When it comes to security and privacy on the Internet, everyone thinks that they are exempt from having their identity stolen or their privacy and home life invaded by people from around the world or even by people who live next to you. Security and privacy is almost non existent on the Internet because it is sooooo easy to find out anything you want about anyone. There was a column on the NY Times website about how privacy vanishes when you are online. It gives the example of twitter and facebook. One these sites you can wish people happy birthday, you talk about work and school and as everyone knows you upload hundreds of pictures of you and your loved ones online for the whole world to see!!
(Picture courtesy of www.emergentchaos.com)
This part is scary, the column also states that as you give away the tiniest bits of pieces of information away on your computer, the computer can put together all of that information even down to your SS number!! There are steps you can take to help improve your chances of safety on the internet and on the social networking sites. Facebook has come out and said in a recent article in the NY Times that there are three settings that everyone should change 1.) Who can see the things you share 2.)Who can see your personal information and 3.) What google can see, and by that it means keep your information off of search engines.
Google itself has launched Google Dashboard, it shows only information that is connected to a google account, for example gmail. It provides links for users to set their own privacy settings. Click here to learn more.
Companies out there are always trying to get information from you. Companies like Netflix, in which customer data was released to help find patterns of movie ratings and recommendations. And also information that was supposed to be anonymous was soon to be something of the past. Anonymous information can be "de-anonymized." Click here to read more about Netflix and other companies.
Graduates from thousands of colleges and univerisities are out there looking for jobs, but did you know that future employers are also out there looking at you!! They can search for you on facebook or where ever else and see what kind of a person you are and see how your social life is as well as see how dedicated of a person you are. I know this for a fact because one of my good friends is graduating this semester from EMU and when she went in for an interview the employer told her outright she saw her facebook page and saw what types of activities she likes to do. I personally think that it a little weird but I guess if you take the risk of putting yourself out there, you take the risk of anyone and everyone looking at your life.
This information relates to Chris Anderson's, The Long Tail because of his example of hit driven economics, an age where there exists more books and more information than stores can carry. This all falls into the privacy domain because if there was infinite shelf space in stores, that would lead to less people on the Internet putting in private information and more people actually in the stores shopping and getting their information that way and therefore not having to risk putting private information all over the Internet for the whole entire world to see.
When I was little I can remember thinking that we would never be able to have a computer in our house. Now, everyone is concerned with whether or not to watch t.v on the computer or to watch it directly on the television. The internet has allowed people to utilize several websites such as ABC.com, Hulu or even CBS.com, so that they can watch their favorite t.v shows online. Alot of people now are preferring to watch their shows online because of the short commercials and clear images that are shown. I know that I watch t.v online because of the convenience that it brings. Knowing that I can watch it anytime is really nice. Having shorter commercials is even better! This newer movement is getting more and more popular. According to the NY Times website and their article regarding web-t.v, Hulu is drawing more than 40 million viewers a month!! That's ALOT of people!! When you think about it who is going to pay for a cable subscription if they can watch everything online for free? Well Comcast cable company is limiting the number of shows that are allowed online. They don't want to lose their customers to the internet. I can see their point, but I don't see that happening at all or at least for a very long time. Comcast has even gone so far as to allow subscribers to stream a buffet of shows but will lock out the people that don't pay for cable (NYTimes.com). Comcast is evil I must say!! Maybe they should lower their costs and people wouldn't have to turn to the internet.
USA Today's website said that some companies like Sony, Samsung and Panasonic are even launching t.v's that have web content built into the t.v so that it is easier to stream videos from the internet to your t.v without the use of all the cables. Good idea!! Now we are thinking!! Although.....they are much more expensive. The average t.v with internet ready capabilities is going to cost you a pretty penny. Sony is charging $1,100 for a 40 inch screen. But..good news...not everyone is going to rip you off, Vizio says it is not going to charge extra. (USAToday.com). How nice of them :)
Today people can even watch t.v through the internet on their Playstations or Xbox 360's. Here is a website from Playstation that will explain and show you more, please read! Alot more people are going to be looking into these options (i.e playstation and the internet) to avoid overpaying for cable. According to the NY Times article on Changing Channels, "The average household cable bill in the United States hit $64 a month in 2009, up from $47.50 in 2004." The picture above is an example of a PC media center. I have one of these in my house, as well as a playstation 3 and a Wii. With a media center you can play any type of media, such as dvds, HD movies, stream other audio and/or video from the internet or somewhere else in your house.Here is a link to YouTube to learn more about streaming vidoes over the internet.
The internet changes current network models by challenging networks so that they dont have control over the time that we are watching it now, as well as they do not have control over the content and it can be peer to peer broadcast. They also don't have control over the user made content. If an independent producer had a show he could vary well distribute it through YouTube. In regards to internet t.v channels that are online and on t.v it would be the weather channel. Shows that you can watch both online and on the t.v would be examples such as Cartoon Network, ABC, Comedy Central, Discovery and CBS. Here is an example from Cartoon Network/YouTube.
We have all heard of the 5 C's of the Post-Network Era, Choice, Control, Convenience, Customization and Community. Choice is just what it sounds like, having the choice to choose what you want to watch. Control is people have control over what they want to watch. convenience and customization evolved from choice and control, they evolved by adjusting to multi-channel expectations from networks. Viewers could then customize there options, their choices and opportunities were endless. Community refers to the interests of people in a certain geographical location. Communities are sharing interests and favorites. All of these things change when we think about where we are getting our signal from to be able to watch the shows. When it comes from an internet signal our choices are limited because not every show is available online. Our control is therefore limited as well because we have absolutely not control over what networks out on the internet. And when it comes to convenience and customization, I don't think these two change all that much, they are just limited. For example through a t.v signal we can customize our shows and our lists of favorites, but through an internet signal it's hard to do because there are less shows and less availability. Community is the big one that is changed in my opinion because there is no longer a group of shared interest, everyone is an individual. Networks can't disburse things geographically, or as least not as easily.
Broadband t.v relates to Chris Anderson's The Long Tail because when we think about the internet and the ability we now have to have limited shelf space, networks can have limited number of available shows that they can put out there. You can put as much content as you want out there. When we think about Creative Commons, people can put there own work out there without violating copyright, they can choose on their own how they want their work used and distributed.
In ten years, t.v shows will be as easily available online as they are on the t.v now. The t.v will still exist I'm sure but there will be greater availability of shows. There will also be endless devices that will have t.v automatically on them, with no extra charges. Your options are going to be endless on where and how you watch network t.v. Here is a link to explore more.
acebook has come out and said in a recent article in the NY Times that there are three settings that everyone should change 1.) Who can see the things you share 2.)Who can see your personal information and 3.) What google can see, and by that it means keep your information off of search engines.
