Blog #8- Five Eyes

The Five Eyes Alliance (FVEY) is a cooperative intelligence network that monitors the electronic communications of citizens and foreign governments. The five countries in the FVEY include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Five Eyes Alliance is a result of the UKUSA Agreement of 1946. That makes this organization the world's oldest intelligence partnership. 

So what does the FVEY even do? Previously, this organization monitored foreign communications among different countries for political interest. Nowadays, they monitor the private communications between millions of individuals worldwide. Five Eyes mainly uses methods such as signal intelligence to monitor the citizens of other FVEY countries. In the organization, the members do not motion the citizens of their own country they monitor the other countries in Five Eyes. This is so they can work around the domestic surveillance regulations of their country. I find this a little concerning. 

FVEY collects information by intercepting private communications--such as telephone calls, faxes, emails, and text messages--from infrastructure such as satellites, telephone networks, and fiber optic cables. FVEY also receives records of user data from large technology companies-- including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Paltalk, YouTube, AOL, Skype, and Apple.

So what are the pros to The Five Eyes Alliance? Although everything I just said can be quite scary to really think about, the FVEY has good intentions. For the most part, it seems that FVEY is designed to protect us and the security of our nations. The internet can do fascinating things, and it only makes sense to use it to our advantage and for our protection. Some benefits include being able to recognize threats before it is too late. This could possibly avoid wars or mass terroristic threats to the country.  

Are there any negatives to The Five Eyes Alliance? If you ask me, yes. Although I appreciate what they are trying to do to protect us, or at least what they are supposed to be doing, I do feel violated. Funny enough this seems to be a recurring pattern I am learning in this class. I have realized this semester more than ever that I really have no privacy, even in my own home. Everything you do online is being watched by the FVEY at all times. There is absolutely nothing you can hide from them. For The Five Eyes Alliance, invasion of privacy does not exist, and I feel this is a negative of this organization. 

There are many different ways in which the FVEY affects society as a whole both negatively and positively. Like I said before, no matter who you are, you are being watched. However, this is all for the greater protection of our society. If we didn't have organizations like the Five Eyes, most likely more dangers and threats would occur to our daily lives. I don't feel, unlike other things, that this specifically targets certain demographics. For the most part, as long as you are not a threat they are not targeting you. For example, if you and your best friend are on the phone talking about going to see a movie this weekend the FVEY is not paying attention to your phone call whatsoever. 

In the end, I think The Five Eyes Alliance is extremely important to our lives today. For me, the pros outweigh the cons. Yes, don't get me wrong, knowing I will never have complete privacy is quite uncomfortable. However, I do not do anything that should be of concern to anyone and if they need to look into my information for the greater protection of the country then I am okay with that. I feel a sense of ease knowing that there are people out there constantly looking for threats that could possibly affect my family and me. So through all of the possible cons and loopholes within the Five Eyes, I am thankful for them. 

Blog #7- Diffusion Theory

The Diffusion of Innovations theory is a hypothesis outlining how new technological and other advancements spread throughout societies and cultures, from introduction to widespread adoption. This can be used to explain almost any idea or invention and how it either became popular or was a complete flop. When I think of the diffusion theory I immediately think of Facebook. Over the years it has been super popular then not so much, and even underwent a name change. Facebook's success and adoption among the public will all make sense after looking at it through the eyes of the diffusion theory.

There are 5 main categories of people in the diffusion theory. These include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. First, let's talk about how Facebook even came about. In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg along with some fellow Harvard students created a site called Facemash. Facemash was a website where students could go on a rate the attractiveness of other students on campus. However, the lifespan of Facemash ended after two short days due to being in violation of Havard University policy. Within the two days that Facemash existed, it quickly gained 450 users just from Harvard. These people would be considered the innovators of the now-called Facebook. Innovators are the very few initial people who flock to an idea or creation, usually, they make up 2.5% of all adopters to come. 

After Zuckerberg's Facemash was shut down, he realized it was quite a hit in such a short amount of time. He decided he needed to create a new site with a different URL and see if this one would also be as popular. So in January 2004, Zuckerburg and some friends released TheFacebook.com. Havard students who signed up for the service could post photographs of themselves and personal information about their lives, such as their class schedules and the clubs they belonged to. As the popularity of the site increased, soon it was opened to other high-ranking schools such as Yale and Stanford. By June 2004, TheFacebook.com was opened to 34 different schools across the country and over 250,000 students had accounts. These initial individuals would be part of the early adopters of the diffusion theory. 

Soon Facebook was open for anyone to join, not just college students. By the end of their first year, they had reached over one million users. This was quickly becoming a popular site. These first one million users I would consider the early majority. Around this period in Facebook's life, some brands and companies started realizing this could be a great place to advertise. These companies were the first to take the chance and buy advertising on Facebook. The period of early majority really boosted Facebook and encouraged others to start joining. 

At this point, if you weren't on Facebook you were late to the trend. Facebook continued to make improvements and updates to its website. By the end of 2005, Facebook had over 6 million monthly users. This was groundbreaking for the time. With that being said, if you were not within those 6 million monthly users already, you were a late adopter. There are many reasons for people to adopt something late, some people are skeptical and others just have no interest in whatever the "idea" is. Some people who really are hesitant to get on board with something are often called laggards. 

Eventually, as time went on, the growth of Facebook was maxed out. It got to the point where everyone who was going to adopt Facebook already has and those who haven't most likely never will. The growth of Facebook was stagnant and Zuckerberg knew if he wasn't growing he was losing. This caused Zuckerberg to rebrand Facebook. Facebook is now called Meta. Not only did he change the name but he also rebranded the entire social media site towards the new generation he is trying to reach. This is a very smart move on his part and will create the cycle of adopters to start all over again. 

Blog #6- Antiwar

I always knew that the media and news were biased and for the most part, they only show us what they want us to see. However, it wasn't until I took this class and also explored these articles that I realized the news isn't just biased it's censored. Even worse, it's censored by our government. Throughout reading these articles, I learned that the main topic being shut down by the government is antiwar. These people who are talking about it get not only silenced but also sometimes punished. This is not okay, this is not constitutional, and I want to know more about why they are doing it. 

When I first decided to take a look at the site called Antiwar, I was overwhelmed by the amount of articles and stories on this page. However, what most caught my eye were the links to images. Images of horrible things like bodies being buried and lifeless people all over the ground. This really was emotional for me to see, not because I didn't know what happens in wars, but because it is never shown to the public. After exploring some more short stories, I started to wonder why none of this is ever in the mainstream media. It appears to me the government only wants us to see certain things about war and not know about others. I now feel like they are hiding so much of what they have done, and that really concerns me. Why would they need to hide what they are doing? It is almost like they have always led us to believe war is not only inevitable but also beneficial. Clearly, war is way more devastating and destructive than anyone is allowed to talk about. 

So how is the government allowed to censor people from speaking up against war? This will never make sense to me to be truthful. In our Bill of Rights, we are granted the freedom of speech! This is arguably the one thing that makes the United States so great. Now I'm starting to question if we even have freedom of speech, or if it is just freedom of speech as long as you agree with the government. Which then makes me question our other right to petition. We are supposed to be allowed to stand up for what we believe in and say something when we see something wrong. However, people are being silenced and thrown in jail. It all just seems like the government is scared of opposing opinions if you ask me. I will always believe that everyone should be able to voice their opinions, no matter if you are a war lover forever or hate war. We must stand up for our constitutional rights.   

Blog #5- The History of Motion Pictures

    Ever since the mid-19th century, photography has been a part of the world. The popularity of photos grew largely during the Civil War era as photographers took still images of the battlefields as a way to show the rest of the country what was happening. However, in those days you could not take multiple pictures at once within seconds. Photographers would only be able to take one picture, and then have to wait hours for that to process for them to be able to take another. There was absolutely no way for them to take a "burst" of pictures at once and capture movement in the scene. 

    So how did the first motion pictures come about? In October of 1878, Eadweard Muybridge an English photographer set out to settle a bet. The bet was between a California Businessman named Leland Stanford and his colleagues. Standford claimed that at some point while a horse is running, all four of their legs are off of the ground. None of his colleagues agreed, so he commissioned Muybridge to take rapid pictures of a horse running in all strides.  

     For Muybridge to capture a horse running in every position, he set up 12 different cameras to all go off at the same time. After collecting the 12 separate images, he was able to compile them all together to make a motion picture. And funny enough, Standford was right. There is indeed one point where a horse has all of their hooves off of the ground. Later in October Scientific American published his short clip of the horse running and it became the first-ever movie. It was black and white, with no sound, and only about 15 seconds long. 

  The clip put out by Scientific American was projected through a zoetrope. The zoetrope was one of the first pre-animation devices that used multiple pictures to produce the illusion of motion. After the release of The Horse in Motion, it fascinated the world. Muybridge quickly realized the popularity of motion pictures, and with the help of Stanford, he created the first photo projector called a zoogyroscope. This was the start of being able to project moving images to an audience. 

    Shortly after, the first motion picture camera was invented. Thomas Edison and his assistant William Dickson invented a type of recording camera which they called the kinetograph. The fastest camera of its kind, it could take approximately 40 frames per second, on a reel of up to 15 meters long. The two men also designed a kinetoscope, which was a way to project the film to audiences. Once the public caught wind of their invention, "Kinetograph Parlors" opened around the country. I guess some could say these were the first stages of our modern-day movie theaters.  

    Finally, as technology kept advancing, by the 1920's early filmmakers were starting to find ways to incorporate sound and music into films. Researching motion pictures has blown my mind. It is crazy how far all forms of media and communication have come over time. I find it crazy how we can go to a movie theater now and watch hour-long films, packed with sound and animation, some even 3D. Or even better, how I can pick up my phone right now and record a horse running without having to set up 12 different cameras. 

Blog #4- Online Privacy

     Although I have always been told that everything I do online stays there forever, these videos were still highly shocking. It was terrifying, to say the least. In recent years, everything in life has revolved around some use of the internet, from communicating with friends, to shopping, and even school work. After watching these videos, I realized we all need to be taking more caution and be better aware of the dangers of the internet.

    So how do these affect me, my friends, and my family? Although everyone in my life could possibly be at risk for heavy consequences related to their use of technology, I feel my friends and I are the most at risk. Like I said before, this generation in which we are growing up is surrounded by technology. As sad as it is to say out loud, the main way my friends and I communicate is via social media. We all use countless different sites and social media that all have different passcodes. Not only that, we all have had access to the internet at such a young age. Compared to older generations who lived most of their lives without technology. With this being said, I can recall my friends and me posting videos online of ourselves as young as 12 years old. After watching Your Online Life, Permanent As a Tattoo, it's scary for me to think those silly posts my friends and I made are without a doubt still somewhere in the online world. And even worse, for absolutely anyone to see at any time. 

    I think it goes without saying, that the government should be doing more to protect us online. Although it would be great if they could just end cyber hacking and such once and for all, I don't think that will be possible. However, taking more steps to make it harder can help. One thing they could be doing is heavier monitoring of sites that steal and sell personal information. And with that, a harsher punishment for those sites who get caught doing so. 

    Finally, how can we as individuals protect ourselves better online? No matter how safe you try to be, there is always a risk of invasion of your privacy. However, we can be smarter about what we post online, and try to limit it as much as possible. Always remember to never post personal information. Also, keep in mind what you post will never go away, so be sure that whatever you post or say online is something you will be okay with anyone seeing. Finally, create as secure of a passcode as possible. Try not to make it something easy like your birthday or even worse "12345". 

    Overall, we all need to be very aware of how serious the internet is, and probably everyone could be even more careful than they currently are. I think these videos scared me in a good way. I now feel so invaded and watched, making me want to be so careful about my internet use from now on. 

Blog #3- Values of Free Expression

    Having the right to free expression is very important and is protected by our First Amendment. There are eight values of free expression. These include the marketplace of ideas, participation in self-government, stable change, individual self-fulfillment, check on government power, promote tolerance, promote innovation, and protection of dissent.

    All of these are important in their own way, however, the one that I feel is the most important is checking on government power. Quite frankly, the power the government holds can be scary when you think about it. The government has the power to do many things, but making sure they do not overstep those powers is essential. As we learned, our founding fathers originally set up our government to break away from a monarchy system. This is where the government has all of the power and no one else has any say. For these reasons, the founding fathers created a checks and balances system to ensure that no one branch has too much power.

    The Constitution divided the Government into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. That was an important decision because it gave specific powers to each branch and set up something called checks and balances. Just like the phrase sounds, the point of checks and balances was to make sure no one branch would be able to control too much power, and it created a separation of powers. What many people fail to realize is that we the citizens of the United States are also a part of this checks and balances system. It is not only our right, but also our constitutional duty to speak up and speak out if we feel something in the government is not right. This is where our freedom of expression comes into play. To make sure our country continues to stay a democracy we must express ourselves when it comes to checking on the government's power.

    I think this also leads to the other value that resonates with me the most, protecting dissent. From a very young age, my parents have instilled in me to always stand up for what I believe in. This goes hand in hand with our First Amendment right to assembly and petition. Although, by no means do I agree with violent protest, I do firmly believe everyone has the right to an opinion and their own beliefs. As Steve Shiffrin said, "Our system is not supposed to be one of mob rule. The First Amendment protects minority views, no matter how unpopular." 

    Protection of dissent is definitely the value I see most in recent days. Although protests, strikes, and bans have gone on forever, I feel in the 21st century more and more people are speaking out. The first few that come to mind are the dissenting thoughts after Roe v. Wade was overturned, the BLM movement, and gun regulations. No matter your stance on these or any other particular topic, protecting dissenting opinions is crucial. If everyone wasn't free to have their opinions and or fight for what they think is right, we would no longer have a democracy. This is exactly what our founding fathers tried to escape from when leaving the English monarchy. 

    In conclusion, all eight of the values of free expression are extremely important in their own way. No matter if it is to speak out about the government, or voice your opinions, everyone should always have the right to believe what they want to believe. With that, being able to express it and make it known. This is exactly what the eight values are all about. Reading these eight values has not only increased my knowledge but also made me have a great appreciation for being able to express myself freely. 

Blog #2- The Supreme Court

    Prior to doing research, watching the informational video, and reading about the Supreme Court on the History Channel, my knowledge of the Supreme Court was relatively limited. I felt I knew the basics, or for better terms, what I learned in high school history class. I never realized how important they really are and the impact they have on all of our lives. 

   Let's start off from the beginning, how the Supreme Court came to be. The Supreme Court was established in 1789 by Article Three of the U.S. Constitution, which also granted Congress the power to create inferior federal courts. When George Washington, the first president of the United States, signed the Judiciary Act of 1789, it stated that the court would be made up of 6 judges. These justices were to serve until they either retired or died. After these 6 justices were chosen, they were first set to meet on February 1, 1790. However, due to limited transportation and no access to cars or planes, the meeting had to be postponed until February 2, 1790. This first meeting on a cold day in New York City was the start of it all.

  The most surprising thing that I learned was the evolution of the Supreme Court from then to now. As I said before, the original Supreme Court was composed of 6 individuals. Since then the number has been altered six different times. Finally, in 1869, Congress decided upon 9 seats in the Supreme Court which has remained the same since. I also found it very shocking that the original Supreme Court did not have its first case until over a year after its founding. This is crazy to think because today's Supreme Court gets thousands of cases a year and has to turn away most.

    I can confidently say that I have learned so much more than I ever knew before about the Supreme Court. I think the most important takeaway is realizing the prestige of these officials and how they come to have a seat on the Supreme Court. In the article, it says that the judges are nominated by the current president and then later confirmed by the Senate. It is extremely hard to find yourself on the Supreme Court and with that comes a lot of power. Additionally, above all in the court is the chief justice. They are the ones who set the schedules and plan the weekly meetings. 

    This article has really opened my eyes to how much I really did not know about the Supreme Court. I am very glad I took the time to learn more about the people who actually have such an impact on not only the government but also our everyday lives.