Our not so private life

Thoughts on Privacy

After watching the Ted Talks that were linked to our class for today I was very intrigued by one certain video. This video was about how police enforcement have all of our data and are storing it just in case. They capture our license plate number wherever we go and they store it in their massive data base. So far they haven't used this data on an average human being. They are just storing it just in case. This Ted Talk in particular was very opposed to this idea. I for one, am not. I don't mind having my license plate picture taken.

I am a young female in college. My parents have my tracking wherever I go. This is because hundreds if not thousands of girls each and every day go missing in the U.S. If the government is taking pictures of where I am and keeping track of others, it will be easier for them and faster to track me down as where I am. I almost feel safer knowing that people are able to help me by using this high technology in order to solve crimes. I get where people are coming from and how it's creepy in most ways, but there are so many people out in the world who have bad intentions. With all of the crimes that are being committed, we are able to stop them faster and catch people doing horrible things. 

The other video that I thought was interesting was how Apple is actually helping us maintain our privacy when using their apps for FaceTiming and messages. It is unheard of companies helping their consumers maintain their privacy. If there is a way for them to make our devices private on all of our apps that would be even better.

I believe that government is only listening on our calls and other because it all comes down to safety and that people are just nosey. If one doesn't have anything to hide, then there really isn't a problem. I get why people are so against this, but if a major terror event happens, the government is able to use the information that they have previously collected and help solve the problem to whatever has happened. 

Reflection of Group 1's Presentation

Group 1

This past class we had an EOTO class period. This stands for "Each one Teach one." For this certain EOTO, a group had a certain amount of terms and had to explain to the class what each term meant. I chose to narrow in on group one's presentation. This group had terms such as: Propaganda, Disinformation, Educational Exchange Act, Total Information Awareness and False Flag. In particular I thought two terms that were taught to the class were very interesting and those were propaganda and the Education Exchange Act.

Focusing on propaganda, this is the spreading of ideas or information to overall help the public. This was initially to spread fear. It's this time of year that politicians are campaigning a lot in order to gain voters and they are doing this by bashing their opponents either on the same side of them or on the opposite political side. We are able to see different commercials about political opponents and watch them tell the audience fake information about them. The whole reason as to doing this is to gain more votes for them and to make the audience less inclined to vote for someone based on the fake facts that have been given to them. Down below I have placed examples of propaganda for this upcoming election term for 2020.

As you can see above, this is a form of propaganda from the Trump campaign. The middle one is a great example because this is spreading fear to the public because it makes them question if America's safety is really at risk. Some might believe that since this is from the Trump campaign; he will be able to insure safety to the nation and therefore they will vote for him. 

The other term that I thought was interesting to learn about was the Educational Exchange Act. This is when the United States creates a better understanding of our country and teaches it to other countries. I feel as though this act has been very beneficial to the many nations because now in the business world, if you don't speak English and you want your company to be widely known, then you won't succeed. Most deals are done in English and many people know our customs. Since we are spreading knowledge about our country, we should be doing the same here. Many people from the U.S. are not from here and it would be nice to learn about other customs that are practiced around the world.

Cutting the Cord

Has your family cut the cord?

This has been a popular topic to discuss about since 2010. As trends come and go, cutting the cord is one of the newer "trends" that families are doing. So what is "cutting the cord?" The official definition of it is, "the process of cutting the cable connections in order to change to a cheaper TV channel subscription." source. There are so many different outlets to watch television now that are much more popular than cable tv now. The top competitors for cable networks would be Netflix, Hulu and now since November 12, 2019, Disney+. How did cord cutting become a thing and why has it lasted so long?

We started to see this trend in 2010 and from that point on, it has been growing. Many cable companies can't stay alive nowadays because of all of the other options. There are multiple advantages to cutting the cord. For one, it is so much cheaper and people are able to watch movies and/or tv shows without any interruptions. Since this topic has come up, I was talking to my roommate and her family has cut the cord and they now have YouTube TV. She lives in a very secluded area where the cable is unable to reach her, therefore; her family uses YouTube TV and they also have a Netflix subscription. With positives towards moving forward with cutting the cord, there are also disadvantages.

If one subscribes to just Netflix and cuts the cord; they are unable to stream live tv and they won't have access to some very popular channels such as HGTV. They would have to subscribe to other platforms that offer other variety of channels.

Netflix is recognizing their competition and about a year ago, their "Netflix Originals" have sky rocketed with popularity. In 2019, Netflixs' revenue was over $5.2 billion dollars and is still growing. The newest platform that has been added is Disney+. Disney+ has all of the favorite old shows and movies. They are also cheaper per month and the target audience is more geared towards millennials. The platform has only been available to the public for two days, but their subscriptions has been very popular and people were also able to pre-subscribe to the platform. Almost more than 2 million people subscribed to Disney+ on the first day and I know my family was part of that 2 million.

There are plenty of benefits to cutting the cord, but as of right now I believe that cutting cord completely would not benefit my family. We still have cable and we also have a subscription to Netflix and now Disney+. My dad is able to still access all of his sports channels while his kids are able to enjoy movies and shows from their childhood.

Online Presence

Look up your name and what do you find?

Today in class we learned about different privacy laws and how most social media platforms and websites are able to watch you while you are active on their platform while also not active. Many people today are starting realize this information and they are not so thrilled about it. What most of them don't know is that when they first began to use the application, they agreed to let the apps use their information in the "Terms and Agreements." Who actually reads that long contract though? Exactly, no one, because everyone is so focused on setting up their new social media platform or if it is a website and they agree to use cookies; they are wanting to move forward on the website.

Facebook has been the most concerning social media platform that has been invading everyone's privacy and they dominate all platforms in general because they also own Instagram now. Nowadays to make consumers lives easy, they have started linking the login to Facebook to other accounts. An example would be if you don't have an account for Pinterest, you are able to login through your Facebook account and all of a sudden you now have a Pinterest account without having a new login. What people don't realize is that if you login through your Facebook account on any platform, they are allowed to store the data that you have created on different applications. The main question is why are they able to do this? They are able to do this because they are classified under a Private Activator and since they are private, people are not able to fight against them because only the government can not violate your rights.

The most popular social media sites that I use is Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook in that order. My Instagram account is not private so anyone is able to find me and I don't have the secured privacy settings that Facebook has to offer. Since I use my Instagram and I am aware that it is open to the public, I make sure I don't post anything inappropriate. Most of my photos consist of my friends at family-friendly places. I make sure what I post is age appropriate because I have extended family members on there as well as potential people who are interested in hiring me are able to see what I do. 

I believe that in today's world, many people in my generation are giving away their information without realizing the repercussions for it. We live in a world today where everyone is living in fast pace and they don't have time to truly look at what they are agreeing for the websites and platforms to do. This can seriously be damaging if someone wants their privacy to stay completely private. It is hard for one to stay completely off the web, but there are different ways to stay and keep private by using precautions.

Roger's Diffusion of Innovations: Venmo

How has Venmo Changed the World?

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As college students and young adults, we don't carry cash with us. If we do, then it is probably less than $20. There is no need for cash for us anymore because we have many different forms to pay without using cash, such as using our debit cards, Apple pay and now there is Venmo. Venmo has changed the way we look at how we are spending money. Venmo is an app that is free and it is very simple to use. You are able to hook up your bank account to Venmo and your friends are able to send you money and vice versa. An example would be if you and a friend were out to dinner and you forgot your wallet. You are able to pull out your phone, search your friend on Venmo and type in the amount of money you want to send them. With one click they are able to have it in their "Venmo balance." From that point, the friend is either able to direct deposit the money right into their bank account immediately for a slight charge, or they are able to deposit it into their account for free, but it will take three to five business days. So how did this all start?

Two college students, Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail were students at the University of Pennsylvania. The early stages of how Venmo came to be was that they both went to a concert for a weekend and one of them forgot their wallet; for the whole weekend only one person was paying for the trip and by the end the person who forgot their wallet had to write a check. They were thinking that there must be a much simpler way to send each other money.

Today in class we learned about Roger's Diffusion of Innovations and our example that we used was cable television. There were five major sections that we broke up the idea into that was part of a bell curve and those were: Pioneers/ Innovators, Early adaptors, Early majority, Late adaptors and Laggards. I have been able to break down how Venmo was created in these stages.

Pioneers and Innovators

Kortina and Magdon-Ismail were the first two to come up with the idea. In 2009 they came up with a system by paying over text and just writing their name and how much money they are giving. They soon realized that they needed to distinguish what each payment was for, so they would write one or two words to go along with it. This would later adapt into emoji's. In 2010, they raised $1.2 million seed money through financing round

Early Adapters

In 2012, Braintech which is a fintech payment company aquired them because they were able to see their potential. The app also opened to the public in 2012 and after their final quarter of that year, the app had $59 million of mobile transactions.

Early Majority

By 2013, the first quarter processed $81 million and Braintech was acquired by PayPal for $800 million.

Late Adaptors

In 2017, they have processed $8 billion and it keeps growing from there.

I have not listed the Laggards part of the bell curve because I believe that Venmo will continue to rise for a while until something new and better comes up and so far there isn't one yet. Venmo has truly changed the way people go out to eat and go shopping in general and it has changed for the better by making people's lives easier.

Sources down below:

Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source 4

Individual Self-Fulfillment

Self-Fulfillment. What is it?

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After I graduate from college, I hope for a well paying job that I love and that I can move up in the ranks. I also hope to one day start a family and live a picture perfect life. All of my hopes and desires are categorized as self-fulfillment or self-actualization. One of the definitions that seemed to resonate with me the most was, "Self-fulfillment, is the combination of the hopes we have for our lives as well as the plan we create for achieving them." Self-Fulfillment Definition. 

The main topic that came to my mind when thinking about this was the American Dream. The American Dream can mean anything people want it to mean. In most cases, people nowadays come to this country to start all over and to make something of themselves. They had a burning passion to make a name for themselves and they had all of these hopes and desires to make their lives the best that it can be. This could be working all day and night, but you would be coming home to a loving home with your white picket fence and to your wife who you had two kids with and of course the family dog. 

When our forefathers came together to write the Constitution, they specifically put in freedom of speech. We today are now able to write about what we want to and say in what we believe in out loud without being punished. Of course there are some restraints, but for the most part we have the freedom to do so. Since we have this right, we as students are able to write these blog posts and put our own personality into it. 

I chose this speech theory because I find it interesting how America is like the big "melting pot" with all of our different cultures that surround us and religions that can be practiced freely along with schools who are able to teach multiple different languages without there being one right one. I attribute all of this to the first amendment and this is the American Dream that our forefathers who wrote the constitution thought of. The dream has changed since our world has changed, but the dream will still be there and it can relate back to the freedom of speech.

Simone Who?

Simone Biles. That's all.

Growing up I was a pretty energetic kid and my parents didn't know what to do with all of my energy. They placed me in a recreational gymnastics class and from that point on I never stopped loving the sport. I was a competitive gymnast my whole life starting at the age of six and going all the way up to my senior year of high school. I have won multiple state and regional titles during my career, but nothing compares to Simone Biles. At first I didn't know who she was, we just ended the 2012 Olympics and the U.S national team took home the gold. Now we were back to watching smaller elite competitions. In 2013 Biles won her first gold medal and it took off from there. After her win, my gymnastics gym back home was able to host her and have her speak to us. This was a life changing experience. Not only was she so humble, but she was able to give us advice about the sport in general and how to balance school and gymnastics while maintaining your grades.

Since 2013, Biles has won 24 world medals and most of them were gold. She just competed in Stuttgart, Germany at World's where she won in all-around, vault, beam and floor. As a previous gymnast, this is unheard of. When you watch her perform, you don't even believe she's human. Biles may have won 24 medals, but she now has multiple skills named after her and those include two on floor, one on beam and one on vault.

Simone Biles has also done so much for the young girls who are afraid to speak up for themselves. She is an avid speaker for the Me Too movement because she is a survivor of Larry Nassar who sexually abused her. She has asked USAG to change their ways and they are changing slowly but she wants more to happen so that the sport can be safe for everyone. Since she has such a large following, she is able to have her voice heard more and people are able to stand with her and support her. 

Simone Biles.

Above is the article about her recent medals!

Bush vs. DeGeneres

George W. Bush vs. Ellen DeGeneres

Can you imagine two people with completely different political views but sitting next to each other at a football game? Twitter blew up when they saw George W. Bush and Ellen Degeneres sitting beside each other and laughing. People were wondering as to why a gay Hollywood Liberal was not only sitting next to a conservative Republican president, but actually enjoying themselves and having a good time. 

It caused so much controversy that Ellen made an announcement about the whole issue on her television show the Ellen DeGeneres Show. She made a very good point when she making her speech and she said, "...just because I don't agree with someone on everything doesn't mean that I'm not going to be friends with them. When I say 'Be kind to one another,' I don't mean only the people that think the same way you do. I mean be kind to everyone. Doesn't matter."

Since she has made this announcement, it has gone viral all over different social media platforms. In todays world, especially in the U.S., people are so caught up in the politics and whose on whose side and what party they affiliate with; they don't stop and realize that in the end it doesn't matter. We are going to have presidents in the future that some people won't agree with but others will and vice versa. We are all here to make a difference in this world and people will want to leave here knowing that they made an impact in a positive way and not holding grudges or being rude to others because they don't have the same political views as you.

Bush vs. Ellen

Above is the link to the story and feel free to comment below as to your opinions to the story!

Postal Service

History of the Postal Service

Many of us still use the Postal Service. It's a very easy way to get a card or package from place to another in a timely manner. I use it all the time to send out cards and gifts across the country where the rest of my extended family lives such as my grandparents. How did this service even come about and what is happening today with it?

In 1775, Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General by Second Continental Congress and the first post office was based off in Philadelphia. Their first mission statement was,"That a line of posts be appointed under the direction of the postmaster general, from Falmouth in New England to Savannah in Georgia with as many cross points as he shall think fit." Todays mission statement and promise from them is,"Everyone has the right to equal access to secure, efficient and affordable mail service." The postal service is the second oldest federal department/agency of the U.S.

Some important dates that helped the postal service become what they are today:

1775: Ben Franklin appointed first Postmaster General

1847: U.S stamps are issued

1860: Pony Express began

1918: Scheduled Airmail service began

1963: Zip Code inaugurated

1971: USPS operations started

1994: Postal Service launched public Internet site

2006: Postal Accountability/Enhancement Act

2009: Free USPS iPhone app offered

As we can see above as the technology changed throughout the years so did the postal service. One of their newer things that they implemented is the iPhone app and if they didn't have an app or if they aren't accessible through cell phones then people wouldn't use them as often. The postal service today has over 400,000 post offices and over 212 billion pieces of mail are delivered to over 144 million homes in the U.S. With over 700 thousand workers, they are the nations largest civilian employer and the employees handle more than 44% of the worlds cards/letters. They are a non-profit organization so they make their money by selling stamps and other products such as cardboard boxes.

Question to think about:

What would happen if we got rid of the postal service? Would it impact our economy in a negative way? Answer in the comments below!

How Big is too Big?

Can an American Flag be too Big?

There is now a legal dispute between the CEO of Camping World and a small town in North Carolina because at Lemonis Gander RV Company in Statesville, NC; they have been flying a flag that was 40ft by 80ft on a 130-foot-high pole.

The resolution of the whole ordeal was that Gander was rezoned so that they were able to keep their flag up, but they had to pay a fine for it. Gander has to pay over $14,000 in fines, plus $2,000 in legal fees. Since Gander is paying these fines, Lemonis does not have to pay a $50 fine per day anymore to keep the flag up. Lemonis believes that the cities band on his large American Flag was unconstitutional and he is in it for the long haul, "We have flown this flag for a long time. As  I told the city...it's not coming down under any circumstance."

My Opinion:
I believe that if a flag is too big where it gets to the point it causes harm to the public such as people becoming distracted while driving then it should raise some questions. If people around the flag are just annoyed by it and it's not causing any other issues besides annoyance, then let it fly as high as it can. The American flag resembles what this country stands for and our amazing history, if people can't see that then they are able to ignore the flag or move away to where it doesn't bother them anymore.

Down below you are able to check out the full story. Let me know your opinions in the comments!
Too Big of a Flag

                                             

Should we Abolish the Supreme Court

Should we Abolish the Supreme Court?

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Before we are able to answer the main question of this post; we should know some of the basic facts of the Supreme Court and what they do. The Supreme Court is consisted of nine justices who don't necessarily have a law background, but most of them do. There are no restrictions as who can be a justice because the Constitution does not place limitations on who can or can not be a justice. Within a year the court receives around 7,000 to 8,000 cases to review, but they are able to pick and choose which ones they would like to look at. They typically are able to hear 70-80 cases.

Going back to our main discussion; recently the Supreme Court's credibility has been in question. The most recent case is the Brett Kavanaugh and the whole debacle behind that. Others that come up would be legalizing same sex marriage and praying in public schools. The Supreme Court has denied rights and have disappointed the public for many years now. The highest part of the governmental branch has been passing vague laws that can interpreted in many different ways and can become very confusing. Many people believe that the Supreme Court has too much authority and the other lower branches of government can't do much to fix it. The only remotely way to change the Supreme Court would be adding a new member of justice once one of them steps down. This can be in one's favor depending on their political views. The newest member is Brett Kavanaugh and he was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts. Kavanaugh mostly sides with the Republican party with four other justices. 

Hong Kong Protests

What You Need to Know About the Hong Kong Protests

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In the last few months, Hong Kong has been protesting against mainland China because China has been impeding on them and violating their rights as citizens. Hong Kong is special because they were once ruled by the United Kingdom. When the UK gave them to China, they agreed they would be "One country, Two systems." 

This policy was supposed to last for 50 years, but China has been starting to control them. The protestors started off calm, but it soon escalated to violent riots. There are five main demands that the protestors are protesting for and that is: withdraw the bill (extradition bill), leader Carrie Lam should step down, inquiry into police brutality due to a woman getting hurt in the eye, if people have been arrested they should be released and finally and most importantly, greater democratic freedoms.

These protests are going to continue until Hong Kong's government puts their foot down and demands China to step back. They are not part of China as of right now and they have more democratic freedoms. There has been a viral photo traveling around the internet and it is the American flag being held in front of the protestors.

The United States is the poster child for freedom of speech and a democratic country. Hong Kong aspires to have a system like ours and therefore our flag is being flown to resemble freedom.