Privacy Online: Should We Be Concerned?

The debate about our online rights to privacy is a hot button topic as of recently in public discourse. The current standoff between Apple and the FBI in particular has the online world wondering: what can we keep private?

These conversations have offered the opportunity for many Internet and computer users to discover exactly what data they have been giving away to companies such as Apple, Facebook, and Google in exchange for their ‘free services’? Users must now decide if free internet services are worth giving away identifiable data to advertising and marketing agencies. What is more troublesome is to realize that in fact these agencies that are taking your data, are then using it to sell you things and make money from us.

My personal journey grappling with these questions and concerns has unfortunately only began recently, which means for me much of my time frame for decision-making about what information I am comfortable relinquishing has dwindled. It may be past the point of no return for some risky datas (such as my credit card numbers, emails, and logins) if I wanted to keep them private. As I started to look more and more into where and how this data could possibly be retrieved by businesses, I was started at the levels of deception that internet companies use when forced to disclose what data they take. A recent example is how Verizon Wireless is now surveilling an extraordinary amount of online activity on mobile devices, laptops, and computers even when the computer user does not have a Verizon connection! Not only does this seem like extreme greed and reaching on part of Verizon, they actually spin this as a consumer positive by saying this will enhance their mobile advertisement so they are relevant and better for a consumer’s life. Glossing over the fact that your information is being sold to outside companies is a breach of privacy and problematic in many peoples’ eyes.

When I have to come down on how disturbing this really is to me personally, I have to take into account that most of this data is being used to sell things to me based on what they know about me. In this regard, I think my biggest way to combat Big Data backed marketing is just to be media literate and critically analyze media I consume to check if it is ‘hidden advertisements’.

I believe that as our society move more into the technical realms of the internet age, there will be more serious address to Internet rights and safety. I wholeheartedly support the concept of an Internet Bill of Rights and believe that a collective action can be taken to make sure individuals are not exploited by any big organization for profit.

Under Control(ers): Thoughts on Video Games

Video games have become as pervasive a media as simple video itself these days, games can be found on mobile phones (some already included in the software!), computers, tablets, televisions, systems that detect 3D movement of the player’s body, even in surprise places like the ‘extras’ menu on a DVD. Clearly the consumer demand for platforms to have games has been met, and the supply of range of games is ever-increasing. I would argue that this media technology is only going to see upwards progression, some forms may go out of style or fall under the radar but expansion for methods of playing, thematics and content of the games, and availability of where one can play will certainly be prevalent for communication technology future.

Using the uses and gratifications theory lens to wrap my head around the popularity of video games, I would argue that video games are unique in their ability to provide the most direct interactivity in terms of communication technologies. Consumers of video games are able to experience control of the technology in a way that produces an interactive experience that is as much human as it is technology. In some cases with very advanced games with extensive content, the player controls almost the entire experience. Consumers therefore are rewarded by this sense of control. In addition, the interaction of the player can be built upon which allows a different experience each time they play. Consumers can set goals for themselves in their game play, which when reached will be another gratification and sense of accomplishment for them.

There is significant research done on dangers of video games, particularly because the content of many video games promotes violence as a means of winning the game. In this case, social learning theory would suggest that playing these games can be a slippery slope into aggression and other anti-social behaviors. However, there is also substantial research to the contrary that violence behaviors are much more influenced by innate psychological states, social upbringing, etc. I would have to determine that there is merit to the social learning theory in the case of violence and video games, but as with most things the social systems that are built on oppressive patriarchy and colonialism are the root of injustices and violence therefore much more than video game content must change to have a more pro-social society.

My personal experience with video games has been extremely limited because I never had one of the original formats that the games were available (i.e. Playstation, Xbox, etc.) and therefore did not feel much interest in seeking out games on my other devices later on. I tend to prefer entertainment media that I do not have to interact with because I typically interact with technologies for a large part of my day based on obligatory, work or school related contexts. Therefore, when I have the ability for leisure, I prefer to take a more passive role with technologies, therefore reading and watching video is better suited for me.

Overall, I imagine I will live to experience multiple new developments in gaming technologies that will continue to impress the world. I might even find some games that suit my laissez-faire style of entertainment.

The Internet & I

There hasn’t been a time in my life where I don’t remember knowing the word “internet” or “computer”. Early on I was even aware of more abstract words like brand names “Microsoft” and “Apple”. I don’t think this is because the Internet was available to me all those years ago, but simply because the power of this innovation was so pervasive that even a 4 to 5 year old knew what it was.

 

My first attraction to computers was when my father bought a Gateway laptop for work but he let my sisters and me play a simple poor-graphic hovercraft game on it. As simple as the objective, visuals, and controls of the game were, I recall feeling like I could play on it for hours on end. The attraction of the computer was just that it was novel and interactive. In a classic displacement model example, I began to spend less time with my CD player and more time playing hovercraft and changing the background desktop pictures on the laptop.

 

            Exploration and interaction with the Internet itself was a much later experience. I don’t recall the iconic sounds or speeds of dial-up internet that so many of my cohorts do, because I don’t believe I was granted any access to the Internet until after my family had a connection via broadband. I was ten years old when my parents bought an Apple Macintosh computer for my older sister and I to share. Even still, we rarely explored the Internet itself. This state of minimal exploration was not due to heavy parental restrictions so much as naivety of what could even be done on the Internet. Because my father often looked at BBC news website on the Internet, my sister and I mainly became familiar with that website. Soon we found basic children’s games available from BBC.co.uk, therefore our Internet usage barely expanded from looking up different games.

The most influential experience with getting to know the Internet was via school programs. In my elementary school we had a computer science elective class and here I learned everything from word processing to looking up library books online. Since that time, I became someone who uses ‘Google’ as a verb and the world wide web as support for most of my coursework. The Internet made me feel not quite smarter, but more powerful because I knew I had access to much more information at any point. The utility the Internet has provided me has become so integrated to many parts of my life—such as academic support and social gratification—that it now seems essential to my very functioning