Blog 2

by Jennifer Tryba

There were several topics these past few weeks that I found interesting but privacy and censorship, I felt were the most engaging. Privacy affects everyone and whether it is viewed as an object or a personal space to be encroached upon it carries value especially in western cultures. Censorship has existed as long as there has been information. If affects the way people think and feel by creating bias. It is also a tool to shield people from potentially harmful information.

Privacy is valued in western cultures in contrast to eastern cultures where is viewed as a negative, vis. “the shameful secret”. Eastern culture, in that sense, comes off to me as a sort of buddy system that keeps people inline and fulfilling the status quo under the threat of dishonoring their entire family by stepping outside the norm or acting unlawfully. In contrast, western cultures respect the individual’s right to keep information about themself private especially when it comes to financial and medical information. There is, however, the lack of privacy when it comes to people’s actions on the internet. People’s e-mails, Google searches, and web preferences are stored by companies and are accessible to hackers and commercial entities alike. People are also shoveling personal information out onto the internet including but not limited to their: full name, address, contact information, photos, and “like’s” leading to some questions of a generational gap. There is a feeling that there is a gap between what is now appropriate to make public, which is pretty much everything about a person, is different from the past when more care was taken to keep information personal. To me, the advances in new technologies are what have created the gap. People have access to one another at all times through cell phones and are becoming accustomed to being about to “stalk” each other for fun or out of curiosity, people are getting used to the new phonebook on steroids, face book.

Censorship is used in two ways. One is the use of censorship of information for shaping public opinion through either the altering of information that is made publically available or by keeping information secret all together. The second is an attempt to shield people from information that is potentially harmful or offensive. The first leads to whistle blowers and information leaks, it is the government giving itself permission to hide anything it wants. Wikileaks is an organization that is dedicated to making all government information public. They leak classified information with no bias because of the over-classification of information by the government. The second way of censorship is keeping information that is obscene or harmful away from people including pornography and hate speech. I don’t believe in censoring the internet though. I believe it’s up to the individual to censor their use and use filters if they are worried about harmful content but it is not the business of a commercial company or the government to decide what is and is not appropriate content.

Blog 1

This week in class, I was surprised that such a profoundly relevant topic to the on going debate of intellectual property would be so close tied with digital media ethics, but it makes sense. Property in the normal sense of the word describes something that you can interact with physically, such as a book. One can hold, feel, and possess a book. When it comes to documents, e-books, online articles, and anything that is digitalized, there becomes a whole new need for ethical procedures when citing these, and borrowing bits and pieces from different scholars, and all intellectuals for that matter.

We read about the debate of downloading illegal music. There are many different viewpoints about this topic depending on who you talk to, and where you come from. This week I read in Tavanni about the changes to the Copy Right Act, and different scenarios where individuals may have violated ethical rules about intellectual property. The Napster example mentioned in the reading is probably one of the most profound examples, and talked about scenario of the whole intellectual property debate. Napster was a site with a centralized method of downloading music illegally from Napster servers. The Recording Industry Association of America sued Napster saying they were violating copyright law by sharing copyrighted material. Napster argued under the fair use doctrine that the ability to share music had limitations but was acceptable for limited sharing or use without the right holders permission. The court ruled against them, but it was a big enough case to spark more debate about the ethical way for human beings to share others intellectual property. Since this case, technology has been ahead of the law by developing decentralized methods of sharing music.

The class discussion has been the most interesting and thought provoking part of this whole intellectual property discussion. There is so many different viewpoints. I will take these into consideration next time I consider downloading music without paying for it. I am stealing from someone who took time out to make a product to sell so they can support themselves. After reading the discussion postings, I am more likely to download music, books, and movies legally.
I have found after reading the book and being really engaged with the topic, that I am talking about the debate we are having in class with my parents, and especially my college peers and classmates. I realize that ethics of digital media will only become more and more prevalent as time goes on, and I am glad to be ahead of the rest in regards to conducting myself in a professional manner in the digital media world.

Reflecting on the last four weeks have been kind of difficult. I was a little lost and bored with the topics at first, but once I engaged with the reading and texts thoroughly. I did not like how the assignments and content were hard to find on the D2L page. I could not find the assignments, and I missed two of them. I am now getting caught up. I got off to a rough start but I intend from this point on to engage in the discussions 110%.

Syllabus Review

In the 21st century, tasks, business, communication, and networking are becoming increasingly done electronically, rather than on physical paper. The idea of the “paperless office” is a profound example of how things in the 21st century has become so technologically advanced. I hope to learn how the traditional ethics of the 20th century will develop and be enforced in an online environment. As I follow current events, I notice that the legislative bodies of the state and federal government are typically slow and reactionary to technological crime, and making offenses online punishable. I hope to learn how this affects ethics in digital media, and whether or not laws are effective in preventing technological crime such as identity theft. I look forward to learning about a critical part of digital media today, which is the ethical procedures one should follow when conducting themselves as an informed user online.

The topics of this class interest me because it relates to issues and current events that are taking place and being debated right now. This is not a history course, rather it is a discussion of issues that are being debated and that directly affect me as I sit here and write this syllabus review. That interests me because I can debate and make a difference in the way that these issues are dealt with, and policy that is implemented due to these issues, such as identity theft, becoming more and more prevalent in 21st century society. The topic of whistle blowing, and Wikileaks interests me greatly. Every time I turn on the news it seems as though there is a political scandal that has been alerted because of whistle blowers. The people blowing the whistle on these politicians illegal or immoral activities are online users such as myself. They are following a certain ethical code or procedure that I hope to learn more about as this topic is discussed later on in the semester. Another topic I hope to learn about is the ethics of hacking, and vigilantism online. For example, as I mentioned Wikileaks earlier, is it ethical to hack a government database if the information shows misconduct in official government business? At what point has vigilantism gone too far? These issues interest me, and I look forward to learning more and taking place in discussion about these current technological issues.

This class has opened my eyes so far as to how to conduct oneself online ethically, but it has also opened my eyes to unethical situations that have taken place on Facebook—a website that most people consider essential to everyday life—with the example of the beacon service and how users were entered and considered “okay” with the use of the service. It is not necessarily the ethical violation that every one thinks of when first thinking of digital media ethics, but it is a very important example. Companies assume willing participation in programs online all the time, and it makes one question the ethical nature of doing so. This course has already made me more alert to these marketing techniques of the 21st century.

The only question or concern I had with the syllabus was the use of Prezi to make Prezi-tations. Is prezi like a powepoint? I am sure I will figure it out, but that was my one concern when reading the syllabus.

My Prezi on Crazybones

Crazy Bones - My profound love for something so simple on Prezi

My thoughts on illegal downloading

What really caught my attention so far are the varied responses to the subject of illegal downloading. You can definitely tell those that are in the music industry as they express the affects illegal downloading has on the industry, so they have very strong views against illegal downloading. Then you have those that do not see the harm in copying music for a friend or family member, and do not feel as if doing so is illegal or that they should have the right to do so. I think with the rapid changing of technology it is hard to keep up with the creation of appropriate regulations, laws and controls. Everyone seems to have a different level of what is legal and not legal, and this is coming from a group of people that have more of a technical background. This background gives them a better shot of knowing what should be legal or not. This makes the task of the everyday person difficult with regard to the changes and knowing what is and is not appropriate. This issue should be addressed from the top with appropriate education as well as shutting down the sites that allow illegal downloading to occur. If downloading from these sites is illegal than those sites should be the ones that should be held accountable instead of going after the small guy. These sites are the ones that are giving us the platform to do illegal downloading of music and programs. For me I see it as the same as a bartender or bar getting in trouble for serving someone to much, and then the person drives home. The bartender is just doing their job and may not know how much the person had to drink or eat before arriving at their establishment, but they are still held accountable because they gave them the platform to enable the person to drink. Then there is the issue of culture that is thrown into the mix, which brings another whole dynamic that muddles the right and wrong or illegal and legal boundaries.

What I found most interesting for the chapters that we have covered is the cyberspace. I know that this is a digital age and that everyone is on the computer all day everyday. What I didn't realize was how many other people could possibly see everything about me. I am always looking and researching and to know that in one keystroke millions of people could easily see what I did in an entire day. This is a very upsetting notion to have. I would like to think that there are still people in the world that would respects ones privacy. Having people not only look into your life , but the lives of an entire family is terrifying. I know that the cyberworld is ever changing and little out there is left unseen, but I would like to think that all the security you can put on a computer would keep you safe while just surfing the web. I felt this was eye opening.

Blog 1 Miyuki Schmidt

I have been overwhelming to read many reading materials for this class every week. It takes long time for me to process and understand the context of the materials, and I struggled to put my reactions on the discussion board. Although I enjoy the good debates on the board very much, it just takes a long time to formulate my thoughts in words. I hope it will get easier in coming weeks.

So far, I have learned philosophical theories that can apply to analyze ethical issues. I have never analyzed my decisions based on these ethical perspectives. It makes me think that why I make such decisions and even I question myself how I become as a thinker. I am confused and trying to figure it out why I think as I am.

In this week’s discussion, we had a great discussion over piracy and intellectual property issues. I enjoyed the heated discussion on illegal downloading of the music. I happened to have all my music in CDs(because I like 70’s music) and I did not give much thought about illegal downloading of the music. I was surprised to know that how music industries are exploiting the artists. I believe the person who creates the art or goods should get the most profit from the sale.

Also in this week’s discussion, I explained about culture of Asia. It is hard to believe the story of Korean student. I just want to point out that stealing is stealing. Plagiarism is the same concept in the U.S. and some Asian countries. Many Asian people especially Chinese, Japanese, and Korean are afraid of been shameful. My action and behavior is not only mine, but also reflects a value of my family. Therefore, I have to be respectable in public, and I am not allowed to disturb peace and order in the society. I can’t speak for Korean student. However, his dishonesty brought a shame on me and other Asian people in this country. It is ethically wrong to be disrespectful anywhere in the world.