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Whistleblowers are known as people who betray their employer or leak information of high secrecy. Blake Woodard gave a wonderful presentation about whistleblowers, what they do, and what has happened to whistleblowers from the past. Some of the names that may be recognizable is Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. These are people who leaked top secret information about the government and due to the information that was given out revealed to the public just how secretive the government is and just how. much they are hiding from the public. I found this to be the most interesting of the presentations because Edward Snowden played a big role in the presentation I gave about Five Eyes, a mass surveillance agency the is comprised of five different countries including the United States. 

    Edward Snowden worked for NSA in 2009 where he stayed collecting information about the government. Snowden, who is now in hiding in Russia, leaked information about the secret agency PRISM. This agency using metadata to collect private information about everyone. They tap into companies such as Google, Apple, and Facebook to collect personal data about you. Julian Assange founded Wikileaks, this is how he became a whistleblower. Julian would hack into government servers and release information the government was hiding. A big case that Blake Woodard talks about and that a lot of people know about is the Hillary Clinton cases. Julian hacked the servers and released internal information from Hillary Clinton.

According to Whistleblower.org there was an act passed in 1989 to protect whistleblowers. The act states "Public employees' right to speak out about misconduct." I was confused about this at first because my belief was that Julian Assange was arrested due to whistleblowing but after some research it is evident that Julian Assange was arrested and put into maximum security prison for hacking the government servers. All in all The government does everything in their power to stop whistleblowers in their tracks and keep them silent.

Final post

   

When thinking about technology one may not think about how much technology is intertwined in their life. For me technology hasn't always been around, I was lucky enough to grow up without a phone attached to my hip or having my parents give me an Ipad to calm me down. I played outside, I used my imagination to keep myself entertained and I believe this is what made me who I am today. 

    Technology in my life plays a big role, as much as I would love for it not to; I use technology almost all day everyday. In order to do anything school related now a-days you need to have a computer or tablet, anything that can access the internet. Every assignment is done online via BlackBoard or any other site a professor might have the student use. As much as it is efficient and beneficial to the environment is is not healthy for us. When viewing the video created by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules many emotions came over me. It was hard not to have a jaw dropping moment as this was one of the best representations of what our world has become, everyone is an addict. 

    This video made me think about my daily activity on the internet, social media, school websites, video streaming like Netflix, Hulu, and so much more. I feel like I have an unhealthy relationship with technology because of how much my life relies on it. I do not feel as though technology is a tool that I use to make myself smarter but I also don't think that technology is making me stupid.

    Although not everything is online is true there are ways to fact check your sources and find reliable information. I want to believe that I do not let myself get fooled by false information or rumors that float around on social media and even certain news channels because I know that not everything online is real. I have only thought about the questions of do having a healthy relationship with technology, does technology take up most of my time, do I think technology/internet is teaching me or misleading me, maybe a handful of times. In my opinion I don't think many people ever really think about these questions because of how scary the answers can be. Some people may think that they aren't on their phones that much or that they barley watch T.V. but when faced with reality and having to look back on all the times you picked your phone up and aimlessly scrolled through Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or binged a whole season in a day is mortifying.

    Technology can be fun and an easy way to pass time or distract yourself from what is going on but it can lead to many mental health issues. According to a mental health article technology can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, and can impact social skills, cognitive functions, and so much more. Social media and the internet allow various outlets for things like cyberbullying and many unintended consequences. Social media is a place where people are able to leave hateful comments or sit and compare theirselves to others. 

    There are pros and cons to having this much availability to technology and the internet but it is important to understand the appropriate times to use it and especially what age to start introducing technology into a persons life. 

Living in the Age of AI

    This video was very interesting to watch it really put into perspective just how much technology is taking over our lives and our world. The richer are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and AI is only going to exacerbate that. One thing that I found to be quite creepy is the fact that AI is actually learning about us it is taking all our information that we give it and adapting to us to better serve us to give us what we want.

    I was socked when the voting came into play but i feel as though this is a big pro. The ability to go to a company, ask what information of yours they have, and get it taken down off of selling list of all list of any kind dropping many chances of identity theft or breach of online security is great. I do feel that one con of this is the say no act. This is not a bad act but i feel like websites should be required to present it in a place where it is clearly visible and you do not have to go searching for it. Never once have I gone on to a website and seen a button that says I don't want any of the information I am giving to you to be sold.

    National security is being affected by this as well. The more that companies partner with or sell to out of country companies our personal information is getting sold as well and this could cause for major breaches in security.

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    Five Eyes has been around since 1946 this top secret surveillance agency is comprised of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. five eyes is an alliance between different countries which use the surveillance on electronic devices in order to “collect it all.” The big question is, does the government follow in the proper guide lines of the law to surveil everyone?

    Five Eyes was started during World War II in order to spy on warfare but no one was aware of the technological advances that we would make as the years went on and since these advances have been made the public has not been made aware of the surveillance Five Eyes has over all electronic devices. The five eye agency is full of secrets and kept very private from the public. The fact that this is kept secret or the amount of secrecy going on in this agency allows for unlawful action to occur such as invasion of privacy, ____. Some good things that could come from the Five Eye agency is protection from terrorists, preventing war or better preparing for it, all around being able to keep our country safe.

    Five Eyes intelligence agency can be changed. If the government is allowed to do this but they are crossing boundaries of the law while collecting information about everything and everyone and it gets out to the public we would be able to change the laws.When it comes to surveillance it is one this to spy on things such as terrorism or even different warfare activities that could cause harm to our country but cutting corners in the law and disrespecting peoples right to privacy is a different story. As a whole the five eye agency could be affecting society because of the invasion of privacy. If the word of this agency got around to more people or was more open about how the agency works today with surveillance it would be very interesting to see how the government would handle it because they use it for their benefit especially when it comes to warfare or terrorism threats. According to a Five Eye article PI is "using legal action to compel the US national security agency and other US-based intelligence agencies to share records related to the five eyes alliance under the freedom of information act."

    The thought of having this surveillance on my phone, computer, tablet, any electronic device in my possession freaks me out. After researching Five Eyes i now feel as though there are eyes watching my every move or marking things down about my life. This is exactly how I felt when watching the AI video as well as the Ted Talks about surveillance on electronic devices. 

One question I had while doing this research was even if more information about how the Five Eyes agency uses their surveillance techniques to spy on everyday people and invade their privacy would it change? Or would the government continue to withhold information from the public and continue crossing the lines of the law?

Privacy Online & Off

     While I was watching the Ted Talk about police and the software that allows license plate tracking a such I was shock to hear that this was even allowed to happen. The fact that police and the government and who knows who else can do things like this, track your every move, know just about every part of your schedule seems unfathomable. This effects everyone because it gives a person zero privacy in their personal life. I feel as though it can now be almost impossible to drive down the road and not think about if some device or even person is watching me, tracking me, whatever it may be. It seems impossible to live a life thinking that there is complete privacy in our lives. 

    I feel that government should be doing everything in their power to uphold the right to privacy that we as Americans deserve but I don’t believe that the government is going to do anything because they are using this different software to their advantage as well according to Christopher Soghoian’s Ted Talk about avoiding surveillance. 

    To protect ourselves from invasions of privacy we need to limit the personal information that we release to social media platform or any public platform for that matter, companies can build more secure networks, use encrypted devices, update your devices to ensure that the highest security measures are available, and so much more. 

    There is so much that we can do as independents that will ensure these issues are happening less, ensuring that our privacy is protected. It is so important to understand the information that is being gathered by everyone about you every single day and it is also important to understand how breaches in security happen and learn how to prevent them from happening to you, loved ones, and close friends.

Diffusions of Innovations

     The telephone was not so popular when they first came out data shows that for every 100 Americans there were about 2 telephones The first telephone had been released in the late 1800’s but by the 1920’s they were more so seen as an tool mainly for the wealthy. The first big influx of the telephone in American homes happened quite shortly, in the 1930’s telephone became more common in American home but because of the depression the numbers dropped. We can see a great increase of telephones in the 60’s and this is where we can see it being used not just by the wealthy but in middle class homes as well.

    A big reason for the increase in numbers for the telephone was because of the drop in prices. Before companies started competing against the original patent of Bell’s patent monopoly. Due to the key patent expiring many companies were able to create the technology for themselves thus making it a more affordable convenience. With the increase in independent companies and larger companies that were direct competitors of Bell’s more people were able to enjoy this technology. Most of the early adopters of this technology were the rich until it came out that the prices were more affordable with other small independent companies therefore the early adopter became middle and higher classes. This was for the reason 

    Some people were late adapters simply for the fact that it was somewhat pricey. As well as people being stuck in their ways, most people have gone their whole life without the need of a telephone and enjoy the older ways of communication better whether that be because they don’t know how to use the technology or they just simply do not see a need for it. There are some benefits to the telephone such as faster communication, better for businesses, and it also helped in the war. As always where there are positives there are also negatives. During the early stage, even now, there is lack of privacy, addiction (smart phones), party lines allowed for less privacy as multiple people could hear your conversations, and less face to face interactions.

    I believe that the positives of the telephone out way the negative, but not by much. I feel that the ability to have instant communication at your fingertips is amazing and life changing. I also feel that the telephone has created one of the biggest technological advances ever. The telephone went from a device people used to talk to each other to what we have now a small device with the ability to search the internet, text message, phone calls, send and receive money, play games, send emails, play games, etc. therefore I feel that the positives out way the negatives. Not because the negatives aren’t just as important, but they haven’t stopped this technology from advancing.

A Learned Technology

     Carrier pigeons were quite interesting to learn about during the presentations. This was a system that used birds to send messages back and forth between two parties to either send discrete messages or simple communications. The way in which birds could be trained as well as how long they have been around is fascinating and people are still using this method in the present time as a hobby.

     While listening to the presentation I have found out that the carrier pigeon was first used by the Persians and Egyptians as a way of communication. The Persians found out that the birds would always come back to the places it was being fed so they decided to feed these birds in only two locations and when a message needed to be delivered to the other feeder they would tie a note around the bird’s ankle and let it fly away. Carrier pigeons were not just used for leisure messages but were also used for military functions. The birds could get from bunker to bunker so the military troops could keep in communication. 

            Although the carrier pigeon was a good way of communication back in the day it did come with some downsides. The birds were not always one to stay on course. The pigeons becoming lost was a big flaw in the system as well as them not being able to fly in certain weather conditions such as snow, rain, strong winds, etc. Something I found to be quite socking was sometimes people on the streets would steal the messenger birds.

Anti-War Voices

     I feel that we have not heard the voices of these anti-war writers such as Scott Horton, Daniel Larson, and Ray McGovern because the government does not want us to. We all have the right to freedom of speech to say what we want about whatever we want such as these writers do about being against the war and talking about the government and what they are hiding except the government wants to shield us from what they think would harm them. The government does not want their own people to know or turn against them for unconstitutional acts that they have started and this is just one reason that not many people nor myself have heard of these websites. I feel that it is unfair to the people not to hear these voices or have them more available to the public just like any news source is.

    Articles such as “Is Ukraine Worth risking Nuclear War” should be just as open to the public, it is not a swaying opinion trying to take the people of the United States to their side of being against war but rather sharing facts that are not given to the public. By giving these forgotten facts the anti-war writers are allowing the citizens to make their own choices with as much information as possible.

Having to seek out these websites just to hear the anti-war voices and the information that we may be missing by just watching the regular regulated news is most likely because this is not a regulated source. Anti-war voices are not trying to persuade people that what the United States is doing and the nuclear war that we could be brought into is a good thing because we are “helping.”