Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality

There are several pros and cons to network neutrality.  The support for network neutrality comes from those persons who enjoy free music being streamed from YouTube, watching movies on Netflix, and downloading music from the many available sites Another aspect that it is very important is the access to different Internet Service Providers. Since many local areas are unable to provide a numerous amounts of these providers, customers may have limited access as determined by the providers. So providers in a less successful area would have less access to services as opposed to those in a "rich" service area. On the other hand, opposing net neutrality could would also greatly benefit the larger companies that can afford to have better Internet Service providers. After time their more efficient services would ultimately assist with improving the company as a whole and in time, would help with services provided to the average person.
Just as recently as last month, Netflix was challenged by Verizon to provide a smoother service of Netflix to the Verizon customers. This put Netflix in a more profitable position and also benefited Verizon. The backbone company between Netflix and Verizon, Cogent, is now put in a very poor position. They basically have to meet the demands of everything Verizon says or else they are put out of business because they can't work around Verizon.
There is an issue with net neutrality and freedom of speech among those who believe of free speech on the internet. Large telecom companies such as Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast would be able to route everything from our phone calls, e-mails, and videos that we are viewing. I found a fairly good example online, "Imagine if the phone company could mess with your calls every time you tried to order pizza from Domino's, because Pizza Hut is paying them to route their calls first." This really helped me understand what all of this truly meant. As for how this would all affect me, I am big into downloading music from websites such as soundcloud.com and I use YouTube fairly frequently. I definitely think this would negatively affect me. I would be restricted on so many accounts as to what I could do on the internet.
I believe that net neutrality should stay as it is. In the CNN Tech article they wrote about how the service providers are the ones providing the service, so they should be able to decide how their service is used, whether it be free or not. I agree with that statement, I also believe people should not have to pay more money to have better access to internet, that's not what the original developers of the internet wanted this to be used for. It's very discriminatory to the people who really don't have the option to have better ISP around them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/23/comcasts-deal-with-netflix-makes-network-neutrality-obsolete/
https://www.aclu.org/net-neutrality
This two links definitely helped explain what net-neutrality was and how it affects everybody. I thought these were two valid sources because the Washington Post is a major daily newspaper that practices ethics and checks on their facts to secure the credibility. As for ACLU, this website was definitely more biased towards protecting net neutrality. I found it to be valid for just one side of the argument, it gave a lot of information as to how a believer in net neutrality would view this problem and what they would do about it.

Social Media and Privacy

We have no privacy in this generation, as told by When Rape Goes Viral. It really is horrifying that people feel the need to not just harass a person, but record it or videotape it and show it to the world. I personally have never really encountered anything to this extent, of course there were situations in high school like this that happened but never really escalated anything like this. I never thought that it was right, it is an invasion of privacy and something that no one should ever be constantly reminded of whenever they go on the internet. I'm not sure if there is a solution, besides taking action into the case and attempting to actually doing something about it, something the college in the article did not do. But I suppose there is only so much that they can do if they do not have any proof of the students having the video or showing the video.

Regardless of the situation it's a shame the internet is being manipulated and used for these purposes. People have completely taken advantage of the lack of privacy on social media sites and YouTube in the worst ways possible. These types of crimes can damage someone emotionally as much or even more as physical damage can do to them. There are no excuses for this type of behavior from the persons posting the videos/pictures and should not be tolerated.

I Have Nothing To Hide

I believe that everybody has something to hide when on the internet. You may not think that what you put on the internet matters or that only your friends can see it, but in reality, anybody can see it. Inappropriate pictures and status' can be seen by your family, jobs, coaches, even future schools that you plan on attending. Everything you put on the internet is there for the public whether you want it to be or not. Even if it's as insignificant as complaining about a co-worker or your job in general, it can come back to haunt you. Some jobs may not look at your Facebook, but some do, and if they don't like what they see, they may not even consider hiring you.

Personally, I am fairly cautious about what I put on my social media sites or websites in general. I have family members that I'm "friends" with on Facebook and most times I "like" my employer page, so I don't normally post anything but pictures on the rare occasion. Most of the time if a website asks for more than just general information such as my e-mail and name I won't continue with whatever I'm doing. I know that whatever goes out there, I can't get back and it'll be there forever. I'm always worried as to what can come of this, I can only imagine how easily information about ourselves will be released or found in the future. But in the meantime, I believe people should only post what they want the world to see and know, that it's not private.

CS 408: Living In A Networked World

CS 408 is a really great course that you can take at the University of New Hampshire. It is an introductory course that delves into the realms of human life within a networked world. As students, we are assigned to analyze how technology affects our everyday lives and how it can negatively affect us as well. In this course we are expected to thoroughly discuss our findings through our readings and viewings of videos with our classmates as well as the professor via e-mail, discussion boards, blogs, and in class.