Category Archives: Assignment 4

For those who are worried about their online brand, some bad news. 80% of profiles contain lewd words either posted by users themselves or by their friends. What’s being posted on Facebook can have serious consequences for one’s reputation and even get you fired (the article even references a study that shows 45% of employers reference potential hires on social media sites). Linkdin has risen as a professional alternative to Facebook to create a professional profile to present yourself in a more controlled light. Each social media site presents an opportunity to present yourself in a different way or to create a different brand. Perhaps your Tumblr or Twitter account is different from how you present yourself on Facebook. Splitting your social media networks into specific spheres that present different fronts can be an effective strategy of insulating parts of your life from each other. Be professional and put your best feet forward on Linkdin, but be open and free on Facebook — so long as your profile is set to friends only and you filter your friends carefully. This may be a response to people feeling that their lives are too out in the open or out of their control if aggregated all in one place.

usually college professors use email to get in contact with students.  apparently there’s a new movement to utilize twitter in the classroom. for assignment updates and classroom cancellations and other similar matters.  whats interesting about this article is that its very similar to what were doing here in class.  it discusses using twitter as a personal brand maker which we do here in class but with tumblr.  twitter in the classroom also helps people become more involved into the growing industry of social media.  also, since twitter has a limit for every message it teaches people to be concise with the message theyre trying to protray.  this is a very positive way to utilize social media like were doing with tumblr.

I’ve always heard the term facial recognition but never really thought too much into it. Recently I’ve been hearing more and more talk of it so decided to look further into this technology, especially since privacy is at a rapid decrease. Facial recognition is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source. One of the ways to do this is by comparing selected facial features from the image and a facial database (wikipedia.com).

The executive chairman of Google warned governments against facial recognition technology.  He said it’s “too creepy” even for Google. Talk about violation of privacy. Worst off is that it is used by many social media companies. Facebook uses facial recognition programs, which allow users to tag photos of people that are uploaded to the site. iPhone 4 has a very unique way of unlocking your cell phone. Instead of typing in a password, what the phone has is the facial recognition software. I watched a small preview of it on youtube, and I have to say.. it’s pretty impressive. At least this phone will give you the option of either entering the security code or letting the phone recognize your facial features in order to unlock. Here’s a short video clip link for anyone interested. It definitely caught my attention. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUmCfe7xqBg

With all these advancements going on, I can only image what’s to come in the next 5 to 10 years.

Last week, a couple in Wyoming filed a lawsuit against Aaron’s Rent to Own.  The couple, Crystal and Brian Byrd, is citing an invasion of privacy.  The suit was filed after it was revealed that the company had installed spyware in the rented computers.  The software was able to record keystrokes, monitor private communication, and even TAKE PICTURES REMOTELY of the users using the webcam.  The couple was made aware of the spyware only after an Aaron’s employee showed them a picture of them using the computer. (Aaron’s was trying to reposses the computer because they thought the Byrd’s were behind on their payment. The couple had actually paid their bill in full and were not in committing any violation.) However, the employee did not inform the couple of how the picture was obtained. But ”the couple’s lawsuit alleges that pop-up boxes regularly appeared on the rented machine, claiming they needed to “register” software.  Each time that happened, the suit claims, a Webcam image of them was taken without their knowledge, and transmitted to a firm that managed tracking software for the rental company.” 

I can’t imagine how this couple must feel.  From the point of the company, I can understand having software tracking general use of the computer or the computer’s location.  Being able to track the computer would ensure that the company is able to find it’s property, as well as prove that a computer was in use despite a customer being behind on his payments.  But they flat out cross the line when it comes to secretly photographing their customers in their home.  A person’s home is supposed to be their “sanctuary” of sorts, where they are free from the intrusion of others, free from the public eye.

I feel like this situation is just the tip of the iceberg.  How long has this been going on? How many other companies out there engage in the same spying activities? Who’s to say that the computers in the library don’t have the same type of spyware on them, tracking students?

 In the New York Times, the article Devoting Attention to a Child and a Phone, All at Once caught my eye. This article talks about a new Iphone app that helps parents keep track of children’s play dates and also helps track their growth, health and emotional welfare.

Okay, this does seem like a useful app for new parents but whatever happened to doing things the old fashion way, or at least devoting more physical time to your children. Parents, put down the phones and interact with your children face to face. I have seen countless instances where parents have been with their children and have had a smart phone attached to their hand as well, or a family sitting at a table for dinner with their baby or young child being distracted by an Ipad. I understand that the internet has useful information about being a new parent but save that research for when the baby is asleep and don’t relay on a new app to help you keep track of your child’s growth.

This also connects to the way in which children will then use the internet. If new parents are being sucked into the world of Iphones and Ipads then what kind of impact will that have on their children? This all connects back to the discussion we were having about the ability to monitor the use of your child on the internet, and how it may be harder then we think. If a child grows up seeing their parents constantly connected to a blackberry or an Iphone then they will soon do the same. This involvement with the internet will soon lead to the issue that children do not know how to navigate the internet as responsibly as adults. Also, the constant contact that children have with the internet will then lead to children of younger and younger ages being able to navigate the internet. This will never lead to anything good, as children have a hard time seeing the division between public and private and also the fact that the internet has plenty of mature information not meant for children to see.

With the internet already surrounding children’s lives I think that it would be useful for parents to help in slowing down the process, not make it worse.