The Communication Revolution, Entertainment, and The Arts - Essay Example

The innovations that have been available to everyone in the recent decades have made it impossible for anyone to deny convergence from himself and the outside world. It seems important to note that it has enabled anyone and everyone to show off through the aid of certain technological mediums different aspects of ones life that until recently has always been kept discriminately. This is not to say it is unwarranted, for most cases it is the direct opposite, yet how does one distinguish between conceit and interference with private lives. The political instability of the nation also provides for the apparent necessity in the undeniable availability of public information. The issue of surveillance has not eluded the American public and mix reactions pertaining to the matter continue to bombard the political system. Proposed bills such as Total Information Awareness would have granted the government access to the most promiscuous details in the life of any American they deem a threat to democracy. The setup of the internet creates questions of whether or not those who use it are really protected. The cookies that websites place in the computer systems can be vehicles in meddling with personal privacy. Alongside this, the internet can also serve the purpose of hacking credit card information and emails that has been recorded to incite cases such as identity theft. The availability of these technologies has introduced a number of different social phenomena that are almost incomprehensible years ago. Things like googling yourself has surfaced and has even become a colloquially accepted verb. All the other networking websites like MySpace, Friendster, Multiply, Facebook, etc. compels people to communicate with acquaintances and strangers. The War Against Terrorism and The Right to Privacy In 2003 the American congress prevented the Pentagon in its planned project designed to allow surveillance of any American through accessing their e-mail and other databases that contain information regarding finances, health and travel. Had the project been allowed, it would have allowed Army intelligence to use any of the information they have gathered against anyone. Luckily, both Houses agreed that this is a direct threat to personal privacy and the Total Information Awareness project was put into question (Clymer, 2003). The Pentagon concept would have given analysts who are highly trained in Intelligence to accumulate and perceive information linking any citizen to any group, enabling alerts and allowing shared data among individual computers to be viewed. They would have had access to videos from surveillance cameras, information from credit card usage, airline bookings and of course, telephone calls. These would be fed in a software that would detect patterns that they may deem a threat to national security (Clymer, 2003). This fear of terrorism after the 9/11 attack has sent the government into a frenzy into finding and preventing another terrorist attack but to a fault. It has transcended into a government that gravitates toward the need for information at all cause. The Patriot Act provided for very questionable motives by the government. Yes, everyone agrees that nobody would want another terrorist attack, but not everyone would be willing to give up their civil liberties such as the basic right to privacy for the purpose of monitoring terrorists activities. The public is then put into the corner, his privacy put aside and jeopardized, for activities he is most unlikely not involved in. The Cookie in Your System The internet has undeniably proven itself to be synonymous with convenience. It has become an integral part of everyday life among most Americans. But not known to everyone, almost all websites that are visited stores the I.P. address of the computer. It records the activities, pages viewed, downloaded files and other transactions. This happens most often every time the computer is logged in to an internet connection (Fitzgerald, 2003). Cookies are embedded to the computer files. These are minute files in text format that the website visited may opt to put on the hard disk of the computer. This is obviously detrimental to internet privacy. It allows the website to identify those who visit their provided sites as the person must sign in and will be prevented to do so unless these cookies are accepted. More than allowing this access, they serve as tracking devices as the person visits other sites. It is created to give off information to internet advertisers. There are ways to turn off cookies in the connection but it is almost impossible to eliminate all of them. Measures that can be taken are only a means to minimize them (Fitzgerald, 2003). Basically, whenever the computer establishes an internet connection, these cookies allows access to monitor the users internet activities. This type of access is allowed with the aid of the internet provider and often these companies have policies on privacy. Information is supposedly only expounded upon through an order from the court or through a subpoena in very rare cases. The best advice is to choose a provider that has a good policy regarding privacy for its internet users. (Fitzgerald, 2003). Thomas Fitzgerald also brings to mind the issue of privacy and emails. He compares it to a postcard, sent around the globe that can be read by anyone. Emails can be intercepted by web administrators before they are even received by the intended receiver. The only way to prevent this is to encrypt the messages in such a way as to prevent anyone else from reading it. But this can only be done through the aid of certain available services provider. This cookies, unharmful as they sound, are direct indicators on the lack of privacy one begets from using the internet. Yes, they may sound mundane little details we have to live with as long as we can access the internet. But these cookies are edible in the sense that the websites that install them on computers eat up the information that the users have otherwise never consented them to engulf. They may sound like minor nuances but in essence they are just one of the many things that prove the point that in this day and age, there is little to no privacy at all. Anyone who has the feeling of apprehension in todays technology has the right of being such. This fear is in many ways not without its proper and true merit. Multimedia Entertainment Entertainment and all its format has recently been the pivotal point in the lives of many. From Tivo, to YouTube, to the movies, to Ipod, to PSP and all the other means on which we try to amuse and occupy ourselves with. This immediate access has pampered and made the people subservient to technology. Who still bothers with reading a book encyclopedia when you can get the same information with the click of a keyboard. Websites like Wikepedia.com may be convenient but it is not necessarily reliable. One has to remember that the entries in this free site can be edited by anyone. The main text are also more often than not contributed by private entities. It is apparent therefore that the texts contained within the website may be faulty and other times irrelevant. In this fast-paced times, no one can seem to afford to slow down. Everything is delivered and retrieved digitally and on a timeframe. The culture of downloading has become a full blown phenomena that is already become a significant part of the society. It also provides for a very swift information sharing, without a second to think of the consequences that will ensue. Case in point, the 2007 sports injury of young Los Angeles Clippers point guard Shaun Livingston. The clip of the 21-year-old basketball pro banging his knee after a lay up was posted and viewed by thousands within a day. It was gruesome and ultimately the end of a professional sports career yet people cannot seem to refrain themselves from watching (Gordon, 2007). Within a few days YouTube removed the video. Yet it is apparent that the damage has already been done. In a matter of hours, the video was already shared and watched by thousands of people and that image of Livingston breaking his leg was already imprinted to the minds of those who watched it. It is too little too late and it may seem undignified but that image will always be the first thing that comes to find whenever the name of Livingston comes up (Gordon, 2007). It may be crude to assume but this has been one of the major sources of entertainment nowadays. The embarrassment of those who commit blunders and the gratitude toward those who are quick in streaming and posting them. This is in direct conflict with those who are featured in these digital forms and to their privacy. It would be safe to assume that Livingston and all those who come before him, including those who are in the same position as him, are not pleased to say the least. Livingston is just one of the many who have fallen victim to such cases. There are so many issues regarding the fine lines between what is the proper and improper use of the internet. Though many are entertained, one has to remember that entertainment is not the end toward the justification of the means. Personal space should be given its proper due. Never mind those who seek it, regardless of letting go of their personal dignity in a manner of saying. But it does not and should not apply to all. Things that can be a way to degrade a person should not be taken in slight. The Culture of Technology and Surveillance Zero to Six, sponsored by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation conducted studies on the effect of the internet to children. As they have found out, it can be one of the contributory factors to the development of children and proper monitoring should be administered by adults. The future of the development of the culture of the usage of the internet lies in those who use it today and to those who will be its perceptible administrators and patrons. Admittedly, there is really no certain guidelines that developers and users adhere upon to prevent anyone from creating internet malpractices. In contrast, it has become a breeding ground for many shady activities and self-serving propaganda. Though it can never be prevented, the least that people can do should be to minimize it. This is already the culture that we have and it is a culture in its early stages, like a chicken with its head cut off, frantic and not knowing what to do and what it is doing. The confusion mostly lies on the lack of knowledge on who and what should be done. Though there are already certain things on the process, a more comprehensive action should be undertaken. Considerably, privacy should be put in mind at all times. As Robert Frost wrote in his poem Mending Wall, Good fences make for good neighbors. Personal space is something that everyone values. Otherwise, it would not be any different to the feeling of having been stolen from. As though one loses the sense of security and must therefore be ever vigilant to the point of hysteria. While most of us enjoy a certain degree of vanity in these cyber fame, there are always limits to it. At the same time, the idea of being tracked through our computers leaves a feeling of unease. While the thought of the government and their aptitude for surveillance sends a message that can be interpreted and misconstrued that the same government that should be protecting its nation takes advantage of its citizens and monitors them instead of securing them. There may be a fine line between the two, but as long as civil liberties are put into question then democracy is not at work. And this defeats the purpose of the government in all its fundamental levels. Our ability to think and penchant for creativity is subordinated by our desire to cope up with the fast times. This at the same way compromises our privacy as all these mediums that are available to us is filled with the capacity to monitor our movements, whether we like it or not. It is our own way of ‘escapism’ like the television is to the baby boom generation. Only we have more option of where we escape to. But it is not necessarily any different. Moreover, it can sometimes concede personal liberty. We will remain bombarded by the idea that anytime, anyone may be watching and it will be no different to living in a dictatorship where basic human rights are as impossible as reaching the sun. Maybe there is much truth to what the author is saying in the article I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by Google, that social networking machines are just methodically killing our souls. We are just unaware or blinded by it. Because ultimately these are just projections of ourselves, and our projections can be very subjective. There probably lies the death of spontaneous expression. Works Cited Clymer, A. Threats and Responses: Electronic Surveillance; Congress Agrees to Bar Pentagon From Terror Watch of Americans. York Times. Retrieved December 3, 2008, from New YorkTimesdatabase.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/washington/29policy.html?scp=10&sq=american%20privacy&st=cse. Fitzgerald, T. BASICS; A Trail of Cookies? Cover Your Tracks. New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2008, from New York Times database. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9407E6DC1E30F934A15750C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2. Gordon, D. Our Broken Leg- On YouTube. Newsweek. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Newsweek database.http://www.newsweek.com/id/36552. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (2003). Zero to Six Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers and Preschoolers. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: Author. "I Saw the Best Minds of my Generation Destroyed by Google." (2008). NewScientisTech, 2569, 52-53. Peyser, M. Television was UsTube.Newsweek. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Newsweek database.http://www.newsweek.com/id/44575/page/2. Romano, A. Bias? Its in the Eye of the Beholder. Newsweek. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Newsweek database. http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/07/30/bias-it-s-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder.aspx. Thornton, B., Walters, B., & Rouse, L. (2006). Corporate Media is Corporate America. [Electronic version]. Censored, 253-270. Read More