What’s the value of a bit? It seems that going after folks who have traded songs or movies online is a huge expenditure of effort and money. Is DRM-protected content the way to go? If you don’t agree, propose another method for the distribution of digital multimedia so that content creators can still be compensated.
Today, computers are making it easy to copy and distribute information without permission. To make this difficult or near impossible, one would need to actually change computers which is not easy to do. According to Abelson, it can’t be done at all without sacrificing the computer’s ability to function as a general-purpose device. That is why Digital Rights Management (DRM) was created in order to “access control technologies that can be used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to try to impose limitations on the usage of digital content and devices” (Wikipedia). While DRM is argued as to be needed by copyright holders to prevent unauthorized duplication of their work, either to maintain artistic integrity or to ensure continued revenue streams, others find it misleading. Even with encryption, attackers could save the encrypted material and distribute those copies all over the internet. A solution that Abelson comes up with is to build a chip into every computer that checks the operating system each time the machine is turned on. If the system has been modified, it will not boot. This chip has actually been worked out and is called a Trusted Platform Module and should become more pervasive in upcoming years.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Copy Protection of DVDs
The copy protection originally designed to protect content on DVDs has been overcome some years ago. What other methods can you find today that movie studios are using to protect their content on DVDs or other optical media?
According to Abelson, DVD’s often use the Content Scrambling System (CSS) in order to protect them from being copied. The CSS encrypts DVD contents in order to limit unauthorized copying. However, apparently, this system turned out to be weak and was cracked within three years after it was announced. But as of last year, Patronus DVD anti-rip copy protection has been used as a way to protect DVDs. The Patronus helps content owners protect digital assets by encapsulating image files on a DVD disc causing access to the content to be controlled. The encapsulation is introduced in areas of the disc that are not read by DVD players during playback. Since no copy protection is unavoidable, it is important to be realistic about the system and to not set expectations too high. The goal of the Patronus is to make copying extremely difficult for the average person. Even though it is not completely fool proof, it provides a reliable, efficient, and easy way to protect DVDs from being copied.
Information found at www.fortiumtech.com.
According to Abelson, DVD’s often use the Content Scrambling System (CSS) in order to protect them from being copied. The CSS encrypts DVD contents in order to limit unauthorized copying. However, apparently, this system turned out to be weak and was cracked within three years after it was announced. But as of last year, Patronus DVD anti-rip copy protection has been used as a way to protect DVDs. The Patronus helps content owners protect digital assets by encapsulating image files on a DVD disc causing access to the content to be controlled. The encapsulation is introduced in areas of the disc that are not read by DVD players during playback. Since no copy protection is unavoidable, it is important to be realistic about the system and to not set expectations too high. The goal of the Patronus is to make copying extremely difficult for the average person. Even though it is not completely fool proof, it provides a reliable, efficient, and easy way to protect DVDs from being copied.
Information found at www.fortiumtech.com.
The Importance of enabling WPA
If your mother uses wifi at home to send you e-mail, and your home network is not protected by WEP or WPA, what reasons would you suggest to her for enabling one of these two protocols at home if the liability of reading those e-mails still exists once her message leaves your home, on it’s way to school?
If my mom uses WiFi at home to send me an email at school, but my home network is not protected by WPA, she might as well just come to campus and read the email over the intercom system for the entire student body to hear. My mom might not realize it but when packets of data are sent over the internet, it gets handled at switching points called routers. At each router, the packet of data is stored, examined, checked, analyzed, and sent on its way. Since she is using a wireless network service, it makes it very easy for hackers to obtain our information undetected. I would ask my mom if she really thinks it is wise to send me important unprotected information over the internet. I would tell her that according to Abelson, in 2001, credit card numbers that were sent via internet were hacked in to because it was impossible to prevent snoopers from looking at them. Would she want that to happen to us? The solution to protect the data she wants to send is to encrypt the information so that only I, the recipient, could decrypt it. With WPA, when a hacker tries to read our information, all they will see is an undecipherable scramble of bits.
If my mom uses WiFi at home to send me an email at school, but my home network is not protected by WPA, she might as well just come to campus and read the email over the intercom system for the entire student body to hear. My mom might not realize it but when packets of data are sent over the internet, it gets handled at switching points called routers. At each router, the packet of data is stored, examined, checked, analyzed, and sent on its way. Since she is using a wireless network service, it makes it very easy for hackers to obtain our information undetected. I would ask my mom if she really thinks it is wise to send me important unprotected information over the internet. I would tell her that according to Abelson, in 2001, credit card numbers that were sent via internet were hacked in to because it was impossible to prevent snoopers from looking at them. Would she want that to happen to us? The solution to protect the data she wants to send is to encrypt the information so that only I, the recipient, could decrypt it. With WPA, when a hacker tries to read our information, all they will see is an undecipherable scramble of bits.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Flash Mobs
Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GfrfDmXDb0 What would you write to get people to do this? Where would you put it? How would you distribute the message? How would you get buy-in for participation?
If I were to start a flash mob like the freeze in Paris, I would use a social networking site to spread the word. I could make an event on Facebook and send it to as many people as I can. I would make it so that people can invite whoever they want so that the word spreads. Another idea is to post in the activities and events sections of craigslist, or any other local live journal communities that may exist. I could post at least 2 weeks beforehand, and then every other day leading up to the event. I would use these types of social networks so that if police were to find out about it, they would not be able to accuse anybody for the coordinated public gathering before the event because they wouldn’t know who is actually going to be attending. In the event write-up, I would include a date, time, location, and clearly defined rules. I would let everyone know that this event is just for fun and that participation is completely optional. I might even have everybody gather in a more remote location beforehand to go over the rules and the signals for exactly when to start and stop the routine.
If I were to start a flash mob like the freeze in Paris, I would use a social networking site to spread the word. I could make an event on Facebook and send it to as many people as I can. I would make it so that people can invite whoever they want so that the word spreads. Another idea is to post in the activities and events sections of craigslist, or any other local live journal communities that may exist. I could post at least 2 weeks beforehand, and then every other day leading up to the event. I would use these types of social networks so that if police were to find out about it, they would not be able to accuse anybody for the coordinated public gathering before the event because they wouldn’t know who is actually going to be attending. In the event write-up, I would include a date, time, location, and clearly defined rules. I would let everyone know that this event is just for fun and that participation is completely optional. I might even have everybody gather in a more remote location beforehand to go over the rules and the signals for exactly when to start and stop the routine.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Google's Text Based Ads
In general, do you pay attention to Google’s text-based ads? If you do follow them, tell us why. If you don’t, tell us why. Should Google keep these “sponsored ads”? Tell us why or why no
I, personally, have never paid much attention to Google’s text based ads. To be honest, I never really even noticed them there at all. After reading up on them though, I have gathered some opinions based on them. The good thing about them is that they are clearly separate from the search results and don’t interfere with them. This way, “no one is tricked into the search engine’s descent into commercial deception.” However, according to Abelson, to place an ad today, you simply fill out a web form with information about what search terms you want to target, what few words you want as the text of your ad, and what credit card number Google can use to charge its fee. It sounds to me like it is extremely simple for just anybody to place an ad on Google which makes it seems as if the advertisements could be unreliable and sketchy. For this reason, I think that Google should not keep these sponsored ads unless they are legitimate. To make sure of this, the sponsor should have to go through a longer process of posting an ad rather than just filling out a web form.
I, personally, have never paid much attention to Google’s text based ads. To be honest, I never really even noticed them there at all. After reading up on them though, I have gathered some opinions based on them. The good thing about them is that they are clearly separate from the search results and don’t interfere with them. This way, “no one is tricked into the search engine’s descent into commercial deception.” However, according to Abelson, to place an ad today, you simply fill out a web form with information about what search terms you want to target, what few words you want as the text of your ad, and what credit card number Google can use to charge its fee. It sounds to me like it is extremely simple for just anybody to place an ad on Google which makes it seems as if the advertisements could be unreliable and sketchy. For this reason, I think that Google should not keep these sponsored ads unless they are legitimate. To make sure of this, the sponsor should have to go through a longer process of posting an ad rather than just filling out a web form.
The Responsibility of Drug Companies Whose Drugs Cause Negative Side Effects
The official website for the drug Olanzapine probably didn’t mention the fact it might cause diabetic symptoms in patients. Another website obviously did. Commercials on TV now are required to mention possible side effects. Should drug companies be required to come clean about situations like the one with Eli Lilly’s Olanzapine in their commercial websites? Why or why not?
According to Abelson, Eli Lilly kept the negative side effects of Zyprexa a secret from users. Apparently, people had sued Lilly claiming that the drug caused them diabetes, but Lilly tried to keep these documents hidden and only accessible to the company. Well, these documents somehow got published on the web making them reachable to web surfers with only a few mouse clicks. When situations like this happen to drug companies, they should be required to come clean about it in their official websites. At the point when a drug is supposedly causing consumers Pancreatitis and Diabetes, it is worth more than a company’s reputation to admit to it; were talking about peoples’ lives here. Diabetes is a very serious thing and if it can be contracted from the drug, than people deserve to know about it. If people have already sued the drug company for this problem, then there is no saying that it won’t happen again. I have actually seen commercials for other types of drugs on TV warning consumers about the dangers that it may cause. I recently saw a commercial for a certain birth control saying that if you have taken it, then to contact a doctor right away because the pill can lead to serious side effects. This was the right thing to do because it is taking the lives of people into consideration even though it is destroying the business for the drug.
According to Abelson, Eli Lilly kept the negative side effects of Zyprexa a secret from users. Apparently, people had sued Lilly claiming that the drug caused them diabetes, but Lilly tried to keep these documents hidden and only accessible to the company. Well, these documents somehow got published on the web making them reachable to web surfers with only a few mouse clicks. When situations like this happen to drug companies, they should be required to come clean about it in their official websites. At the point when a drug is supposedly causing consumers Pancreatitis and Diabetes, it is worth more than a company’s reputation to admit to it; were talking about peoples’ lives here. Diabetes is a very serious thing and if it can be contracted from the drug, than people deserve to know about it. If people have already sued the drug company for this problem, then there is no saying that it won’t happen again. I have actually seen commercials for other types of drugs on TV warning consumers about the dangers that it may cause. I recently saw a commercial for a certain birth control saying that if you have taken it, then to contact a doctor right away because the pill can lead to serious side effects. This was the right thing to do because it is taking the lives of people into consideration even though it is destroying the business for the drug.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Miller Test
If you were developing an Internet policy for your company or organization, how would you define content inappropriate in the workplace in email or bulletin boards different than the Miller test?
If I had an internet policy for my company, I would define content inappropriate in the workplace in email or bulletin boards slightly different than the Miller test. The interesting thing about the Miller test is that it establishes that there is no national standard for obscenity. The same thing goes for companies and organizations. Each company may have different standards for what is considered inappropriate. It all really depends on the type of company. So first of all I would come up with a standard code of appropriateness that would be agreed on by the “work community.” If something is brought up as being offensive, an internal ethics committee could check the information that is brought up and vote on the content which determines whether it is approved to be published on bulletin boards. Rather than having three broad categories, I think that I would have more than three but break them down and make them more specific.
If I had an internet policy for my company, I would define content inappropriate in the workplace in email or bulletin boards slightly different than the Miller test. The interesting thing about the Miller test is that it establishes that there is no national standard for obscenity. The same thing goes for companies and organizations. Each company may have different standards for what is considered inappropriate. It all really depends on the type of company. So first of all I would come up with a standard code of appropriateness that would be agreed on by the “work community.” If something is brought up as being offensive, an internal ethics committee could check the information that is brought up and vote on the content which determines whether it is approved to be published on bulletin boards. Rather than having three broad categories, I think that I would have more than three but break them down and make them more specific.
Good Samaritan Clause
What might you have done differently if you were in the position of artist Ken Zeran, mentioned in this chapter?
If I were in the position of Ken Zeran, I would have at first done the same thing: call AOL and ask them to take down the posting. After this, Ken continued to call and ask them to take the postings down which they didn’t. Before having read this chapter, I would have continued to do the same thing that Ken was doing. However, I have learned that the Good Samaritan Clause under the CDA gives service providers immunity to filter as it wishes. So there would be no good to calling and asking them to take it down or even suing them would be a lost cause. For this reason, I think that I would try to use media outlets to set the situation straight. I would start posting things in hopes that people would believe me. Or perhaps I would call a local radio station who could try to help me set the story straight. However, if I started to receive death threats, I would go straight to the police because I wouldn’t want to be risking my life.
If I were in the position of Ken Zeran, I would have at first done the same thing: call AOL and ask them to take down the posting. After this, Ken continued to call and ask them to take the postings down which they didn’t. Before having read this chapter, I would have continued to do the same thing that Ken was doing. However, I have learned that the Good Samaritan Clause under the CDA gives service providers immunity to filter as it wishes. So there would be no good to calling and asking them to take it down or even suing them would be a lost cause. For this reason, I think that I would try to use media outlets to set the situation straight. I would start posting things in hopes that people would believe me. Or perhaps I would call a local radio station who could try to help me set the story straight. However, if I started to receive death threats, I would go straight to the police because I wouldn’t want to be risking my life.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
MP3 Versus AAC
Research the differences between the MP3 and AAC audio formats, then explain why you think Apple chose the AAC format for music in their iTunes store.
While MP3 and AAC are both lossy compression and encoding schemes for digital audio, AAC was designed to be the successor of MP3 and is said to achieve better sound quality and transparency. Some improvements of AAC include more sample frequencies and channels, higher coding efficiency and accuracy for signals, and a more flexible joint stereo. Apple probably chose the AAC format for music because these improvements in AAC allow developers more flexibility to design codecs than MP3 does, and correct many of the design choices made in the original MPEG-1 audio specification. According to Apple.com, the “AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.” Abelson states “MP3’s are ‘good enough’ for many purposes, but a trained and sensitive ear can detect a loss of sound quality.” For this reason, even though both MP3 and AAC are lossy compression rather than lossless compression, there would be no reason for Apple to choose MP3 when it’s just “good enough” when it could choose AAC with a new and improved sound quality.
Imformation obtained from Wikipedia and Apple.com
While MP3 and AAC are both lossy compression and encoding schemes for digital audio, AAC was designed to be the successor of MP3 and is said to achieve better sound quality and transparency. Some improvements of AAC include more sample frequencies and channels, higher coding efficiency and accuracy for signals, and a more flexible joint stereo. Apple probably chose the AAC format for music because these improvements in AAC allow developers more flexibility to design codecs than MP3 does, and correct many of the design choices made in the original MPEG-1 audio specification. According to Apple.com, the “AAC provides audio encoding that compresses much more efficiently than older formats, such as MP3, yet delivers quality rivaling that of uncompressed CD audio.” Abelson states “MP3’s are ‘good enough’ for many purposes, but a trained and sensitive ear can detect a loss of sound quality.” For this reason, even though both MP3 and AAC are lossy compression rather than lossless compression, there would be no reason for Apple to choose MP3 when it’s just “good enough” when it could choose AAC with a new and improved sound quality.
Imformation obtained from Wikipedia and Apple.com
Friday, October 2, 2009
Collective Cause
What kinds of collective causes have you become a part of? Did the cause have a website? How did you learn about the cause? How did you participate? What kind(s) of technology were used to communicate re: the group forming or group action?
A few years ago, my best friend’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was devastating to me at the time and I was so shocked that something like this could actually happen to somebody that I know. I wanted to do something about it but I felt so helpless. Then, coincidentally, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation came to JMU, and had trailers parked on campus. I went in one of them and did this online informational thing on a computer and signed up for the cause. The point of the foundation is to fight against breast cancer by increasing awareness. The foundation has a website which gives information about breast cancer, ways to become involved, and information about research and sponsors. I decided that I wanted to become more involved so I participated by donating money online. Since I’ve signed up, I have been periodically receiving e-mail updates and reminders which include advances in research and new ways to become involved. Shirky states that e-mail is low cost, almost instant, and doesn’t require the sender and receiver to be synchronized. “These advantages help account for the incredible success of e-mail as a medium for group conversation, relative to all previous attempts.”
A few years ago, my best friend’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was devastating to me at the time and I was so shocked that something like this could actually happen to somebody that I know. I wanted to do something about it but I felt so helpless. Then, coincidentally, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation came to JMU, and had trailers parked on campus. I went in one of them and did this online informational thing on a computer and signed up for the cause. The point of the foundation is to fight against breast cancer by increasing awareness. The foundation has a website which gives information about breast cancer, ways to become involved, and information about research and sponsors. I decided that I wanted to become more involved so I participated by donating money online. Since I’ve signed up, I have been periodically receiving e-mail updates and reminders which include advances in research and new ways to become involved. Shirky states that e-mail is low cost, almost instant, and doesn’t require the sender and receiver to be synchronized. “These advantages help account for the incredible success of e-mail as a medium for group conversation, relative to all previous attempts.”
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