Facebook Security Crisis Could Derail Social Nets

Found this article about Face book and Social networking site. It was very relevant to new media.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/11/facebook_securi.html;jsessionid=3SDT4YT0AUVV3QE1GHOSKH4ATMY32JVN?cid=nl_IW_daily_html
Posted by Alexander Wolfe, Nov 6, 2009 04:32 PM

And I didn’t even mention the constant “friend-request” harassment from people you’ve never met. (Ba Dum Bum!)

Seriously, though, it’s no wonder that many businesses are reluctant to allow employees to surf Facebook and LinkedIn at work. Probably these sites were blocked initially because of their time-wasting potential (and, in the case of YouTube, the unnecessary bandwidth usage). However, the security issues now running rampant on Facebook give enterprises a legitimate reason to demur.

Possibly LinkedIn sees fewer phishing attempts for the same reason that Apple’s Mac OS is supposedly safer than Windows. As in, it’s not necessarily more inherently impregnable, it’s just that it presents a smaller target to bad actors.

Anecdotally, even the casual Facebook user knows what I’m talking about:

Ray Willette

Week 14: Blog

The Comic reads “I remember when we came to the library to look for a book”

I read this comic in the Sunday paper. At first I didn’t think much about it, and then my thoughts went to new media. Lister discussed the fact that new media must be accepted by its culture. This comic addresses several issues involving culture. One is the fact, that technology has changed the print culture.  Next is the fact that new media  is more easily accepted by the younger generation. More and more we are seeing the media  embracing new technology.

AP – In this undated photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a 1965 Volkswagen van that was …

SPOKANE, Wash. – A Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Washington state has been found in a shipping container at the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.

Customs agents found the 1965 van on Oct. 19 when they opened a shipping container bound for The Netherlands, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported. They ran the vehicle identification number and discovered it was listed as stolen.

Law officers said the van, which is in great shape, was stolen from an upholstery shop in Spokane on July 12, 1974 — while Spokane was hosting the 1974 World’s Fair.

Authorities have not been able to find the original owner, whom they would not identify.

The operators of a vehicle restoration business in Arizona were the latest to have possession of the van, which they refurbished and planned to sell overseas, said Michael Maleta, an investigator with the California Highway Patrol. Maleta said the shop is also considered a victim in the case, and he declined to identify it.

The van now legally belongs to Allstate Insurance Co., which paid off the original owner’s theft claim back in 1974. The Highway Patrol turned over the van to Allstate this week.

Maleta said the van had been restored to pristine condition.

“Now it’s probably worth 27 grand,” he said. “It’s a beautiful van.”

Megan Brunet, a spokeswoman for Allstate, said the company is looking through old records trying to find the original policy and theft claim.

“Trying to find paper files from that far back can be pretty challenging,” she said.

The company will likely have the van appraised and go through the process of getting a replacement title before selling it at auction, she said.

Blog Week 10

RayWillette

When I was researching the correlation of the terms Web 2.0, Commerce and Industry.  I discovered I really didn’t know what the term Web 2.0 really meant. Therefore, I did a preliminary search of the term Web 2.0. I found an excellent  explanation.  The concept of  “Web 2.0″ is commonly associated with web applications which facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Examples of Web 2.0 include web-based communities, hosted services, web applications, social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs. A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users or to change website content, in contrast to non-interactive websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of information that is provided to them”(Wiki, 2009). I found a site that discusses the next generation of Web 2.0. This next concept will be Scholarship 2.0. I feel it fits adequately into many fields of study. Researchers “scientific innovation depends on finding, integrating, and re-using the products of previous research. I feel this concept is a logical next step to Web 2.0. The reason that this is the next step is one of non-duplication of research. Researcher have typically performed the research then published the finding. However, in the meantime other researchers have may have performed the same research before the paper was published. If Scholarship 2.0 was implemented researchers could have central location to post research findings. Thereby, reducing the duplication of research.

Sources:

Web 2.0 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2009). Retrieved October 25, 2009, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0.

Scholarship 2.0: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Adventures In Semantic Publishing: Exemplar Semantic Enhancements Of A Research Article. (n.d.). . Retrieved October 25, 2009, from

http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/2009/04/adventures-in-semantic-publishing.html.

Since The Internet (World Wide Web) came into use . Its main impact on politics is probably to increase transparency. The Government  have posted millions of Web pages of political information such as official reports and contact details. The government agencies have also conducted business via the Internet. One example is the IRS, in some circumstances tax payers can file online and get an immediate refund. Additionally, the Internet gives a cheap and accessible  platform to radical political organizations, conspiracy theorists, and terrorists. Politicians have recently utilized this same technology to post political tenets and keep citizens informed. The politicians have also used the Internet to rally support for their election or reelection campaigns.

Good or bad, The  Internet may be used by all citizens to voice their political positions. Although many people may want to, you can’t exclude the established political candidates.

I am a technology teacher in New York State. With that said, I am no techno-geek. There are so many new software products I can’t keep up with them, However, this weeks assignment was to research the citation reference software. After, writing my assignment, I decided to try one of the other free software that  I downloaded to see how it works. I want to say that Votero was seamless and worked great. It is a plug in for Foxfire. For those that don’t know how to install a plug in go to Modzilla Foxfile and Press [Tools] on the menu bar, then press [Add ons].When the dialog box comes up press [GET ADD ONS]  and install software for the plug in. It is 1.2 megs and the Interface is very user friendly. It is saves the citation in the four major formats.(APA, MLA ,etc) It is worth checking out if you have Foxfire. It has a great tutorial.

To read the quick start guide  and download the add on go to http://www.zotero.org/

Blog week Number 9

Ray Willette

Recently VR has been of great interest as an ultimate kind of human-computer interface; this means that the humans will interact seamlessly with the machine. “VR offers to provide interface that removes all signs of the mediating apparatus between the user and the computer generated or stored image, information, or content”.(Lister, p.112). The military has been interested in VR since 1930s. Due to this interest, VR has been advanced and several working models have been developed. The Army has purchased a device that allows the user (Soldier) to have actual combat environment simulated (through a head gear). The user then navigates the course successfully by shooting only the armed combatants. The rifles have a laser sensor and simulated rounds which are pointed at a screen which renders a kill. One major complaint using VR is that the user has  a feeling of disorientation until they were acclimated to the system. In Lister’s book, New Media he spoke of the “(VR) users often times feeling dislocated and disassociated from our senses in the mental activity they gave rise to from our body” (p.123). Another major VR accomplishment was in the field of military aviation.

The U.S. Army and Navy and Marine Corp have successfully integrated VR into the cockpit. In the early years of helicopters, the military lost many men and planes due to the complexity of flying a helicopter and shooting his weapons. The pilot at times must take their attention off flying the plane and concentrate on firing their weapons. Because of the advances in VR, The pilot no longer needs to juggle all the tasks they once did. The flight controls and armaments are synchronized into the pilot’s helmet. When the pilot looks right or left his weapons turn to the corresponding direction. When he or she is ready for firing the armament he places the bulls eye on the target and presses the fire button on his joystick. This VR device ensures that the pilot can perform his duties without taking his eyes off the battle.

These are just two of the major steps towards the goal of seamless integration of human and computer.

Week 8

Ray Willette

IDT 518

After reading Sharmila Pixy Ferris’s essay “Writing Electronically: The Effect of Computers on Traditional Writing”. I had come away with several thoughts on blogging and compared it with the effects it had on traditional writing.  The author discusses the effects that electronic writing had on the Traditional writing. I used this same thought and compared it to blogging.

Some scholars feel that “today the electronic age has caused a decline in writing but rather appears to have brought about a significant increase in the artifacts of literacy” (Ferris, p. 3). Case in point, if the reader looks at the vast amount of blog sites they may infer that there in fact there is an increase in the amount writing.

Blogs have allowed several characteristics that differ from traditional writing. Blogs are fluid and constantly changing whereas books and print are fixed. The blogs are “more immediate, more fragmented and fluid, and the medium offers greater capacity for individual participation and interactivity” (Ferris, p.2). Whereas, traditional writing is fixed and the reader has no real interactivity and “reading has become a solitary act rather than a social activity” (Ferris, 2) This differs greatly with blogging. The writer is actively engage and socially interacting with a “global village”. However, Ferris would argue that the Blogs still rely on “isolated users” (p. 2).

The last feature of blog is that it allows “anyone with access to a networked computer to publish on the Internet” (Ferris, 4). This freedom has allowed any person with a computer the ability to publish their opinions free of censorship. It additionally allows other users to respond to the writer either for or against the thesis. This is the public sphere that some researchers fear that the electronic age has caused a decline. In fact, I would argue that blogs allow even the most reclusive user to engage in the public sphere.

I happen to come across an article concerning the freedom of speech of the Internet. Rettenburg spoke of blogs allowing citizens “the freedom of speech without the need to own there own printing press”.  The journalist in blogging are considered to have the same protection rights as there paid counterparts. The Reno Vs ACLU lawsuit clarified that “the Internet deserves the same high level of free speech afforded to books and other printed matter” (Supreme Court) It seems to me that this case  is a highly related to  Electronic Frontier Foundation Lawsuit of 2006.  It may have well set the foundation for the Bloggers winning their case. For further reading see “Farenheit 451.2 , Is cyberspace burning” by Ann Beeson of the ACLU. Website is www.aclu.org/privacy/speech/15145pub20020317.html