The Internet: Freebies For All!

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The internet over the years has advanced dramatically; much like the technology and the computers that we use to access the worldwide web. With advanced technology and developed ideas comes more advanced knowledge and access to these ideas. In simplistic form, I am trying to tell you that even though the internet is advancing, it is getting older and people are becoming more familiar with it, and what they can do with it.

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Take former existing file sharing website Mega Upload for example, as the site manipulated the Internets vulnerability through giving the cyber public access to files which they did not own and were not prohibited to give access to. So this brings forth the question: Are the files we upload onto the internet solely ours? Or are we just giving away freebies?

In my spare time I like to make music and I often release my material onto the web for free; this is a legitimate freebie, the public are welcome. I have friends that are also musicians who sometimes do the same, but sometimes also charge money for their music, they have the right to do so. 

A friend of mine had spent months creating an album, hundreds of pounds invested in studio time, CD distribution, cover art, music videos and photo shoots. He released the album as a download people had to pay for, to get returns for his hard work and investment. A week later, all the songs had been leaked on to the internet and YouTube and people were downloading them for free. His project overall was a success in terms of the exposure it got, but he had lost a lot of money.

Recently, I had met up with him and asked him about how he felt about his work being distributed over the internet for free; He described it as being 'damaging' and said that it has taken away his 'enthusiasm' for music. He also said: 

"The music market is suffering financially because of people who illegally download and give out music they do not own for nothing."

"Artists now only make revenue from PRS and gigs. We (Musicians), have also been forced to make Mickey Mouse music like Gangnam Style to make money because people get pleasure from this and are willing to show huge interest."

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According to the music industry body IFPI, more than 40 billion songs were downloaded ILLEGALLY in 2008. It costs £0.79 to download a song via iTunes, X that by 40 billion and it equals:

31 600 000 000 = thirty-one billion six hundred million POUNDS (Financial loss)

Now that is an astronomical amount of loss the music industry has suffered from, and for the artists and producers who created the music. The idea of downloading songs for free is becoming more popular and I would assume that these figures have increased over the year as access to these files becomes easier. The younger generations who are the biggest consumers and audience of music are being introduced to a free web and in the current musical climate; illegal downloads are inevitable. 

Yes, there are sanctions for people who download music illegally, IF caught. But these sanctions are not really threatening, as it is impossible to sanction a huge percentage of the worlds population. 

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The music industry is not only a victim of illegal use, so is the movie industry. Referring back to Mega Upload, they had a sister website called Mega Video. Mega Video allowed easy web streaming and download of movies, so people had access to the latest movies to view for free on their laptops and desktops Although Mega Video had been shut down with Mega Upload; there are several sites which allow streaming of movies for free.

Although these issues are being slowly tackled, the picture of a solution is very bleak and distant. Billions of pounds have already been lost, continue to be lost and cannot be claimed. 

'THE INTERNET INDEFINITE SALE: EVERYTHING MUST GO, FOR FREE!!!!' 

 

The Man Behind The Screen: 'Hi, My name is...'

I was on my Playstation the other day and I noticed an app titled 'Playstation Home'. I went onto the app and I made my own character, dressed it up and even designed its house! My initial thought was, that maybe this is just a game, like the Sims, but it wasn't. Playstation Home was in fact a cyber world for Playstation Gamers to interact with each other, play games with each other and run around each other. I found it extremely bizarre that people would want to spend time with other cyber identities in a false world. The most amazing thing I had come across though was that people actually pay for cyber furniture for their cyber homes!!

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Obviously, Playstation has not advanced enough to make our cyber characters look identical to ourselves in creation. When I created myself on Playstation Home, I was only limited to a specific look. My character had long blonde hair, white skin, a big jacket, combat trousers with some huge shades; completely the opposite of my real self.  This makes Playstation Home very dangerous because it creates a false image of myself in this case, and manipulates people and there interpretation of me. 

Another danger of this cyber world is that, it is used by people from all wakes of life; for example - children. A conversation between two people on Playstation Home is public and every cyber character which is near other characters engaging in a conversation can see everything that is being said. This makes children very vulnerable to pedophiles and other criminals.

 

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The first source of communication via the internet was E-Mails, which was quite formal. But this idea was developed, made easier and faster...

The first time I was introduced to the internet, chat rooms were massively popular. There was chat rooms for all audiences and purposes.  This was the foundation of where the idea of cyber identities were created; an online society full of people talking to other people they had never seen before.

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The first ever chat room I had joined was on AOL. The chat room was for kids and each chat room would have a host/moderator. If anyone swore, you would be kicked out of the chat room and suspended. The chat room was mainly about interests such as kids television shows and a place where kids could play games with the moderator, Scrabble was my favorite. 

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A year later, my age was upgraded on my AOL subscription and I was able to IM (Instant Message). I enjoyed this because it was very fast and easy. A private conversation between me and another person, rather than trying to get a word in a chat room full of loads of people was beneficial. I remember speaking to a girl and telling her that I was the son of a professional wrestler, not my proudest moment. The girl was from America and had started declaring her love for me, a cyber presence she barely knows! I would tell her I had things I never had and she would believe me because she had her own image of me in her head from what I had told her... Don't judge me though, I was only a kid!

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I was later introduced to MSN messenger which is now known as Windows LIVE, owned by Microsoft. MSN was so much more cooler than AOL. You had your own display picture, the ability to talk via mic/cam and it even later developed so you could have a conversation with more than one person and play games!

The web was changing almost every day. We were then introduced to social networks such as Bebo and Facebook. These social networks kept advancing and implementing new ideas which revolutionised the online identity.

Online identity is becoming stronger each day and more ways to create these cyber egos are becoming accessible. Even accounts on twitter which are evidently fake and admit they are fake in their 'bio' have thousands of followers and hundreds of interactions each day.

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This Is My Digital Voice: Are You Listening?

Communication over time has advanced in many ways. Let's start with the first every form of communication which was sign language. From sign language, to speaking, writing, telegraph, to emails etc etc. Our world today is so advanced that we now also have a digital voice. As you are reading this blog, I am communicating with you through my digital voice... You get the concept now, right? If not, a digital voice is communication through technology.

When I had my first mobile phone, now referred to as a dumb phone, since the introduction of the SMART phones, I was only able to call and text. As phone technology developed, I was able to send multimedia messages, emails, and was able to even send and receive video calls. These ideas have kept developing and now we can communicate via phone applications such as Blackberry messenger and WhatsApp.

 

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WhatsApp is a smart phone application which enables you to chat to other people through text and voice clip for free. Because of apps such as Whatsapp, the idea of the traditional SMS is slowly fading and people are starting to use smart phone messaging apps, why not? It's free and efficient. With WhatsApp, you can also send and receive files; something that SMS does not allow you to do. I had recently checked how many text messages I had sent last year and was told by my service operator that I had only sent 30. I have both WhatsApp and Blackberry messenger, I barely ever need to text. Especially when we live in a day and age where everyone owns a smart phone.

The internet has become a place that provides freedom of digital speech. We are now able to write blogs like mine, create petitions, polls, quizzes, and even make friends and meet partners via social networks.

 

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Another advancement in forms of communication would be Skype. Skype gives the user the ability to instant message, call, hold a conference call with video and a whole load of other features. This is a revolutionary step in software technology because they have now developed this idea into a handset. Yes, there is a Skype app for your phone. Miss your mother? Why not give her a call and see her face? It's all free. This also gives an indication of an imminent death of the traditional phone and features. If calls can be made for free, texts can be sent for free and even multimedia and video calls are free, what is the need of a phone? We can communicate via Skype now, without a phone number, rather a Skype ID.

The digital voice can be misused and expressed negatively. Fake pictures on Facebook profiles are now being used, with fake identities (Textual mask). People are using their digital voice to portray themselves as a whole different character and even impersonate another person.

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We have the options of privatising our digital voices or making them public. Celebrities for example, have Facebook and twitter pages which are open to the public and they communicate with the public through these pages. Some people prefer to keep their profiles on these social networks private.

Hacking group anonymous use their digital voice for political activism, see the video below:

Terms & Conditions = Don't Read, Scroll Down & Accept

So what are Terms & Conditions? Well, here's a Wikipedia definition for you: Terms of service (commonly abbreviated as ToS or TOS^[1] and also known as Terms of Use, Terms & Conditions) are rules which one must agree to abide by in order to use a service. Terms of Service can also be referred to as Terms of Use or sometimes merely a Disclaimer, especially regarding the use of websites. (Click here if you feel enthusiastic and want to read more.)

We all know the importance of a legitimate contract, and that if we agree to it then we must abide by it. This is also the case with terms and conditions, although we don't really take it as seriously or as conciously as the traditional and more formal contract.

This then makes me wonder; my younger brother is 15 years old and has a Facebook account, his age means that he does not have the contractual capacity to fulfil a contract (Under 18), making a contract/agreement void? Right? Maybe not, after doing a bit of research; Facebooks Help page clearly inidcates that anyone can sign up to Facebook, from the of 13. If anyone found under the age of 13 creates a Facebook and their profiles get found out, they will be deleted.

So maybe the terms and conditions aren't as limited, in terms of age capacity as are formal contracts. I guess in terms of social media, terms and conditions are simply an agreement to abide by the rules. That doesn't mean that you should not read them (You must watch the video above if you haven't). Keep reading on and I will explain why.

Come on, we are all guilty of signing up to something and not even reading a word of the terms & conditions. I mean, whats the point? It's just a load of text that doesn't really matter and can potentially come back and haunt us in the future...

WHAT??? SERIOUSLY???? NO WAY??? Of course not, unless the information you've shared becomes credible in the future and the material you've shared on sites such as Facebook and Twitter become profitable, then yes. (PLEASE CLICK HERE, PRETTY PLEASE)

We will take Facebook owned photo sharing app Instagram as a prime example. Recently, there was huge controversy over the new terms & conditions that Instagram had published. These terms & conditions had implications of giving Instagram the right to all images uploaded to be commercially used without identification.

For those of you who only use Instagram to take pictures of food, you probably don't care. But some people upload valuable art, pictures with high sentimental value and images they just don't want anyone else to have or see!

Instagram however apologised and reassured the interested public that they were not to use their photos, despite losing a big percentage of their users.

The moral of the story is that; terms & conditions are basically similar to a contract, and if you are not aware of the important tiny details then you are responsible for agreeing to something which you do not actually agree to. (BUT YOU DID!)

So be careful and READ the terms & conditions!

We Are Being Stalked AND Protected?

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Over the years, as technology has advanced and privacy has become more and more exposed; we are in the age of surveillance. In this day and age, we are surrounded by cameras in almost every public place we go to. Yes, it is to reduce crime and to gather evidence of potential or already executed criminal acts but does it not make you weary knowing that you are being watched? Or do you just not think about it as much as I do and walk in public without a care in the world?

According to >>THIS <<  article in the Guardian that I came across, the increase in CCTV is a waste of money and is impotent in the act of penetrating crime. Fair enough, CCTV is still pretty effective but are we putting too much emphasis and money into surveillance? Maybe that money would come useful in other security measures? But then again, we are Britain. We are financially immature, spending money we DON'T have on things we DON'T need: 'Hello Afghanstian, do you like our weapons? We've been sent here to look mean with our big toys, be afraid. Grrrr!'.

If you have £200 in your bank account, with bills to pay and other costs to cover; it doesn't make sense spending £195 on a Michael Kors watch, does it? LOGIC.

Another question which comes to mind when thinking about the world riddled with CCTV - Is it ethical? Take a look at the video below.

I personally think that we have enough surveillance and should invest elsewhere. My favorite piece of advice is: 'Too much of anything is bad for you'. - In the battle of Man V Technology, man wins. Sorry, that was meant to be funny.

iPhone, iPad... iRobot?

 

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Today we have  revolutionary gadgets such as iPods, iPads and Iphones, a few examples. These devices have been highly successful in the market and consumers have made a huge demand for more, in terms of additional features as well as upgrades and more products. What this does is make the product developers and inventors to think outside of the box and create something original. For example, mobile phones used to be basic devices with just numbered buttons to make calls. Look at mobile devices now, they have everything. Can you imagine your mobile device being able to talk back to you and interact with you in several different ways? Well it's in the process, Siri from Apple is a prime example.

With every piece of technology you must understand that science is always involved, in one way or another.

Take a look at this video..

 

She's pretty hot right? I'm kidding, that's not the point. The point is that she's a robot, looks like a human and can even speak! No, I do not intend on asking her out, just because she looks like a lady it does not actually make her one.. Make IT one even.

After seeing this video you probably have a few thoughts running through your mind, right? Hopefully not any inappropriate ones! 

One of these thoughts should beg the question 'What effect can these humanoids have upon society and the world as a whole?' -  Well, They may take our jobs, may even start taking control of our domestic roles, may reduce fertility rates and eventually it will be deemed as ethical to marry a Humanoid. It is most certainly an ethical risk, a social risk and what if these robots become unresponsive or corrupt? Then it becomes a global risk and puts our entire human race at risk. 

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Do we need Humanoids? No we do not, Science needs to stop trying to be something it does not believe in, GOD. We have enough technology to just about keep us sane, any more and we'll all lose ourselves in a technological fantasy.

I personally believe that there is no positive outcome within the creation of Humanoids. It is not a joke; if a Humanoid race was starting to form I would kill myself, before they kill me. Computers are enough, that's as far as I'll go, a computer that I can look at and use as I do today. I do not want to be surrounded by a computer that can look at me and one that may be molested by some sick pervert. I do not need a Humanoid that can look after my children, sleep with my wife and do all my work for me, because these are compulsory aspects of life, why we live! If we take away our lives and give them to robots then we will have nothing left. Even the scientists will be inferior to their own creation, let's not go there.

Technology: Autobots Or Decepticons?

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For those of you who are not familiar with Autobots or Decepticons, they are Transformer machines. Autobots are the good machines who save the world and make our lives easier and Decepticons are evil machines who do the opposite. We all have an Autobot that we can rely on, but it is common to be burdened with a Decepticon, especially in this day and age (Even though they are becoming more powerful and successful overtime).

Before I begin I would like to link you to my previous blog post which will give you a further insight into this argument about good vs evil technology. Good technology (Autobot) let's me take you there instantly. Don't believe me? Well, click here! (Now that's a good Autobot!) ... You should be on the right page now, if not then my Autobot may have switched allegiances and become a Decepticon. If the page does successfully load, please give it a read before reading this post further on.

 

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Technology can be great, sometimes even flawless and second to none but it can also be your worst enemy! I remember when I was back in school during my GCSEs and I had literally an hour to submit my final ICT coursework draft. I had spent sleepless nights on my work, sacrificed my social life and even dumped my girlfriend at the time. I did make several copies and back ups on my work, they were on my memory stick and computer. My school was literally around the corner so I had enough time to save my work and get to school on time. Just as I was about to save my work, the screen went blue and my computer automatically restarted. It would not successfully boot, but that was fine because I had my work on my memory stick (Hurrah!). Enthusiastically I told my teacher I had the work finished and would show him. I plugged my USB into the port and there was a 'drive error'. I unplugged and then replugged to find out that my memory stick was corrupted and had nothing on it! The Decepticon had won this battle and made me fail my coursework!

I am certain that I am not the only victim of the weaknesses some technological devices possess. There are many cases where technology has ruined lives, for example: Cyber bullying, gambling machines, virus riddled computers and even Facebook! (The amount of times I have been dumped because of Facebook is laughable.)

Scarily enough, technology and humans are becoming more similar every day! We humans have flaws, just like technology. But it is our imperfections which make us beautiful!

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Beautiful technology, take this mobility scooter for example. My grandfather (god rest his soul) had one of these mobility scooters and it made him a very happy man. He was in his mid 80s and unable to walk, and get from A-Z, he was the type of person who liked to do things by himself. He loved his grandchildren and loved treating them to food and gifts as much as possible. The mobility scooter allowed him to go and buy food for my little cousins when they were hungry, when him and my grandmother fell out over the television remote, it allowed him to go out and clear his head and the last time I saw him before his death was on his mobility scooter going to eat lunch. 

Technology has also given us the ability to capture moments through video and photos, and to see family from the other side of the world through Skype and webcams which allow us to vocally communicate as well. The downside of a really good digital camera for example is the rocketing prices, but the moments it captures are priceless right?

I won't baffle on too much, I think you get the idea. Here's a video for you to watch.