CyberBullying Precis #5

Cyberbullying defines the new form of harassment which utilizes technology to torment it's victims. In this new age of cell phones, computers, PDA's, IM, and digital photography technology has become a tool of bullies. Cyberbullying is used in varying forms of severity, from a simple annoyance to threats and stalking. Teenagers and young adults are mostly affected by this new form of harassment, however it can affect any age group. Cyberbullying is become a very large issue in many public schools and high schools.
Cyberbullying has snowballed into a very large problem for a lot of people, this is due to the relative anonymity of the Internet, which makes the act easier to commit without fear of punishment. This anonymity also leads to the attacks sometimes becoming more vicious, thanks to the lack of actual personal contact. The trouble with conducting these verbal beatings online is that many people are now connected through social websites like MySpace and Facebook and that sometimes means a wider audience. These websites also lead many bullies right to their victims because they publish personal information on them for the world to see.
You can avoid becoming a victim by utilizing some common sense while using the Internet. Be very wary when you post personal information on the web, be sure you know exactly who is going to have access to it. Do not let the situation escalate, a common phrase used is “Don't feed the troll” consider simply ignoring the attacks. Take steps to avoid the attacks by changing email, if the attacks continue, you might consider legal action. Always remember to document the bullying, keep a record of any offensive emails or online harassment. If the attacks are of a threatening nature, report it to the local authorities.
Personally I agree wholeheartedly with the opinion of this article, cyberbullying is becoming a big issue in todays schools. With the advent of social media websites kids are publishing way too much personal information on the Internet. There needs to be more awareness among kids and their parents about the dangers of bullying and harassment.

Copyright and the Internet Precis #4:

Students attending Swarthmore College came across over 15,000 private emails and memo's from Diebold election systems. Unfortunately thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which practically gives private parties a veto power for online content, the students would find themselves unable to publish their findings. Copyright law is starting to seriously effect the Internet and Internet-based publications. In response to this a movement is forming, a movement against the further erosion of our civil liberties and the further distortion of copyright law.
These leftist reformers imagine a world where copyright law gives individual creators the exclusive right to profit from their own intellectual property but only for a short period of time, this gives them incentive to innovate. These people fear a time when simple things we take for granted are going to have a price tag attached to them, a world where something as frivolous as reading text is going to cost 25 cents a line. They theorize that at that point, there is no going back, and they are urgent to prevent it at all costs.
The great worry is that most Americans aren't even aware of the consequences of the decisions being made in the name of fighting piracy. The leftist reformers want to return the the Jeffersonian era of copyright law, a truly free society. A member of this movement, Lawrence Lessig, is the founder of creative commons, which is a sort of weak copyright. It allows creators to exert control over their own creations, but at the same time contributes it to the Internet as raw source material free to copy or modify.
The reformers argue that the Internet has changed the world, television, print and all of the older formats are losing out to a bold new experience in which everyone has a democratic voice in the creation and distribution of content. This is the new world, the old business model is flawed, the recording industry for example, all they do is control distribution, record company execs don't contribute anything. On the flipside you have people who want nothing more than to put a price tag on everything, that 1000 little micro payments is much more democratic than a creative commons license.
A new idea is being brewed by Copy Left and two students at Harvard law school. This idea is that all content online would be registered with a central office. The central office would then tally how often the content is downloaded and compensate the creators on that basis. The money would come from a tax on things like blank cds and recorders. A bold compromise in a heated battle between the entertainment industry and leftist reformers like Copy Left.
I really have to side with the leftist reformers, I feel like the big business of the entertainment industry is nothing more than a scam. Artists and creators manufacture the content, all the execs do is control the distribution and demand a percentage of the profits. Now they are drowning because artists have found a way of controlling distribution themselves, the Internet. Record companies have already begun to fight back against this cultural revolution, but in my honest opinion I hope they never win.

Final Web Site Project

I didn't know where to "submit" my topic so I'll just do it here, my web site is going to be a personal gallery of my own work, something like an online portfolio.