Legal and ethical issues

The article I found regarding copyright was on spin.com and was titled "Downloaders beware: Copyright alert system rises as torrents enter the cloud". This short article discusses the new "tiered alert system" that is going to be put into place for people that download illegal torrents. What I gathered from reading it is the big torrent sites found a way to use cloud storage to their advantage. By having the users store and access the cloud directly through their own randomly generated decryption key it allows the blame to fall into the downloaders hands and not the sites hands in regards to illegal distribution of copyright materials. With this new cloud storage in place the big internet providers (comcast, AT&T, Time Warner) are now going to use a warning system that consists of various levels. Basically it will start with a friendly warning and escalate to internet throttling to make your connection speed slower as a punishment for not heeding previous warnings.

In my opinion this solution to online copyright infringement is both good and bad. Good in the sense that the potential downloader is given plenty of opportunity to cease his illegal activities before possible judicial intervention, but also bad in that how do they know its really YOU that is downloading illegal movies, etc. I know plenty of people that leave their wireless internet unsecured and there is a good possibility someone with a laptop could take advantage of this and use the IP address of this unsecured connection to download whatever they please without a trace. Hopefully in the future a better system will be developed to help determine who is truly violating copyrights, and who is just too trusting with their wireless internet.

Privacy and Security

In my opinion privacy and the internet are mutually exclusive. I feel any and all information that I put into any website be it Amazon, or Facebook, could possibly be leaked by someone adamantly trying to get to that information. However, there are certain aspects of the internet I feel are safer than others. I feel that my email account and Facebook info is something even a novice hacker could retrieve. THe article involving metadata and David Petraeus shows how any information email related is basically up for grabs if someone wants that info bad enough.This is why I would never use those services for any truly sensitive information (i.e social security #). But I do expect tightened internet privacy/security on information about myself that could make an impact on my life. I would never want to run into a situation where my identity was stolen via the internet, or someone somehow got ahold of my credit card information and was using it for their own personal gain. I feel every time I put this information into a website I am knowingly taking a risk, which in this day and age, is a necessary risk.

Twitter

I believe that a blackboard/blog conversation has a lot more depth and can be much more engaging than a Twitter conversation. The fact that you only have 140 characters to work with can be extremely limiting when it comes to getting all your points across. I personally prefer a blackboard/blog conversation because they give you the freedom to say as much as you want to say.

On twitter I followed Gamestop for a business and Gov. Pat Quinn for a politician. Their respective posts could obviously not be more different. The Governors posts are obviously all political and revolve around a new budget proposal. Gamestop however, lets me know what sweet game deals are going on right now. Save 20$ on NBA2K13? sure..thanks Gamestop

Social Media

When thinking of social media I immediately think "Facebook". However, I know that social media at its most basic is just a tool that allows us to virtually communicate and interact through some type of network (the internet). Web based applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Secondlife, and possibly even Myspace (even though I think MySpace is mostly music sharing now) all allow us to utilize the internet to communicate with each other. To share ideas, videos, and maintain some friendships that would most likely no longer exist. I believe it is one of the internets biggest contributions to modern day society. People even utilize sites like "Monster.com" to find employment and possibly secure a better future for themselves and their family. For as much as I support social media I still think it is very important that we continue to utilize traditional means of communication (talking on the phone, meeting up with a friend). If a person were to only communicate via social media to everyone that enriches their life, then that would most likely be a very lonely person.
Until very recently (like last monday recently) I only really utilized facebook for social media interaction. Of course Youtube has been a staple in my life since its early days, but I only watch the videos (ive never uploaded). Currently I am on Facebook, Twitter, and Secondlife. If I had to pick one that I could not do without it would be Facebook. I made a lot of friends while I was in the Marines and many of those friends are still active. Without facebook I would most likely lose touch with a lot great people who have made a large impact on my life. Thats not to say that I couldn't use twitter for the same purpose. The article that talked about the professor using it for class communication and input really puts into perspective just how many different ways we can use these type of social media sites. Ideas like that can really liven up a classroom and keep a students attention. Although if afforded that opportunity I could not guarantee I wouldn't sneak in at least one message to a friend during class.

World Wide Web

Over the past decade the World Wide Web has come a very long way. It seems pretty crazy that something that started as a tiny network of computers has evolved into a service used daily by a tremendous number of people (probably over a billion). When thinking about the future of the Web I believe it will dominate almost every aspect of our lives. These days you can basically manage your life through the web. You can pay all your bills, do your taxes, knock out some school work, and write a letter all without having to leave the comfort of your home (or bed if you factor in laptops). The future of this service will most likely continue down this path in my opinion. It is very hard to even think of things the World Wide Web hasn't already done. I mean, you can start your car using the web/internet....
I think the technology the web offers will just continue to improve until a constant internet connection is necessary to live a normal life. Possibly connecting every appliance/aspect of your home so that multitasking becomes second nature. Like a web based program that you can utilize to start making coffee at this time, start my car at this time, turn the toaster on at this time, start the shower at this time...But for all I know the web already has something like this.
Another sign of evolving internet is how much "The Cloud" has become apart of the web. The Cloud basically being a gigantic external storage service for everything from video games, to photo tweaking programs. While this service adds a huge amount of convenience to our lives I can see where it could run into problems. The article that discusses netflix going down on christmas eve and the amount of people immediately complaining goes to show how much people will start to depend on this service. I know personally I thought I was going to lose my mind when the Playstation network went down for 3 days and I couldn't download any games stored in their digital cloud. If obtaining a hard copy of software becomes impossible one day I would hope that the cloud service providers have taken every precaution to ensure this doesn't happen on a regular basis

Networks and Communication

When it comes to emailing, texting, IM'ing, and Skype there are always differing opinions on what makes this relatively new technology good, and what makes it bad. The advantages are obvious. One obvious huge advantage is a wonderful four letter "F" word..Free. You don't have to buy stamps if you don't want too. You don't have to get a long distance phone plan if you don't want too. You have basically every means of communication at your finger tips (minus the old fashion face to face). The article that explains how Facetime is making a big impact in the medical world made me think of situations in my life that would have been previously impossible without the use of video chat. My grandpa, even though sick in the hospital, was able to watch me get married because of a tablet and Facetime. However, some people would probably argue that this new technology is making people more recluse, and possibly less social. I personally prefer sending a letter rather than writing an email when i'm trying to communicate stronger feelings about my message. "Happy birthday!" doesn't sound the same in an email/facebook comment, as it does in a card, that came in an envelope, with a stamp. 

In regards to overcoming common internet concerns like spam, phishing, and scams the best advice I can think of is if you don't know the sender, don't read the email. There will always be spam and various types of scams that will fill an inbox. There are even integrated spam filters in almost all email programs that help with these kinds of situations. Whenever I get an email that says "you've won 1,000,000 dollars!" in the subject line I immediately delete it and would recommend most do the same (unless you actually won a million dollars, i'm sure they will contact you by phone if email fails).

Texting and driving is a humungous problem in my opinion in todays world. 1 out of every 3 cars I look at usually has a person with their face buried in their phone. I will admit that I have done this before and imagine most people have. But there are solutions. Phones are coming out with new ways to solve this problem like "talk to text". Now I am not saying that talk to text is a solution by any means, but its a start (it might have saved that woman from falling in the fountain..). With phones becoming more and more integrated into vehicle technology I imagine a bluetooth talk to text via your car that will read the message back to your for any corrections (they probably already have this) and hopefully lead to a safer roadway, 

First Blog ever (Matt Nurczyk)

My name is Matt Nurczyk and this is the first time I have ever blogged anything. Ive always been really interested in computers and writing so maybe one day this assignment could possibly turn into a hobby. I'm a Junior at NEIU and haven't declared my major yet but I am leaning towards computer science. Ive only taken 1 computer programming class in high school so my knowledge is extremely limited. I do however know my way around the inside of a tower and am always trying to make updates to my desktop at home.