Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Cyber Stalking..Problem or not?

In today's society there are a good number of people that use the internet in numerous amount of ways. Many of which undergo what we call Cyber Stalking. Cyber stalking is a new form of computer related crime occurring in our society. It's when a person is followed and pursued online which involves the person privacy being invaded and everything they do monitored by another. Many believe it isn't as serious as being stocked in person. However, I believe this should be a serious concern.

I had a friend in high school that would tell me about her experience of being stocked through Facebook, emails and text messaging. A 25 year old man was constantly sending her messages on Facebook trying to get her to meet with him. She didn't think it was that big of deal because she would never reply to the man and didn't know him personally so no harm could come to her. He started sending her emails, and text messages telling her they weren't hard to find out. Being aggravated by her not replying one day he sent her message saying, "Don't forget, I know where you live, where you go to school, and what you like to do on weekends. I will find you". When it got to that point she was terrified and finally decided to tell the police about the incident. Eventually, the man was arrested sentenced to 5 years in prison.

This is a perfect example of how Cyber Stalking can lead to harm of an individual. It can cause emotion stress on a person and it can also lead to an even worse situation where the person being stalked gets confronted by the one stalking them in person. At that point, harm can come to an individual in some kind of form whether it is them being kidnapped and or killed. You may ignore them at first and say it can't be as bad as being stalked physically but in the end it can lead to the same outcome. So ask yourself this...Should we as a society be worried about Cyber Stalking or is just something we can let pass by?

Friday, October 21, 2011

Toulmin Analysis of an article

In a New York Times article "A Trick To Snoop On E-mail" by Amy Harmon, she decides to discuss why emails are not as private as some of us might think them to be. She tells about a "watchdog group" that has discovered a trick people can use to bug an e-mail message and track the information you are sending to others. Amy Harmon is a national correspondent for the Times, covering the impact of science and technology on American life. She has won two Pulitzer Prizes.

In this article Harmon claims that there is an implant used in HTML e-mails that is not visible to the recipient and it enables the text sent in emails to be secretly returned to its original sender every time it is forwarded to another recipient, as long as the recipients' e-mail programs are set up to read JavaScript.

The author uses evidence to prove that she isn't just making her claims by quoting the chief technology officer for the privacy foundation (an educational and research organization) Richard M.Smith saying, "I looked at this and I said, `Whoa,' because it lets you spy on people, and it's so easy."This can also be considered a warrant seeing at to how she was sing his credibility to help support her essential claim.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Internet Privacy Causes Many Problems

Privacy has become a major problem when engaging in online activities that range from using social networks such as Facebook and MySpace to online banking, email and online purchases. Many people are not careful about what information they give out online, where they decide to make purchases online, and or if the sites they visit online are safe and secure.

When using social networks, people think that the information they put out there can only be seen by their friends or they don't think what they put out there can be harmful to them. Unfortunately, this is far from true. The information given out over Facebook and MySpace such as where a person lives or their phone numbers can lead to harm in many ways.

There are a number of people who visit unsafe sites throughout the day. Visiting these site can lead to cookies and viruses being put on your computer. When this happens a person can monitor what you are doing and how you are doing it when your doing stuff online. This can be a major problem for those that do online banking or make online purchases. The cookies can capture your passwords for your account and they can capture your credit card or debit card number as you make an online purchase.

There are some steps you can take in preventing such things from happening. There are a number of software related items in today's market that can be purchased to help keep your computer safe. Stuff like webroot and Malwarebytes can help keep your computer secure. They warn you of dangerous sites and help remove any type of cookies or spyware that may come in contact with your computer. Be smart, be safe, prevent the problem before it happens.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is still a major problem in today's society. Teens and adults alike seem to ignore the fact that it’s happening or simply just don't think it’s that big of a problem. However, Cyberbullying can cause serious problems for some people and need to be stopped.

Dana Boyd and Stephanie Olsen share their views and ideas about Cyberbullying. Both articles are similar in the fact that they are both of the writers are against Cyberbullying. The authors you a serious tone to address how important the subject matter in which they're discussing is. The articles seem to embed stories of other people that were victims to other people through the use of pathos hoping to use the reader’s emotions to help persuade them to agree with their claim.

In Dana Boyd's blog she suggests that cyberbullying isn't taken seriously by teens. She implies that teens don't like to recognize themselves as a victim or the aggressor. She argues that things such as education programs are having little to know effect on teens.  The pathos in her paper is used to gain the reader’s attention. However in Olsen's paper she uses a bit of logos and pathos. She uses logos in the blog when by giving statistics such as "Researchers say that anywhere from 40 percent to 85 percent of kids have been exposed to some kind of digital bullying, whether it's a stolen password or being called "fat" via instant message.". She uses this logical appeal in hoping to inform the reader on just how often this type of act happens among kids in today's era.

The messages they try to convey throughout both of their post are successful. The use of rhetorical appeals like logos and pathos in the article helps gain the reader’s attention and helps persuade them to agree with their ideas. The tone's of both articles help the reader understand that the information provided in the articles isn't at all a joke and should be taken seriously.