Month: April 2017

In the day of ever-growing modern technology, privacy is an issue most humans are confronted with regularly. In Cas 272, an important topic most of this semester was how technology such as smart phones and other mobile devices creates an environment in which users can consume information in the matter of seconds. This accessibility and quick access to information directly ties into the privacy issues that we face today.

New technology has paved the way the last 10-20 years. Such technology has been a blessing for our society as it provides enormous benefits for our economy, education, business, and everyday lives. However, nothing is perfect and our rapidly developing mobile devices have some serious flaws. Privacy has always been a concern for humans for as long as we can remember. With the emergence of mobile devices and the social media apps that they provide, that concern has grown quite exponentially.  Social media always anyone to see what YOU are all about. Someone half-way across the world can see where you are, where you live, how old you are, and what you like to do in your free time. Obviously, they can only see such personal information if you provide it. That is where the other half of the problem lies; the conscience decision we make to post sensitive information (which by the way a lot of people do not care what they post online). By posting your home address or updating the status of where you are, you are allowing hackers and someone who might consider you a target to easily acquire information they need to make you said target. I know what you may be thinking, “wow this guy is really paranoid”. Although that may seem to be the case, Robert Siciliano said it best, “I’m not paranoid, I’m a grounded, down-to-earth, conscious being with an awareness of what’s going on out there”. Essentially, the world is very unforgiving, especially with the information and advantages you may give it by posting sensitive information online.

Now, let’s take a look at what privacy issues we might be facing online. Many people are very reckless in what they post on social media. For example, kids who are underage often post pictures of them partaking in the consumption of alcohol. While this may not provide a physical risk to your well-being, it certainly has negative impacts on your future. Such photos may prevent a young adult from getting accepted to a college or even the opportunity to receive a scholarship. Some employers even check your social media pages before hiring you and if you post sensitive material, it may cost you a job in the future. Humans are very judgmental, and when it comes to the real world (i.e. college and jobs) character and good judgement are highly valued qualities. It’s not hard to restrain yourself from posting pictures detrimental to your future. Hell, I even ask friends not to post pictures of me if I know it may be harmful to my appearance or safety. Another privacy issue we face has to deal with our personal safety. As I mentioned before simply posting our home address or commenting where we are at a specific moment can put you in harm’s way. You may not realize you are a target of someone until it’s too late. A question most of you may be asking is who may be targeting you? The answer is that it could be anyone with any motive for any reason. One common example could be someone that wants to take you to court for legal action. They may look to your social media accounts to gain leverage over you in court. Another could just simply be someone looking to harm you. My last example, which is a bit more extreme, deals with how the government uses modern technology to their advantage. In the last several years we have had leaks from Edward Snowden and most recently WikiLeaks, that described how government agencies have the ability to hack our mobile devices and TV’s to spy on us. Obviously, this topic is highly debated as some think it is morally acceptable as long as it is keeping us safe from attacks, while others think the opposite. Because of this I’m not going to touch on this issue any further, just be aware of what you do on your mobile devices so that you don’t contradict yourself.

Anyways the moral here is that you must make a conscience effort to not post things that might contradict you in anyway. If leaving a post, video, or picture off the internet means keeping your career and self safe then it is all worth it. I know this may be hard for many people out there as humans have grown somewhat narcissistic when it comes to posting on social media (i.e. posting for likes, favorites, retweets, comments). Also, here is an article that lays out actions you can take to running a clean social media site.

Throughout this entire semester, we have discussed social media’s widespread impact on modern society. Particularly, through the use of social media on mobile devices, people can instantly consume any information being produced by just about anyone. This spit-second inheritance of information is especially important when it comes to national or global news. The interesting thing is that users can read news on social media sites such as twitter, through random third-party sources. So, instead of receiving breaking news from a mainstream media source, people can see what is happening by reading a friends tweet or Instagram/Facebook post. The evolution in the way we consume news has had such a large impact on our society, but it has also quietly impacted another group of people in a major way.

Modern terroristic groups have used propaganda as the main source of recruitment of new members. With the development of mobile devices and social networking sites, terroristic groups have effectively increased the impact and visibility of such propaganda. Instead of terror groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda strictly recruiting members within their own region, they can now reach a world audience through forums on Facebook as well as the use of hashtags on Twitter. In a broad sense, instead of recruiting from thousands of people, they are now able to recruit from millions of people increasing the numbers and likelihood of people joining their so called “causes”. Accordingly, the people who manage the social networking sites for these terror groups are able to communicate in many different languages, making recruitment in foreign countries much easier.

There have been efforts to stop these terrorist groups by social media sites simply by shutting down their accounts. However, in mere moments these terrorist groups have a new account and continue their recruitment without skipping much of a beat. An example of elusiveness by terrorist groups is the use of popular, well-circulated hashtags. According to SiteProNews, ISIS used the hashtag #WorldCup2014 during the world cup to almost discretely continue their recruitment, without being noticed by any social media sites or government agencies. This is a danger concept given that hundreds of new hashtags start trending each and every day. Terroristic groups such as ISIS use many different recruiting tactics online. However, some of the most common forms of their recruitment include discrediting governments like the United States to gain sympathy from people.

Whether it be through Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, terror groups tend to show videos that cause great emotion in people. Often, they post videos that show suffering of people who have been injured through gunfire or some other sort of explosive or weaponry. Terror organizations like to portray anyone that is against them as the enemies through videos and photos of awful things certain governments have apparently done to them. They even use social media sites to post videos and photos of beheadings and the killing of people they deem to be dangerous to their “cause”. Again, ISIS used another hashtag, this one by the moniker #StevensHeadInObamasHead. This particular hashtag refereed to the beheading of an American journalist Steven Sotloff who had been captured by ISIS. This use of social media is called fear-mongering, where they strike fear into the eyes of their enemies and targets by posting horrific media portraying violence. Believe it or not, this is also a form of recruitment for them, as it shows their actions, power and demeanor. This is especially useful towards those who are naturally inclined to violence. Perhaps the most frightening thought of all of this is that these terrorist organizations can then teach those that they have recruited, all through a laptop or mobile device. They can teach the how to pledge allegiance to their group, how to make bombs and other various weapons, how to make bullets for said weapons, as well as how to carry out attacks on the public. All of this can be taught from one person sitting all the way on the other side of the globe, to hundreds of thousands of people all over the globe. So, the point is that although everything seems ok, it won’t be for long. Now I am not trying to scare people, but it is important to realize the magnitude of this global issue our world faces.

As I wrap up this quick blog, I want people to understand that there are evil people in this world. However, good always outweighs evil and there is far more good in this world than there is evil, all it takes is the right people and the right mindset to rid our world of such evil people.

 

Sources

http://www.teenvogue.com/story/how-isis-uses-social-media-to-their-advantage

http://www.sitepronews.com/2014/09/22/social-media-used-terrorism/

 

 

 

 

Social networking outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have played a crucial role in recent protests across the world. These sites have been used to promote protests and exploit “corrupted” governmental regimes all while sparking revolutions within a given country. Probably the most recent and memorable of these revolutions was the Tunisian revolution, which spread into other parts of the middle east and north Africa, eventually carrying the name “Arab spring”. The Arab spring was the revolutions, coups, and protests that took place in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and Iraq. However, it’s important to understand that social media played a huge role in rallying the people to generate successful protests. Since we discussed in detail during class about the Tunisian revolution, I thought it would be important to discuss another memorable revolution, the Libyan civil war.

Although it was about five or six years ago I remember it like it was just yesterday. My parents called me into the living room to witness all the major news outlets reporting the death of Muammar Gadhafi. At the time, I was not entirely sure of who he was and why he had died, but I realized the importance of what had happened. Now, what exactly allowed something of this magnitude to happen? A powerful dictator and his faithful army had been overthrown by common civilians. One would think in today’s modern
times it would take a large amount of people to carry out such a feat and it did, but how were these revolters able to gather such a large amount of people? The answer, social networking. By 2011 social media sites such as twitter and Facebook had already been around for at least five years, but were growing in popularity by the minute. Media played a crucial role in the Libyan civil war on the account of both sides of the issue. In the beginning of the war anti Gadhafi propaganda was being portrayed across local news stations. Gadhafi was playing round-the-clock patriotic music on a Libyan owned television station. The rebel’s response to this was the display of angry citizens protesting one of Gadhafi’s live speeches. With the connection that the internet and social media provides, it was only a matter of time before it got in on the antics. According to multiple websites, social media played a vital part in organizing protests as well as using anti-Gadhafi propaganda to increase the tension between the rebels and Gadhafi’s regime. Justin Bomberowitz lays out a timeline of the Libyan civil war through the use of social media, to gather protestors, micro-blog, live blog, and post powerful YouTube videos.

During the Libyan civil war, Facebook had a big role in hosting protest news pages. Essentially these sites would update information about a potential next protest or post emotional thought provoking propaganda. However, Twitter users used their accounts to micro-blog. Essentially, they would inform others of the live situation of certain protests. Because protests often turn violent, this was important to many people who felt strong about the cause, but not strong enough to put their lives in danger. The great thing about the use of social media during these revolutions is their low cost, portability, and real-time connection to millions of people. If you already own some mobile device or computer than social media is generally free to participate in. This makes access and the ability to influence more people much easier. Portability is another major factor in social media. Now that our society is controlled by mobile devices, you can receive updates on the news that you want. For example, if you followed a certain Libyan protest account on Twitter, you could turn on their notifications. Turning on notifications allows the user to be notified every time that account posts a new tweet. Thus, thousands of people can be informed and influenced in just seconds. That is where portability and real-time connection play hand in hand. The seconds a post takes to reach a user can affect the size, strength and aggressiveness of a mass protest in minutes. There was even a social media site created for the transition of power after Gadhafi was overthrown and eventually killed.

The bottom line is that although social media should never replace your main source for consuming news, it is certainly helpful at informing an incredible amount of people in just mere seconds. Thus, we have seen the impact this kind of technology/propaganda strategy has on revolutions and protests that we have seen in the last 7-10 years.

 

Sources:

https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/social-media-tool-protest

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Civil_War_(2011)

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2011/08/22/the-libyan-revolution-through-social-media/