Contributed by Lindsey Vagnini It’s happened to most Facebook page owners: we leave our account logged in and, when we come back, we notice a post in our news feed with our name attached without any memory of posting it. Uncertain over who is accessing our private digital spaces is concerning on many levels. When I experienced this uncertainty, luckily, my “hacker” was my sister. It was a fall afternoon and I had just returned from a volleyball game. I plopped onto my bed, quickly propped my laptop on top of the pillow next to me, and started scanning my recent Facebook posts. Suddenly, I noticed that my message inbox had no new messages. This confused me. Before I had left for my volleyball games, my Facebook page projected the little red number at the top showing three new private message notifications. Clicking on the messages, I noticed each had a tiny grey check mark underneath, implying that someone other than me had seen them. Who read them? I tried to figure out how someone could hack into my laptop without knowing the password. Of course, at the time, I thought the password was genius. I think it resembled something like, “BarbieLovesFrenchFries101.” I don’t have that password anymore, needless to say. My next thought was that a hacker virtually accessed my account through a cyber-virus infecting my computer. This thought was more terrifying than assuming one of my friends solved my french-fry eating Barbie passcode. Later that day, my sister eventually confessed to reading my messages on Facebook. To my relief, this was a settling discovery. Still, this event proved just how easy it is to lose privacy in new media platforms. In my case, it was through Facebook. In other stories, though, this lost privacy involves national politics and Apple iPhones. The incident reminded me of a New York Times article briefing the master key the FBI found as way to hack the iPhone of Syed Farook, the gunman in the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, without Apple's approval. Refusing to give the FBI this key was Apple’s way of protecting the privacy of iPhone owners nationally. Apple was attempting to respect the national digital privacy of individuals. Unlocking these phones was a political concern that is arguable in discussions of privacy. Would people rather be safer with less digital privacy or at risk with the dignity of their private digital activity? This question lies at the center of the FBI’s new Apple-hacking ability. Now that the FBI has unlocked the iPhone, it is questionable that this unlocking will lead to social progress. Daniel Little describes “social progress” as improving freedom and self-determination, reforming the way people think in a society to a place in which all embrace the same new moral and digital communication patterns. In addition, he discusses the use of utilitarianism influencing social progression. Nationally, the FBI unlocking Farook’s iPhone 5C leads some to believe in social progress while convincing others to reject it. For instance, as the FBI can now potentially hack into anyone’s iPhone in the U.S., individuals might see that as a good surveillance tool leading to a safer America. In opposition to this idea, others who distrust the FBI’s ability to access information on any iPhone in the U.S. might start a campaign against their unlocking secret. If this would happen, people might use hashtag activism that purposely requires them to use their iPhones to protest the FBI’s actions and attempt to weaken their digital power. Does this master key for iPhones mean other digital media companies will pay to get one too? This question was the first that came to my mind once I read the New York Times article. For me, just knowing my sister read my Facebook messages was concerning at first. Now we are talking about a national audience compiled of strangers who have access to our contact lists, what we are saying in our text messages, and our personal, savable photos. For some people, the word “technology” is thought of as security, but what the FBI has done seems to promote the opposite. For example, if something is secure, that means the device is inaccessible. Clearly, the FBI accessing the Apple iPhone 5C proves that this digital device has no real secure feature.
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Contributed by Ashton Holzman Generating hype isn’t something foreign to gaming companies. In fact, a lot of companies let their fan base generate hype for them. Riot Games is doing just that with League of Legends. Beginning in the fall semester of 2016, the University of California, Irvine, will be offering a scholarship for playing the popular computer game, League of Legends. They are the first public school to do so (Wagstaff). League of Legends already has a pro circuit, and there are many colleges that have teams that compete in the online game. There are over 300 club teams at universities that compete in the League of Legends circuit. The excitement surrounding the scholarship is generating more and more by the minute among online forums and within the game itself. In a game I was playing recently, members of both teams were talking about how big of a deal it is that schools are offering scholarships for playing a video game. UC Irvine has budgeted for an internet café. They created a 3,500 square foot arena with 80 gaming computers. The budget for this clearly wasn’t light. A quality gaming setup will run anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000. That doesn’t include the keyboard, monitor, mouse, or headphones. On top of this, they decided to give students an opportunity to live stream their teams on services like Twitch.tv and Youtube. I’m intrigued to see where this goes. Blizzard created a game similar to League of Legends called Heroes of the Storm, then went ahead and made a tournament called Heroes of the Dorm. It’s a tournament that is covered by ESPN, with the winners receiving a scholarship for their education. This year, Arizona State University won the tournament. Riot Games doesn’t have something like this yet, but it wouldn’t shock me if it were to come down the road. This is an exciting time for people that are interested in e-sports. Athletes like Rick Fox, Shaquille O’Neal, and Alex Rodriguez have all purchased all or some of a League of Legends team (Zacny). Having big name athletes certainly helps the hype around the culture that is e-sports. The next time League of Legends is being shown on ESPN, give it a look. The fever is rising for e-sports. Before we know it, they’ll be taking over our campuses. Works Cited Wagstaff, Keith. "UC Irvine Is Now Giving Out 'League of Legends' Scholarships." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 Mar. 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. Zacny, Rob. "Shaq And A-Rod Bought Into A League Of Legends Team." Kotaku. N.p., 17 Mar. 2016. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. Contributed by Yoji Hayashi A few weeks ago, our class read the article, “How the 2016 Presidential Candidates Measure up on Social Media,” by Ry Crist and Caitlin Petrakovitz. After our class read the article, we discussed what kinds of social media are productive to promote a presidential campaign and what types of social media voters use to respond to the campaign. Crist and Petrakovitz reported that social media platforms have become the online soap box for anyone looking for to win the presidency, and some candidates find more of a following than others. Crist and Petrakovitz provide the specific number of followers for each candidate in several social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat. According to Crist and Petrakovitz, Twitter and Facebook are productive social media platforms because their number of followers is bigger than that of other social media, such as YouTube and Snapchat. Also, Facebook and Twitter allow users to exchange opinions quickly. In terms of synchronization, Snapchat might be a more productive social medium because it allows people to send and share information quickly. However, our class thinks Snapchat was better for sharing daily activities and hobbies between friends and family with visual images and video. In terms of political campaigns, Facebook and Twitter might be the most efficient social media because the number of users and the type of platform encourage people to engage in conversation. Another researcher, Tom Murse, addressed 10 reasons why politicians use social media to promote their campaigns. One of reasons politicians use social media is for fundraising. Some campaigns have used social media to collect large amounts of money in a short period of time. I think this is a hidden aspect of why politicians use social media. People might take a risk when they click or share the links. People should be aware of the hidden aspects of social media in politics! Contributed by Jenna Oberthaler
We often hear presidential candidates talking about education or healthcare, but this year candidate Donald Trump is talking about gay couples. The New York Times quotes Trump on gay couples, saying, “If two people dig each other, they dig each other.” The president of the Log Cabin Republicans says, “He will be the most gay-friendly Republican nominee for president ever.” Could these comments be related to why Donald Trump has had the most followers on Twitter? Compared to other candidates, Trump is the only candidate to reach 5 million followers. Although Trump has been in the lead for social media sites, Twitter and Facebook, since February, his recent comments on gay and lesbian couples could be a factor as to what will keep him in the lead. In the New York Times article, Trump doesn’t only voice his opinion on couples but he goes as far as to say he opposes the recent law passed in North Carolina prohibiting people from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to the gender they were born with. Trump believes transgender people should “use the bathroom they feel is appropriate.” My question to you readers is, do you think Trump is using his favoritism towards transgender couples to gain votes or distract the comments that he has already made and cannot take back? Obviously, Trump wants people to vote for him, but it seems as if this could be a distraction to allow people to forget about the things he has said in the past throughout his campaign. There are many other important things that Trump has said but this seems to have gained many people’s attention, I believe that this could be due to how controversial the topic is. Distraction or not, Trump will go down in history for siding with gay couples as a Republican candidate. |
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