into the daily occurrences from around the world, it created political and social awareness not possible before this type of mass communication. The radio transformed the American way, closing its knowledge gap and advancing its citizens for decades to come.