Ah the stories I could share

According to Wikipedia, privacy on the Internet means you have the “ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information.” However, if you read on, Wikipedia states that it really doesn’t exist. In my blog today, I am going to concentrate on privacy issues with social networking and teens. Do they really understand privacy and its value?


Social networking is life for today’s youth. Conversations that used to be conducted in person are now done on-line. When my son was in high school, he used AOL chat. After a while, he stopped using the phone and simply went on-line to communicate with friends. One day he forgot what his homework assignment was. I found him sitting in front of the computer with a blank stare; he was waiting for his friend to get on-line so he could ask him about the assignment. It never occurred to him that he should just pick up the phone and call. This is a perfect example of how the teens view social networking as real life.


So what are some of the privacy problems this could create? In face to face conversation, people could overhear your conversation if they lingered nearby. These in-person conversations commonly get repeated. What gets repeated though, is the “translation” of what was said. This “translation” includes someone else’s perception and regurgitation of what was said. If a group of us stood in a circle and had each person whisper the same sentence to each other one after the other, by the time it got completely around the circle would be a very different sentence. That is because things get “lost in translation.” People know this and take into consideration that this regurgitation is hearsay. These private conversations that are regurgitated can be argued. “I didn’t really say that.”


With chat, transcripts can be saved and printed. So if you are talking about someone else in an on-line chat session, you better trust whoever you are talking to. If you have a fight, that “private” conversation can easily be repeated and shared verbatim. This is a difficult concept for teens to grasp because to them, chatting is normal everyday conversation. Conversation flows just as if they were talking to someone in the hall at school or on the telephone. Let me share another story with you. In my old neighborhood, a young girl (eighth grade) had a visit from police because of photographs of a classmate that she put up on her MySpace page. She was accused of “cyberbullying.” She violated the privacy of her classmate when she posted her photograph on-line. Now if she had shown that picture to a friend in the hallway at school, she may have been in trouble at school, but probably not with the police. She could have easily burned or shredded the picture (and negative) and the evidence would have been gone forever. It would simply become hearsay.


According to Bob Sullivan’s article Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?, young people have lost sight of the value of privacy. Sullivan has a great quote in the article that really sums it up “it’s like health: When you have it, you don’t notice it. Only when it’s gone do you wish you’d done more to protect it.” The pictures, comments and conversations that are ubiquitous on the Internet, are retrievable and very difficult to completely delete. Teens don’t realize that unless their computer is “wiped” clean, everything is retrievable. Things sent over the Internet can be traced back to their IP address.


In Dana Boyd’s article Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?, Boyd talks about mediated publics (public gathering via some form of technology) and their unique features. The one that stuck with me was “persistence. What you say sticks around.” This is something for all of us to take to heart. Teens seem to have difficulty either comprehending or simply remembering this. According to Boyd, their reaction to the lack of barriers to their privacy is the assumption that people don’t have any reason to look at their stuff. Well that may be true…now.


I have one more (true) story to share. Four “tween” friends had a slumber party and were fooling around with Photoshop. They took a picture of themselves in their bathing suits and put black boxes over their bikinis. The result made it look like they were nude and had blocked out the private areas. The girls thought this was hilarious. However, another (concerned) friend saw this picture via her connection to their MySpace page and told her mom. That parent downloaded the picture and sent it anonymously to the girls’ principal. So what was thought to be private wasn’t. In this case, the lack of privacy was a good thing. So take heed if you haven’t put your social networking in perspective lately!

One last note, the movie Eagle Eye opens today...it might be a good illustration of privacy and identity issues.

Citations

1. Internet Privacy, Wikipedia.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interniet_privacy
2. Cyberbullying, UrbanDictionary.com, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cyberbullying
3. Sullivan, Bob, October 17, 2006, “Privacy Lost: Does anybody care?”, MSNBC.com
4. Boyd, Danah. 2007. “Social Network Sites: Public, Private, or What?”, Knowledge Tree 13, May. http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/tkt2007/?page_id=28

Online Economies-COM125

The Economies of Online Cooperation
If I understand correctly, the driving force behind Web 2.0 is gift economies. Wikipedia describes gift economies as a “social theory in which goods and services are given without any explicit agreement for immediate or future quid pro quo.” I feel that this is the most attractive feature that the internet has to offer. The Internet’s free information and free services as well as its social networking aspect have touched our world in so many ways.

Consider the person who purchases a product which they “think” is broken; an inexpensive item the purchaser has paid only a few bucks for. Ten or fifteen years ago, if you either couldn’t figure out how to use it or if it was broken, you would probably just toss it out. Today, you can simply send an e-mail to the company requesting information, access a list of frequently asked questions, or even participate in a live chat. If you lose the directions for a product, you can simply download a new set. Remember that Rubik’s cube you had when you were young? If you can’t remember how to solve it, you can just download a new set of directions or visit one of many sites devoted to showing you how it can be solved. All of this is of course, done for free.
Most of the companies existing today have chosen to maintain a website with a page on the website devoted to helping customers with repairs or customer service issues. A nice complement to these websites is the development of networking sites and bloggers who offer advice to the public. Why do they offer this free advice? Is it frustration with getting help from the company compelling them to share their solutions? Perhaps they were looking for the company website and chose to explore the other ‘hits’ that came up with the company website.
My feeling is that people learn from each other. We can never presume to see a complete set of perspectives on a product, nor can we expect to have experienced all of its problems. People form groups in order to give information, get information or to collaborate. Groups may start out as a handful of people who simply couldn’t find out enough information about a product so they thought brainstorming was the way to go. Others are formed from self-made experts who want to share what they know (AKA show off their knowledge base.) I think sites like comp.sys.laptops site mentioned by Kollock in his article The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace, is one of these sites. Still others are formed because learning is a two-way street. It is a little known fact that teachers learn more when they teach than they did when they were learning to teach. I think this is the real reason people form groups. They know that they knowledge they will gain is worth the time commitment.
The instructor for my class Virtual Worlds in Organizations (COM483) has put this principle into effect. He has a section on the UBLearns website called “students helping students”. What this does is offer students the opportunity to offer advice, receive advice, and share observations. What it also does is create an open learning environment for both parties. It really enhances the learning environment. The teacher gets a first hand look at what his students are having trouble with and also offers a window into how students perceive things. Students can choose to contribute or elect not to (no quid pro quo.) The teacher monitors the site and makes corrections when necessary. It is free and bears no preconceived notions or expectations. In other classes this could even eliminate a student's need for a tutor. It's a win-win situation for everyone because we all learn at the same time.


Citations:
Wikipedia Gift Economies- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economies

Rubik's Solver.com, 2007 -http://www.rubikssolver.com/

Saxton, Greg, 2008, Virtual Worlds in Organizations, UBLearns -https://myub.buffalo.edu/course/pw/scripts/crs_sched.cgi?switch=showclass&semester=fall&division=1&dept=COM&regnum=037796

Kollock, Peter (draft), 1999, The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public Goods in Cyberspace -https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard%2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id%3d_61661_1%26url%3d

COM125-Copyright-Protecting Creativity or Cash?

The written word is fiercely guarded its authors. Many years ago, a waitress published her first book in what she hoped would be a successful series. This author went under the name of J.K. Rowling. Her book was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The book was an enormous hit, selling millions of copies. J.K. Rowling went on to write six additional books. Harry Potter’s fan base was beyond measure. Fan clubs, websites and blogs ensued. Her books were reviewed in articles and on news shows; several of the books were made into movies which also made millions.

A man named Steven Jan Vander Ark loved the Harry Potter series. For ten years, he feverishly collected information about Harry and his friends and followed every word. He created a website that was followed by many, including J.K. Rowling herself. So why then, did Mr. Vander Ark and his would-be publisher end up in a heated court battle? It boils down to copyright infringement. Vander Ark decided to publish his collection of information (from his website) as a Harry Potter Encyclopedia called the Harry Potter Lexicon.

The basis of copyright law is original work. J. K. Rowling’s claim was that there was no supplemental analysis (no original work) in Vander Ark’s book. She had invested seventeen years in writing the series using her original and unique ideas. Vander Ark took these ideas, scaled them back, organized them and tried to sell them. The book contained no original ideas, and Rowling claimed no original analysis. Further, she also claimed that Vander Ark’s book would inhibit the sales of her forthcoming book, a Harry Potter almanac.

There is a very interesting article that takes some different positions on the lawsuit that I recommend reading, specifically the blogs at the bottom. Many references are made to other similar lawsuits and to a lawsuit placed by Vander Ark himself against Warner Brothers who tried to use information from his website (see the Nov 3 comment.)

According to the assigned reading, An Introduction to Copyright “Copyright law is part of intellectual property law.” That means that Rowling’s books, all her little tidbits of information and Harry Potter “facts” belong to her. True facts, cannot be copyrighted, non-fiction “facts” can. Rowling put in her imagination and creativity, her time and a lot of hard work. Vander Ark put in a lot of time and hard work but no imagination and no creativity. His work was not original, it was just reorganized.

I think Rowling tried to serve the public good but it backfired on her. Rowling tried to walk a fine line. According to most of the articles I scanned and read, there seemed to be a consensus that she was very gracious to her fans in allowing them to use and mimic her characters and story lines on websites. This certainly helped her fans. Vander Ark’s website was very good and very well put together. Rowling herself was a self-proclaimed reader. Fans who read the books came to learn much more about the characters than they typically would have known after finishing them.

The only problem with this freedom is that it will ultimately be abused by someone who is misled or simply looking for a way to make a buck. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before someone tried to capitalize on it. According to the reading mentioned above, copyright infringement is designed to give creative people incentives. I don’t agree with this angle. Creative people are creative by nature; there is a certain drive there. A creative person’s mind doesn’t stop working just because they can’t make money off of their ideas.

Now, don’t get me wrong here, I agree that copyright infringement laws should be in place. People have to pay the bills. I am not sure I agree with the duration. According to the reading mentioned above, is seems to be designed to protect the copyright throughout a person’s lifetime and then some. In our fast-paced world, I am not sure how useful that is. Things become outdated much more quickly today that they did before. I hope they shorten this duration. To serve the public good, sometimes you build on the ideas of others.

I agree with Rowling’s lawsuit and feel she was right to file it. It is unfortunate though, that she had to. Let’s hope this does not inhibit the freedoms extended by authors in relation to fan websites.

Citations
1. Lattman, Peter, Harry Potter & the Copyright Infringement Lawsuit, Wall Street Journal, November 2007, Retrieved September 12, 2008, from http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/11/02/harry-potter-the-copyright-infringement-lawsuit/

2. The Stacks, retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/

3. Associated Press, Rowling launches lawsuit against Harry Potter lexicon, CBS News, November 10, 2007, retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/11/10/rowling-lexicon-lawsuit.html?ref=rss

4. Eligon, John, Rowling Wins Lawsuit Against Potter Lexicon, New York Times, September 8, 2008, B3, New York edition, retrieved September 12, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/nyregion/09potter.html?bl&ex=1221105600&en=acda2111e537322e&ei=5087%0A

COM125 Assn2-Phishing

Today I am going to write about “phishing.” Now, I did not spell that wrong, I don’t mean fishing like you would do on a boat or dock. It isn’t the name of a band or a club. It is a dangerous form of identity theft (aka ID theft.) According to Dictionary.com, phishing is “A method of identity theft carried out through the creation of a website that seems to represent a legitimate company.” I mean fishing for information. It is fraud and it is illegal!!

Have you ever received an e-mail from your bank asking you to update your password? What about from E-Bay asking you to update your PayPal account? What about from a popular shopping site asking you to update your credit card information? Because we live in a digitized society, this all may seem very legitimate. In truth, you would never be contacted this way. When logging on to the organization’s site normally and accessing your account the way you always have, you would be prompted for an update. Why wouldn’t your bank or a vendor contact you via e-mail? Isn’t that a major medium for communication today? The truth, is NO. Phishing is very real and it is what is known as a scam.

S0 what happens with a phishing scam? A very crafty criminal (aka “the scammer”) sits at home and creates a fake website for a reputable bank or company. These websites look very, very authentic. They are fashioned after the organization’s real website and match up right down to the logo! Next, the scammer creates an e-mail. The e-mail typically includes a request to update a password or credit card information and a warning (!) that your account will be frozen or cancelled. Lastly and most importantly, there will be a link. The link will look authentic and will probably include the name of the organization the scammer is impersonating. The link will take you to a fake website, not the one you use. Some noteworthy signs of a phishing e-mail are misspellings and if you roll your mouse over the link, somewhere down below in your e-mail window you will see the actual link-it won't be from the organization.) Next, the scammer obtains a mailing list of e-mail addresses and sends the e-mail to tens of thousands of recipients.

The scammer is hoping to gain your personal information which will give them access to your accounts. You may be thinking that this would be obvious. You may be thinking that you are a smart and educated adult who would spot a scam a mile away. I can tell you that I have spoken to high school students, college students, smart working adults, smart educated retirees and even IT professionals who have become victims of phishing scams. Scammers are very good at what they do and they do it in volume. They may send out 30,000 phishing e-mails and get two responses. For them, that means they earn between $6,000 and $20,000. A nice profit.

Another item of note is that a scammer will collect your information but not use it right away. They will do some additional research on you to find out more of your personal information; they will put in address changes to start getting mail from your bank and any other company who you have credit with. They will build a personal database on you and then squirrel it away for a year or two (or sell it.) In a year or two the scammer will begin to use it. It helps them to wait because you will probably not remember when you responded to that original e-mail. You may not remember it at all. This makes it more difficult for the authorities to trace it back to the scammer.

So what do you do if you think you are a victim? First, file a police report. Next, contact the three major credit reporting agencies: Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. They will put a fraud flag on your account. Contact your bank and your credit card agencies to cancel all accounts. Contact the US Postal Service to make sure there has not been a change of address put in for you. Collect all of your account information and start a file. Keep track of all the calls you make, who you talk to, and what was said. You will need this diary to keep things organized. Don’t be surprised if you don’t have access to your accounts; the scammers are very good at what they do. It usually takes years to undo what the scammers have done.

How can you prevent ID theft? The best thing you can do is monitor your credit report each year. You can get a copy of your credit report from each of the three agencies for free each year. I suggest spreading it out. Request one from Equifax every April, request one from TransUnion every August and request one from Experian every December. Monitor these reports for inaccuracies. If you are a victim of ID theft, this is the first place it will show up. You can request one free report annually from each agency via the offical website (annualcreditreport.com.) If you go to freecreditreport.com or the individual agency sites you will be charged. These sites are legitimate and will all give you what you need but will charge you. Next, get information from the ID theft government site.

I taught ID theft awareness as part of a financial literacy program I ran for work. I hope this blog provides some awareness to you. I urge you all to monitor your reports and visit the ID theft website! Here is another interesting article on phishing A brief history of Phishing: Part I.