In this senior seminar course for computer science i would say that more then anything I've made philosophical observations about my own ethics and what i want to do with my life in the near future. I decided that when i graduate i would do something i enjoy. I really enjoy working on applications and web development. Concepts involved in theory and systems work do not suit me at all and my mind would be far more productive in my own fields.
With this in mind, i have set goals in applying for interviews and jobs this semester. Learning how to talk to interviewers and potential employers will be critical to my job prospects. I would like to believe that i am fairly well prepared to demonstrate my charisma, and therefore social ability required to work in a team.
Another thing i learned was the importance of privacy on the internet and the dangers of information about people on it. During the "creeping" assignment, i found out way more then i needed to know about my partner Rick. What i found would have been good enough if i had seriously planned on stalking him or even trying to steal his identity. As someone going into technology, my voice, as well as others in our field, will have to express our opinions on how we deal with these developing problems to security and privacy.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Intellectual Property Presentation by Casey Parks
I was not present for this presentation because i left for the holiday early to avoid snow if there was any, but from various other peoples inputs it was a pretty educational presentation.
Intellectual Property is a huge issue in today's society. In the past it was acceptable and even encouraged to copy each others work. It was seen as flattering to have someone copy your work. With all the information out there nowadays its difficult to prove who developed what. I can see why it is a problem when it comes to paper-writing in classes and in journalism. When a teacher is testing your knowledge by giving you an essay, if it was written by another it wasn't really a good test of your knowledge.
Throughout history there have been those who make the exact same product that another company developed and became more successful then its actual developers. I agree that this happening is wrong in general. This is why the patent system is in place. While i agree with it for the most part, patent trolling is awful. People that withhold innovation so that they can gain lawsuit collection money.
The concept of open source is really great. Users can alter code to make it better but they sell it. This protects the original creators right to their idea while allowing motivated users of the product to make custom variations to improve performance.
Intellectual Property is a huge issue in today's society. In the past it was acceptable and even encouraged to copy each others work. It was seen as flattering to have someone copy your work. With all the information out there nowadays its difficult to prove who developed what. I can see why it is a problem when it comes to paper-writing in classes and in journalism. When a teacher is testing your knowledge by giving you an essay, if it was written by another it wasn't really a good test of your knowledge.
Throughout history there have been those who make the exact same product that another company developed and became more successful then its actual developers. I agree that this happening is wrong in general. This is why the patent system is in place. While i agree with it for the most part, patent trolling is awful. People that withhold innovation so that they can gain lawsuit collection money.
The concept of open source is really great. Users can alter code to make it better but they sell it. This protects the original creators right to their idea while allowing motivated users of the product to make custom variations to improve performance.
Development of Government Policy on Cyberspace
In the public, the administration has always insisted that they are going to be transparent about their activities related to cyberspace, but time and time again they have proven themselves flip-floppers and liars. Obama advocated freedom on the internet and minimal regulation by the government, yet has given executive orders granting the government more power to perform cyber operations both inside and outside security. This has been further revealed very recently by whistle-blowers within the CIA, and the NSA. There is a distinct difference between cyber security, and unwarranted spying on its on citizens which is a huge violation of their rights. "Those who give up their liberty for security deserve neither," said Benjamin Franklin. In the interest of security we have been approving for years government dismantlement of our fundamental rights which include privacy.
The only power over the internet i believe the government should have is the power to remove the posting of child pornography and rape videos and the prosecution of those criminals. Also the power to protect our critical infrastructure, which is a given. They should have the same capabilities to to "creep"/spy on civilians as the rest of us and except for terrorism should not be able to hack citizens or install malware.
What did i find?
Creeping has always been a thing since the dawn of social media. Before all the security restriction on Facebook, Myspace, etc, it was very easy to find out information about people if they post it. My partner for this creeping assignment was my buddy Rick. As he is a friend on Facebook, i easily could use that to my advantage when creeping on him. Assuming i wasn't his friend, however, it still was fairly easy to find information on him.
Assuming i knew his name, by searching his name on the internet, i was able to find out a lot of information about him. One of the first links to pop up on Google was his name. I was able to find out the college he goes to. Further searches allowed me to discover the fraternity he is a part of, and listed on that website was his major and hometown. When i discovered his hometown it was easy to find out his address on websites like Spokeo. This also listed his address and parents. At this point i switched to creeping on his parents. I found out where they worked and i was also able to find his family tree going back about two generations as well as the addresses both he and family have lived at which was about 4. From this information i was also able to find out his previous schools and various events involving him at those schools. Finally i found his Linkedin which listed his qualifications in computer science.
I would say that, despite our efforts to achieve privacy, it is still way too easy to find out information about people which is further reflected by the increase of stalking in the world.
Assuming i knew his name, by searching his name on the internet, i was able to find out a lot of information about him. One of the first links to pop up on Google was his name. I was able to find out the college he goes to. Further searches allowed me to discover the fraternity he is a part of, and listed on that website was his major and hometown. When i discovered his hometown it was easy to find out his address on websites like Spokeo. This also listed his address and parents. At this point i switched to creeping on his parents. I found out where they worked and i was also able to find his family tree going back about two generations as well as the addresses both he and family have lived at which was about 4. From this information i was also able to find out his previous schools and various events involving him at those schools. Finally i found his Linkedin which listed his qualifications in computer science.
I would say that, despite our efforts to achieve privacy, it is still way too easy to find out information about people which is further reflected by the increase of stalking in the world.
Networked Communications
Although from a philosophical standpoint i believe that there is no universal right and wrong, i do believe that there is a right and wrong because God has told us something is right or wrong. That is to say, humankind without a god or moral background will not have an sense of what is right and wrong
There are a lot of ethical flaws in communications and networking across the globe. I believe that the internet is a great place. We learn, shop, and communicate via the internet. I believe it is the correct way of thinking to keep it anonymous, relatively unregulated, and able to speak without fear of prosecution. With that said some things should certainly not be OK. Sexual conduction involving adults and children as well as blatant cyberbullying of people you personally know are just a couple of examples of things i would consider unacceptable. The only censorship should be things like this.
As much as i hate spam, ads, and malware, i believe that people have the right to use them. Any problem that affects society as a result of its use is reduced by software developed by companies looking to rid potential costumers of their problem. Gmail is one such company. To encourage people to use Gmail and Google products they have filters to recognize spam and ads. The ad-block add-on to Chrome gets a lot of donations simply because of the convenience of watching videos and visiting websites with annoying and noisy ads.
There are a lot of ethical flaws in communications and networking across the globe. I believe that the internet is a great place. We learn, shop, and communicate via the internet. I believe it is the correct way of thinking to keep it anonymous, relatively unregulated, and able to speak without fear of prosecution. With that said some things should certainly not be OK. Sexual conduction involving adults and children as well as blatant cyberbullying of people you personally know are just a couple of examples of things i would consider unacceptable. The only censorship should be things like this.
As much as i hate spam, ads, and malware, i believe that people have the right to use them. Any problem that affects society as a result of its use is reduced by software developed by companies looking to rid potential costumers of their problem. Gmail is one such company. To encourage people to use Gmail and Google products they have filters to recognize spam and ads. The ad-block add-on to Chrome gets a lot of donations simply because of the convenience of watching videos and visiting websites with annoying and noisy ads.
5 ethics characteristics
I consider myself pretty cynical when it comes to ethics. I believe that society accepts those who stand by the popular ethics they were taught growing up. In this current generation intellectual property is a very important ethic. 300 years ago nobody cared, because it was the ultimate form of flattery. Some societies accept murder and mistreatment of women, etc very differently then we Americans do. Due to my belief that there is no real universal right and wrong, i chose characteristics that i believe reflects universally are considered ethical actually are.
Consistency - An ethical person will stand by their beliefs, not changing them for anyone.
Respectful - Respect of human life. No matter who you are killing is bad
Responsible - Somebody willing to accept the consequences of their actions
Empathy - Going along with respect for human life and an understanding of others
Justice - They believe in justice by whatever standards justice means to their beliefs
I found these characteristics difficult to decide on due to my beliefs in no universal ethical right and wrong.
The Last Lecture Randy Pausch
The last lecture is Randy Pausch's key lecture to emphasize what he has to say before he dies which was a year later in 2008. I believe Pausch's lecture was very inspiring to both parenting, teaching, and to living life as an innovative student. As a parent, he found both imagination, criticism, and brick walls useful. Imagination and motivation will make a person innovative. Criticism means that people haven't given up on you. Brick walls and failure are great, according to him. "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted." If a person wanted something enough, they would find a way to break through that wall.
As a teacher, Pausch seems brilliant. He assigned work that allowed for a great amount of freedom and gave his students the capability to set their own bars. He was blown away by their performance, and took his mentor's advice and didn't set the bar for their work. I definitely approve of multiple department efforts in a classroom work. In real life works this will always be the case Control Alt Delete...That was a pretty creepy yet amusing part of Pausch's lecture. Those students did some fantastic work on their 3D environment.
As a student, i think i should find ways to break through my brick walls. I do not want to break through most of them however. I'm going to have issues graduating next semester if my grades don't look right. If grades dont improve in some aspects i will likely require another semester. Systems is one of the subjects that i find a brick wall in. I've repeated twice different courses in that branch of computer science. I feel like this brick wall has been good for me. When i first started computer science i wasn't quite sure what i wanted to do in it. I was willing to take a future job in almost any industry. Over time i have found i was more imaginative and innovative in other areas then systems work. That wasnt the only wall in CS that I've found. These brick walls have made me realize what i want to do with my life in computer science. Something that I will enjoy being a part of will make my work all the better just like the 3D student team.
As a teacher, Pausch seems brilliant. He assigned work that allowed for a great amount of freedom and gave his students the capability to set their own bars. He was blown away by their performance, and took his mentor's advice and didn't set the bar for their work. I definitely approve of multiple department efforts in a classroom work. In real life works this will always be the case Control Alt Delete...That was a pretty creepy yet amusing part of Pausch's lecture. Those students did some fantastic work on their 3D environment.
As a student, i think i should find ways to break through my brick walls. I do not want to break through most of them however. I'm going to have issues graduating next semester if my grades don't look right. If grades dont improve in some aspects i will likely require another semester. Systems is one of the subjects that i find a brick wall in. I've repeated twice different courses in that branch of computer science. I feel like this brick wall has been good for me. When i first started computer science i wasn't quite sure what i wanted to do in it. I was willing to take a future job in almost any industry. Over time i have found i was more imaginative and innovative in other areas then systems work. That wasnt the only wall in CS that I've found. These brick walls have made me realize what i want to do with my life in computer science. Something that I will enjoy being a part of will make my work all the better just like the 3D student team.
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