The World Is Flat: Flatteners 3 & 4 questions

a. The software industry created and popularized SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which enabled the exchange of e-mail messages between heterogeneous computer systems. This protocol was then stretched further, and TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) was developed. TCP/IP took the data from your Web pages around the Internet from computer to computer and Web site to Web site. People were then able to exchange things other than simple e-mail and word documents.

b. AJAX is short for "asynchronous JavaScript and XML" and is a Web development technique that allows complex Internet business applications to be embedded onto a Web page, then called up with a single browser. It allows you to do over the Internet all the word, data, and business processing you would normally do on a PC with conventional software. This gives organizations a competitive edge because people who want to start their own business have enough resources now and have the ability to market their product almost as effectively as big businesses. Small up-and-coming organizations are now challenging the larger organizations.

c. Open Source is called Community Developed Software because people make their source code available online, and anyone can download it for free for their own use. Everyone in a "community" such as a chat room or message board, can share their source code and everyone in the community can update and/or modify the code. It is a collaborative effort.

d. Today Apache is one of the most powerful open source tools. It powers about two-thirds of the Web sites in the world. It can also be downloaded from anywhere in the world. People who want added capabilities for their Web servers can buy products that attach right on top of Apache, using Apache as the foundation.

e. Blended models of software are probably the future because for a complex system to be constantly freshened, debugged, and improved, there has to be economy around it. Open-source community developers do not have all the time in the world to put into developing code for free. There must be some economic incentive for someone in the community to continue developing the code.

f. The author himself has obviously been impacted by blogging, because he writes "I now read bloggers...as part of my daily information-gathering routine." Major newspapers and news networks are being seen quoting from blogs and getting some of their "eye-witness accounts" from blogs.

Current Event 5

http://www.newsfactor.com/news/New-Browser-Lets-Web-Surfers-Hide/story.xhtml?story_id=11200AAJH5J4
September 21, 2006
by Jay Wrolstad

A new browser called Torpark allows users to browse the internet without being traced. The group Hacktivismo has modified Mozilla's Firefox browser to run through a network called TOR (The Onion Network). The browser is free and can be stored and/or run from a USB memory stick. According to Hacktivismo, "Torpark uses a series of servers in the Onion Router network to change an IP address seen by the Web site every few minutes to prevent "eavesdropping" and hide the source of an Internet request." For example, someone on the Web from a home PC in Ghana may appear to be using a university computer in Germany.

This affects anyone who downloads the Torpark browser. It also affects the government because it makes it even harder to track people if they don't know their IP address.

The ethical issue addressed is whether or not surfing the Web without being traced should be allowed, and whether or not a "fake" address should be created when someone tries to view your IP address.

The impact to society is people can now do what they want to on the Internet without someone tracing every page they view.

This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It is good for people who just want to keep their life private. It is bad because people who are doing illegal things online (such as child pornography) can now do what they want without being traced. The authorities will have to find another way to track those people other than by using their IP address.

Current Event 4

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Virgin_Atlantic_bans_use_of_Apple_Dell_batteries/0,130061744,339271108,00.htm
by Matthew Broersma, ZDNet UK
September 18, 2006

Virgin Atlantic airline has banned the use of most Apple and Dell laptops during flight because of the battery recall that affected those computers. Quantas airline and Korean Air have already banned the use of Apple's and Dell's during flight. Although only certain models of batteries were affected, Virgin Atlantic has banned all models from being brought on board the airplane. Passengers are allowed to carry a maximum of two batteries in their carry-on baggage if they are individually wrapped and protected. Passengers are allowed to bring affected laptops on board, but only if the battery is removed.

This affects people who own a laptop that has a battery that was recalled who want to travel via Virgin Atlantic.

The ethical issue addressed is whether or not some passengers should be allowed to bring a computer on a flight and others not be allowed to. I think if some passengers are not allowed to bring their computer, then all computers should not be allowed.

The impact to society is that some people will not be able to use their computer during flight.

I think this is a good thing because many people could get hurt if the battery explodes while on a crowded airplane, which would also cause panic among the passengers. With all the terrorist threats that are going on, I actually think that the use of computers while in flight should be banned altogether.

The World Is Flat: Flatteners 1 & 2 questions

a. "More and more economies would be governed from the ground up, by the interests, demands, and aspirations of the people, rather than from the top down, by the interests of some narrow ruling clique." "The Berlin Wall was blocking our sight--our ability to think about the world as a single market, a single ecosystem, and a single community." "When an economic or technological standard emerged and proved itself on the world stage, it was much more quickly adopted after the wall was out of the way."

b. There was no "limit on the amount of info that any single individual could amass, author, manipulate, and diffuse." "Ordinary people could get the benefit of computing without being programmers."

c. We can communicate with our PC and we can use our PC to communicate with others.

d. Berners-Lee developed the concept of the World Wide Web. He created the first website, which explained how the World Wide Web worked, how one could own a browser, and how to go about setting up a web server. He also popularized HTML and came up with URL's and HTTP.

e. Netscape not only brought the Internet alive but also made the Internet accessible to everyone. It was the first web browser.

f. Everyone wanted things to be digitized--the process by which words, music, data, films, files, and pictures are turned into bits and bytes that can be manipulated on a computer screen, stored on a microprocessor, or transmitted over satellites and fiber-optic lines. Investors realized that if everything was going to be digitized, the demand for Web service companies and the demand for fiber-optic cables to handle the digitized stuff was going to be limitless.

Current Event 3

Associated Press
September 12, 2006
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/music/0,71771-0.html?tw=wn_technology_12

The New-York based company MetaMachine has agreed to pay $30 million to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits on their online file-sharing software eDonkey. MetaMachine received a letter warning them to shut down or prepare to face lawsuits. Top executives of MetaMachine, Sam Yagan and Jed McCaleb, agreed to end distribution of eDonkey and other software versions. The eDonkey website showed a message informing visitors the website was no longer available and that "people who steal music or movies are breaking the law."

This affects anyone in the music industry whose music was being illegally downloaded. This is a good thing because music sites such as eDonkey, LimeWire, and other file-sharing services were allowing music to be illegally downloaded, but now the end is coming to sites that allow illegal downloads.

The ethical issue addressed is illegally downloading music. It is unfair to people in the music industry to have their music illegally downloaded, but now that many of those websites that allow illegal downloading are being shut down, music artists will not have to worry about their music being downloaded illegally.

This impacts society because people who had been downloading music illegally will no longer be able to do so.

The World Is Flat: While I Was Sleeping Questions

a. I was very surprised with the wide array of jobs that are being sent to Bangalore. I knew that many computer jobs were being outsourced, but I never imagined that accounting firms would use people overseas to do work, or that journalists overseas would be used. I also found it interesting that some McDonalds Restaurants are using a call center to take people's orders, and that the airline JetBlue is using "homesourcing" where people in their homes are taking reservations. I was also surprised that people in India who worked at a customer call center were required to take classes that taught them how to speak in different accents, such as American, British, and Canadian, in order to disguise the fact that they are in India and not in the country the person is calling from.
b. The main theme the author is trying to get across is that the world is flat. In other words, the playing field is being leveled. Jobs are being outsourced oversees and one country (America) is no longer the front runner when it comes to having jobs, and having the best jobs. Many jobs are being outsourced to India, where the cost of living is lower, so companies do not have to pay their employees as much money as they would have to in the United States.
c. As far out of the United States I have gotten is Canada. Niagara Falls and a brief visit to Toronto, to be exact. This was about 8 or 9 years ago, and I do not remember all that much about it. I remember that the street we stayed on in Niagara Falls reminded me of Myrtle Beach--very lively at night, people walking along the streets. Toronto was a big city and I think we might have gotten lost...but we did eventually find where we wanted to go. The only thing surprising to me was that they had the same restaurants (such as McDonalds) as we do here.

Current Event 2

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article1305254.ece
By Stephen Pritchard
Published: September 3, 2006

The company Sprial Frog has announced that it will launch a music download site that will allow users to legally download music for free. The site is expected to be launched in December. Sprial Frog has an agreement with the record company Universal to supply songs from its catalog. Funding for the service will come entirely from advertisements. Downloads from Sprial Frog's service will probably not work with Apple's iPod, but Sprial Frog could choose to develop its own MP3 player. Spiral Frog has not said much about how they will make sure users see the adverstisements. They could have to watch them as they download music, but most likely the ads would display on an MP3 player itself.

Music fans, music artists, and record labels are affected by this.

This ethical issue addressed is whether or not it is ethical to download music for free because the artist and record label would not be making a profit from record sales.

The impact to society is that people would be able to download music for free, thus eliminating the deisre of some people to illegally download music. This service could also cause a wave of other companies who want to try the same thing. If free downloading with advertisements is successful, then more and more record labels will want to make songs available for free.

I believe this is a good thing because who doesn't want to be able to download music for free? I don't mind looking at advertisements if it means the music is free and the quality of the music is as good as it would be on a CD. You wouldn't even have to pay attention to the advertisement if you don't want to. As far as music artists are concerned, they could lose some money from record sales, but they might gain even more money when it comes to ticket and souvineer sales. If a person downloads one of their songs and likes it, they will be more likely to purchase a concert ticket and/or souvineers from that artist. This would be especially beneficial to up-and-coming artists who want to get their music out to a wide audience.

Analysis of Ethics in Film

The film, Enemy of the State, is about a lawyer named Robert Dean who unknowingly winds up with evidence showing the assassination of a U.S. Congressman (who was believed to have committed suicide), which was arranged by a top official for the National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA goes to great lengths to acquire the evidence in Dean's posession, which Dean is unaware that he has.

The ethical issues surrounding technology in this film would be invasion of privacy. In order to track Dean so they can find the evidence, the NSA agents break into Dean's home and plant bugs in his phone, in his shoes, and on his clothes. They also put cameras in his home so they can not only hear everything that goes on, they can see it too. The NSA freezes Dean's accounts, so neither him nor his wife are able to use their credit cards or withdraw money from their accounts. NSA agents are able to track Dean's every move--he cannot do or say anything without them knowing about it. Is it ethical for the NSA (or any other agency) to plant bugs among your personal items and to put cameras in your home? Should they be allowed to freeze your accounts so you have no way of accessing your money?

The media in this film was led to believe that Dean was still seeing a woman he had an affair with several years earlier, and that he murdered her. They treated Dean like a criminal, so even if Dean discovered the evidence he had in his posession and tried to take it to the media or the police, it would not be credible--who would believe a criminal who had evidence of a Congressman being assassinated?

I think this film does portray ethical issues. The issue of whether or not the government should be allowed to monitor phone conversations and e-mail in order to target threats to the country is one that exists today. However, I do not know if the government has gone or would go to the lengths the NSA did in the movie in order to get what they want...although I would not be surprised if they would or have already. With all the technology available today, it is easy for someone to track you through a satellite above the Earth, which is what the NSA used some to track Dean.

I think this film might influence public perceptions of government agencies, such as the NSA, in a negative way. In this film, Dean committed no crime, yet the NSA was pursuing him as if he had. Dean did not receive criminal justice-the NSA could not simply arrest Dean since he hadn't really done anything wrong, and if they did arrest him, it probably would've come out that the Congressman was actually assassinated. If Dean had been arrested and the cover-up remained in tact, he would've been found guilty in court because of all the evidence the NSA agents planted implicating Dean, and thus would've gone to prison for something he did not do--all in order to keep the government cover-up a secret. This is significant because it shows that the government is willing to let someone take the fall for something in order to keep what the government did a secret.

In this film, the only law enforcement officials present were those from the NSA, and those specifically brought in by the NSA. The local police were not present. I found it odd that the NSA could be chasing Dean to that extent (through a hotel, in a tunnel, etc.) without the local police becoming suspicous and getting involved. In reality, I do not think it would be possible for all that to happen without the police being involved.

This film makes me wonder whether or not something like what happens in the film has actually happened in real life. Have there really been governement cover-ups? I believe there have been, but we won't know what they were. And if I accidentally gained posession of something the governement wanted to keep a secret and I didn't know I had it, would they go to the same lengths to get it from me?