My Final Project

I have selected the topic of Internet privacy and freedom is under attack for my final project. It is a topic that I am very concerned about because censorship on the Internet is on the rise. I am equally concerned that the right to privacy on the Internet is being lost. I want to bring an awareness of these issues to others that read my blog as well as make a contribution to my classmates that are wanting to learn more about the Internet. There are a lot of things in regard to Internet privacy and Internet freedom that users of the Internet are unaware of and I want to shed some light on these issues and present facts and research. I am excited to learn more about this topic and Web 2.0 tools as I complete my final project.

My Reflection on Unit 3

I have learned about a lot of different tools in Unit 3. The first tool I learned about was RSS feeds which was the topic of my research project for the class wiki. I learned how to subscribe and manage these feeds and how easy it makes to manage these feeds by the Google Reader. I had been aware of these feeds before but had not subscribed via a news reader. I can see how this would be a definite asset to a web designer because it would be an option that could be suggested to customers wanting help designing a web site to keep users updated about products or alerts etc. I also learned about the convience of social book marking. It enables a user to share bookmarks with others and learn about new bookmarks. It also provides the convience of being able to access your bookmarks from other computers. This could be also be suggested by a web designer to a customer because it is another way to share a web site link with others. I learned more about blogs during the study of this assignment by looking how others design blogs and researching this topic in more detail. I also learned more about social media and photo sharing. I think the most important things I learned is how these tools all help people to share information and how the internet is changing by the development of web 2.0 tools and how they can be incorporated into the use of web sites and web design. The second thing this chapter taught me was that even if I am aware of web tools, that I should research them to see how they may be useful to me or others. In closing, I would say it is important to learn about new web tools in addition to the tools you already have because they are becoming more important as the future design of the internet and life changes.

Internet Freedom and Sharing

Hi. I have been trying to decide for quite a while about a topic to write about for my first blog. Then it suddenly occurred to me as if by magic and synchronicity. I realized a lot of people are unaware about Internet Freedom issues. What are some of the most important issues ? Why should I write about these issues ?

I have the answer to these questions. Recently, there have been a lot of reports and talk about cyber attacks and how this effects security. Here is how it might affect your internet freedom. A lot of important issues have been raised and suggested. I have heard of new proposal for a 24hr limit on emails so that your email can be scanned for terrorist threats. Personally, I do not want to have my private email scanned in the name of security. I want my email treated like my regular mail.
I have heard of a suggestion of a type of license for the internet that would be similar to a drivers license. The supposed reasoning for this is to help regulate the internet much like a real highway. If you are caught in violation of certain rules or do not have this license then you would have to pay a fine or loose your right to use the internet according to your violation. You would have to pay a fee and get a license. What would be the requirement for a child ? Should they have to pay to use this great resource we know as the internet.

Imagine how this would effect your freedom and those around you. This all sounds a bit crazy but there are some politicians that are suggesting ideas and regulations that are supposedly in your best interest but would hurt the internet as we currently know it. I encourage everyone to look into issues. If you value the internet and your freedom and ability to share with others, I would encourage you to vote against these types of restrictions on your freedom. I believe the internet belongs to everyone and that a lot of these types of suggestions are not in the best interest of internet freedom. Remember, when congress in the 1990's suggested charging a fee for email because the post office had lost a lot of money because of email ? Just, think of how much money we save by not having to pay for every single email that we send and how many stamps and money we save without that single regulation. Do not just believe what I am writing do your own research on topics like digital rights to protect internet freedom.

A lot of other ideas have been suggested like clamping down on anything that is offensive. If that became the case then I might not even be able to post a blog like this and tell you my opinion. I am glad we are able to share information and ideas and have freedom of speech on the internet. Protect it and value it or we may someday soon lose it.