com125 assignment 12: net neutrality

Net neutrality is “a principle of equal treatment of traffic on the Internet” (Svensson, 2007). The current debate about this issue deals with how much control the companies that build and maintain the Internet (mostly telephone and cable companies) should have over the content that runs through them and whether or not they can force Internet content providers to pay for that privilege (Efrati, 2006). The Internet is set up so that users can access any legal web site or application and that all Internet traffic is treated equally. Unfortunately, downloading a two-hour video eats up far more bandwidth than sending an email. As a result, telephone and cable companies have suggested that they may start charging fees to Internet-content companies, like Google and Yahoo, whose content is clogging up large portions of their bandwidth. Companies that refuse to pay might find their content moving at slower speeds than those companies that do pay.

Since cable companies are acting as both Internet service providers and content creators, they have a financial interest in prioritizing their own content and threatening online speech and democracy (Efrati, 2006). Their objective is to keep file-sharing traffic from taking up too much bandwidth and affecting the Internet speeds of other subscribers. However, blocking certain uploads has repercussions in the global network of file sharing. Companies like BitTorrent, who rely entirely on peer-to-peer file sharing, will be directly affected by these restrictions. Those in favor of net neutrality worry that unless it is put into law, broadband providers will try to block or degrade Internet access for some content and services, particularly those that compete with the phone and cable companies (Efrati, 2006). Without some type of anti-discrimination law or standard, these companies could control users' access by “blocking content from competitors, favoring certain applications, charging higher rates to deliver information into people's homes and offices and failing to inform people of their capacity” (Jones, 2007).

I believe that Internet service providers should not be able to discriminate, block or impair their consumers' ability to send or receive legal content over the Internet. No one has the power to stop companies like Google and Yahoo from distributing content over the Internet. If we embraced an open access broadband policy and allowed for more competition among Internet service providers then we would see lower consumer prices along with better speed and service. Instead we have corporate giants who continue to further expand the digital divide within our own country. Currently, broadband services in America remain unavailable for many living in rural and poorer urban areas, and remain slow and expensive for those who do have access (Turner, 2008). We as a nation should want to be at the top of the ranks in terms of our broadband use; instead, we are continuing to fall further and further away.

Resources:
Efrati, A. (2006). A battle for control of the web. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://wsjclassroom.com/archive/06sep/htop_netneutrality.htm

Jones, K. C. (2007). Net neutrality debate remains contentious. InformationWeek. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=198001557

Svensson, P. (2007). Comcast blocks some internet traffic. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/10/19/financial/f061526D54.DTL&feed=rss.business

Turner, D. (2008). Free american broadband! Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from http://www.salon.com/src/pass/sitepass/spon/sitepass_website_refresh.html

COM125 assignment 5: privacy

I constantly worry about my privacy online. For me, privacy is something that people provide one another out of respect. As individuals we are entitled to our private lives, which are defined by what we choose to do, where we choose to go and the space around us. I mean it is psychologically healthy for people to set boundaries. Privacy on the Internet however is one of the most difficult things to be taken care of. Just type your name into a search engine and voila there appears your name, address and phone number for the world to see. Consider your e-mail inbox for example. If your inbox is continuously filled with spam, it is because at some point in time you unknowingly surrendered your e-mail address to the wrong website. Your telephone number and home address are no different. There are certain small companies such as Merlin who buy and sell your personal information. Merlin is just one of many commercial data brokers that advertises the sale of unlisted phone numbers, which are gathered from various sources such as pizza delivery companies (Sullivan, 2006). Even within our own computers HTTP cookies are used for authenticating, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as site preferences and the contents of their electronic shopping carts. Cookies have been of concern for Internet privacy, since they can be used for tracking browsing behavior (HTTP Cookies, 2008). Many programs and operating systems are also set up to perform data logging of usage. This may include recording times when the computer is in use, or which web sites are visited. If a third party has sufficient access to the computer, legitimately or not, this may be used to lessen that user's privacy. This can be avoided by disabling logging or clearing logs regularly (Internet Privacy, 2008).

According to Privacy International, the United States is an extensive surveillance society (Privacy International, 2006). I think the problem is that most people assume that they have control over who has access to their personal information and that these exchanges are private and secure. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. Every time you access a website or send email, you leave information about yourself that includes your computer IP address, home address, telephone and credit card number(s), consumer pattern data and much more. If you use the Internet and/or email without taking the proper safety precautions then you have probably given up your right to privacy. Even more so, I think that people are just careless when it comes to keeping their information private. It has even been shown that “people will surrender personal information like Social Security numbers just to get their hands on a measly 50-cents-off coupon” (Sullivan, 2006).

I know that being able to disclose personal information about your self is healthy and can even be therapeutic to some people; however, is it safe to do when the audience is anonymous? Yes, you want the freedom of speech but we know that there is a limitation to how much information should be revealed. By taking photographs and videos of yourself and uploading them to such applications as blogs, Facebook, and YouTube, we are actually enabling others to infringe upon our privacy. People may start to feel a certain emotional attachment to you when reading or viewing your personal artifacts, but can you really trust that stranger? Sure, you can read his/ her personal information in return but there is no guarantee that the information is authentic. For example, we have all heard stories on Myspace where a 40 year-old man pretends to be a 15 year-old girl in order to talk and eventually meet up with an underage girl.

A specific scenario in which my privacy was invaded occurred when my identity was stolen on eBay about four years ago. I had had an eBay account for several years prior to this incident and had never experienced any negative consequences of releasing my checking account information over the Internet. I am very meticulous about keeping my expenses accounted for in my checkbook so I knew if anything were to happen, I would find out about it within a matter of days. I distinctly remember going through my bank statement one day and seeing some unaccounted for eBay charges that were made to some strange websites that I had never heard of before; one of which was a German website. I then quickly contacted eBay’s customer service number who confirmed that these charges were made under my account but were certainly not being sent to my address. The man on the other line was very nice about everything and was quick to refund me my eighty dollars. I then asked if they (eBay) intended on doing anything about this, since I knew it would be easy for them to find out who did this by seeing where the stuff was sent. Unfortunately, he responded by telling me that eBay could not look into his personal information because it was an invasion of his privacy. I was absolutely stunned that the law was going to protect someone that just broke it. I was so scared about my stolen identity that I did not know what else to do then to completely cancel my eBay account. I then went as far as to contact my bank and get a new checking account number for myself. Even though it may seem that I went to some drastic measures I do not regret my decision and ever since that day I have not created a new eBay account. In terms of the social networking sites that I am involved in, I always make sure as to adjust my privacy settings so that people that I approve can only view my account.

References:
“HTTP cookie.” (2008, September). From Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie

“Internet Privacy.” (2008, September). From Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_privacy

Privacy International. (2006, February). “Leading surveillance societies in the EU and the World” Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://www.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd%5B347%5D=x-347-545269

Sullivan, Bob. (2006, October). “Privacy Lost: Does Anybody Care?” Retrieved September 23, 2008 from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15221095/