What’s the Verdict?

Perhaps I am behind the times, but this week was the first time I have ever seen the film We Live In Public. My initial reactions were what’s going on? People really signed up for this? Lastly, I reflected on the fact that the Internet has given countless ‘normal’ people the ability to rise to fast and usually short lived fame. The specific instance that I am thinking about is the “Numa Numa guy.” In 2006, you could not go anywhere without hearing about this New Jersey native.

The video was watched over 36 million times. Due his success on YouTube, he was featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s The Tonight Show, VH1’s Best Week Ever, Geico commercials, and he was even featured in a Super Bowl commercial. The Internet has provided the average Joe with a platform to perform and if the public takes to it a glimpse of fame could be captured for a brief moment. Where the “Numa Numa guy” is now, I personally have no idea. But he certainly made an impact on society.

Being an Internet enthusiast, I don’t think that the Internet is going to take over our lives. I think that many of the positive aspects are over looked due to the examples that cast the Internet in a negative light. Yes, the Internet can be used inappropriately but it can also be incredibly helpful. We created the Internet, thus we are essentially in control.

Throughout this course, we have looked at the positive impacts such as free and open software to negative cases such as that of Mr. Bungle. However, my conclusion is that the Internet has provided us with more good then evil. There are going to be people who use the Internet in malicious ways however the advancements and good that have come out of it outweigh the evil.

The Dark Side of the Internet

We have investigated both the good and the bad aspects of the Internet throughout the duration of this class. This week, we talked about the concept of cyber-bullying and what it exactly meant. We specifically discussed it in terms of teens. However the first thing that popped into my mind was the phenomenon of “Juicy Campus” its founder, Matt Iverson, linked the site as apart of the “gossip 2.0” trend and celebrity gossip sites such as TMZ or PerezHilton.

The site swept universities nation wide. The New York Times article, “Juicy Campus: College gossip leaves the bathroom wall and goes online,” states the subject matter perfectly. It simply provided more harm than good. The site allowed users to operate anonymously, allowing comments to be posted regarding a users school and peers that were cruel and in some cases untrue.

In 2008, Carlos Heurta, a student at Loyola Marymount University posted threatening messages on the site Juicy Campus. Messages such as "I am going to shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am incapacitated or killed by the police." By tracking down Heurta’s IP address he was later linked to the post and shortly arrested. This was no long cyber-bullying but had crossed into dangerous waters, cyberterrorism.

Keeping this case study in mind, we can technically call Heurta a cyber terrorist via Maura Conway’s definition “cyberterrorism is the convergence of cyberspace and terrorism. It refers to unlawful attacks and threats of attacks against computers, networks, and the information stored therein when done to intimidate or coerce…”

Cyberterrorism is something that has the potential to impact all of our lives and as more and more people begin to use and manipulate the Internet, I fear it will only become more of an issue.

"Genius" Is Exactly That, Genius.

I found Cass Sunstein’s article, “Is the Internet Really a Blessing For Democracy?” particularly interesting. I believe that the Internet, more often than not, allows users to expand their horizons and subjects us to information we might not know about.

When I was a junior in high school, our school received an exchange student from China. It came to the attention of my professors that she had been skipping classes, for days. The student was later found in the school’s library, glued to a computer. As she was researching items for class, she came across information regarding her own country and what she had believed to be true.

It’s no secret that China regulates the information their citizens receive; this was made even clear this year with the China v. Google battle where Google stated they would not regulate China’s searches. My point being, due to this students chance to study abroad, she came encounter with information that she may never had the opportunity to else wise.

However, not all personalization is bad. Sunstein makes reference to this early on in his article, mentioning item such as TiVo and Broadcast.com. Another example, which I make great use of, is the “Genius” feature on iTunes. “Genius” is easy to use and creates a playlist for the user simply by choosing a song of your choice than hitting the Genius button.

By creating playlist with this application, I am introduced to music I may have forgotten that I have or not ever really listened to before. Arguably I will enjoy the selected music because it is a product of music I have previously uploaded to my iTunes.

When researching “Genius,” I came across an article written by John Fortt for CNN. He not only claims it is the best application Apple has come up with (keep in mind the article was written in 2008) but makes two interesting points from a business perspective: he first claims that with the implementation of “Genius” it encourages people with large libraries to listen more. With the rediscovery of their music collection, Fortt believe speople will be more likely to upgrade their iPods. The second claim he makes is it attaches users to iTunes, making them less likely to switch to another server.

While personalization can be flawed I believe it also has its benefits.