Post 7: Unjust Claims

On October 4^th, the president of the Texas Aggie Conservatives, Justin Pulliam, posted a blog bashing the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) and an aggie DREAMer (a person who would qualify for the DREAM act if it is passed). The DREAM Act is a legislative proposal that would grant conditional permanent residency to undocumented people with good moral character and who graduate from US high schools or serve in the military. The Texas Aggie Conservatives are definitely anti-DREAM act and have worked against it in multiple ways such as the blog the president of the organization wrote.

In the blog, Pulliam claims the DREAMer could "go back to Mexico anytime she wants" to stop breaking the US law and be able to see her family. His evidence is that she is " now 20 years old, is an adult and has family in Mexico." His warrant is that "She is making the decision to stay in the United States on her own will." Although some may agree with Pulliam, I believe his reasonings are robotic and fails to include the human aspects.

Like a robot, his evidence and warrant only factors in theoretical probability. The human being brings in factors that robots cannot fathom. Even though she has family in Mexico, these are distant family members. The heart of Hispanic culture is founded on immediate family relationships. To have that heart ripped out at  the age of 20, would inflict massive amounts of emotional trauma. Making the decision to stay is not only the healthiest option for the DREAMer but it is also a no brainer. Growing up in the US, learning US history, and pledging allegiance to the American flag and what it stands for is what DREAMers treasure. They do not call the country of their birth home because it isn't.

Home is a place where you feel safe, it's a place where you grew up, a place that you love and cherish. If the US is that home, then who are we to eject them? Essentially rejecting their dreams, ambitions, talents, and their pursuit of happiness. Are we really so egocentric that we are not willing to give fellow human beings a chance at happiness too?

Post 6: University Email Alert

Did you know that by if someone finds out your TAMU email address they could get your local address, and permanent address?

Texas A&M University classifies information including name, UIN, local address, local phone number, permanent address, permanent phone number, email address, dates of attendance, program of study (college, major, campus), classification, degrees, honors, awards received, previous institution(s), and participation in recognized activities/sports as “directory information.” Meaning that this information is open to the public.

The consequences for having so much of our personal information are endless. For example, if you are being stalked, your stalker can easily find out where you live. Or if your credit card is stolen and the robber saw that you were wearing an A&M t-shirt (s)he can look you up on our directory and find out your address, including your zip code, so they can use your credit card wherever because they have that information.

Thankfully, this is an easy fix. Due to FERPA (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974), you can request that the University withhold your information from public disclosure. If you fill out the request form then only certain individuals and Texas A&M University officials will be provided this information about you as prescribed by FERPA.

Although your first reaction might be to want to withhold all of your information, restricting certain directory information could also be undesirable. Restricting information such as your name, program of study, or degrees received may prohibit your recognition for awards, receiving enrollment verifications, etc.

I find it strange that I didn’t find out this information until my second year at Texas A&M University. I believe the University should’ve let us know when we first enrolled as a student. It is of extreme importance that our school let us know what information they are actually keeping confidential and what information is public. So that we have the opportunity to ensure our privacy.

Scary!

I came across this drawing the other day and it made me worry about our privacy and identity living in a digital world. The man in the drawing seems to look very average because of his posture, dress, and the fact that he's sitting on a lazy boy smoking a cigar in his pajamas. The way the man looks doesn't scare me. It is the fact that he is successfully, I believe the audience is supposed to assume, getting personal information of a maybe unassuming person. The author makes this illusion by the talking bubble, the smug grin the man is sporting, and the "How to Phish" book casually lying against the lazy boy. The shading/ black and white aspects of the drawing make it seem as if anyone could've drawn it.


All of these aspects appeal to the audiences pathos and logos. The man depicted that appears to be average appeals to pathos because the man is "stealing" information. The easiness feel the artists makes phishing to be appeals to logos because logically this can happen. The reason I put stealing in quotation marks previously is because technically they are not stealing. Whoever is on the other end of the phone is GIVING AWAY their information. I believe the reason the author drew this is to show how relatively simple it is for people to get your information if you don't take precautions whenever you decide to give your information away.


This is why it is extremely important that we look into whoever or whatever is trying to get our information. For this reason we should educate ourselves and especially the younger generations about the importance of not giving away our information and ways in which we can protect ourselves from things like identity theft.

Approaches to Privacy and Safety

I came across two blogs posts that cover the topic of internet safety, identity, and educating children. The first blog I read titled "Nameless, Faceless Children", written by Julie Cunningham, discussed a simplistic approach to internet identity. She challenges the belief that people should not put any information about themselves online in order to protect their identity. Julie believes that the information put online cannot be worse than the information we voluntarily disclosed locally. One example that Julie gives is:


"Johnny has a recreational soccer game on Saturday morning for the 7 & 8 year old league, which was published in the newspaper.  His last name is on his jersey.  His parents and uncle cheer loudly from the sidelines “Go Johnny!”.  He holds a water bottle with his elementary school name and logo printed on it.  Oh, and by the way, his face is visible." 


She points out in this example that the child's full name, school, age, and image is voluntarily exposed in a local setting. The main point of Julie's blog is to point out that keeping a child (or anyone for that matter) nameless and faceless on the internet is not going to protect their identity. Instead, she says we ought to teach our kids about the effects of what we share on the internet and how to use the internet safely.


The second post I read had a similar view on how internet safety and identity should be approached. "A common sense approach to Internet safety", written by Elliot Schrage, focused on education being the way to keep safe on the internet. In the post, Elliot offered over ten different sites that readers could use to educate themselves on how to use the internet safely.


In comparing these two blogs, Julie's blog was more entertaining to read with her lively examples. While Elliot's blog is drier and more technical. On the other hand, if I were looking for a more helpful blog that focuses on the "how to" of internet safety then Elliot's blog would be the way to go. Both blogs have great content, but the methods that the content is given is very different. The tone of Elliot's blog is more professional and educational. While Julie's blog sounds like she's simply talking to her friends about the subject. Both posts were successful in conveying their messages, but I don't think one is better than the other. In my opinion, a combination of these two styles of writing could be used to capture a more diverse audience and offer what the audience is looking for.


What do you think?

Internet Safety

Take a look at the picture to the right. This picture comes from Bill Mullin’s Weblog where he talks about the different layers of internet safety. Mullin discusses how “predators are intent on stealing your money and personal information, installing damaging programs on your computer, or misleading you with and online scam.”

At first glance at the graphic, you already get a sense that something evil occurring. The artist created this evil sense by drawing your attention towards the male figure. The man is depicted wearing a black and white long sleeved shirt and black pants, which are generally used to symbolize a robber. The dark black mask that covers his eyes adds to this robber feel, and in my opinion, highlights the idea of identity. He has a mischievously evil facial expression that one sees in movies when a robber or con artist are successfully taking advantage of a person or stealing from them.

       The man, whom from now on I will call the robber, is coming out of a computer holding a remote control. The computer is without a label to show how any computer is subject to threats involved with using the internet. The remote control stands out from his striped dark clothes. I believe this accented feel of the control is to resemble some of the manipulation we face through online scams and unwanted Trojan horses that get downloaded into our computers if we accidentally open up a wrong file.

       Overall, I believe this picture was meant to use pathos to get us upset about all of the unwanted problems we face everyday when we use the internet. I also think that the artist might of tried using logos to get us to see the logic behind how we can be manipulated and to promote internet safety. Do you agree?

Betrayal vs. Misuse

      Do we get betrayed by the internet? Or are we misusing it? To address this question it is very important to figure out the source of the problems that we are dealing with. In this case, it comes down to the creators of the different websites or its users. Who is to blame?

To betray is to reveal or disclose in violation of confidence. Many websites, including Facebook, have reserved the right in their user’s agreement contracts to change their privacy policies at their discretion. The fact that they can change those policies is a way to fix privacy problems. But changing privacy policies without letting their users know of the changes, in my opinion, is betrayal. What others post about us on the internet is another way that we can be betrayed (Born Digital). We can take all the precautions possible but we cannot control what other people upload onto the internet. I consider this a form of betrayal because there should be certain policies/laws in place that would prohibit this. Yes I know that enforcing laws of that sort may seem somewhat impossible, nevertheless it would be nice!

Misuse, on the other hand, leaves the user accountable. Personally, I have never fully read the agreement contracts that we have to “sign” in order to use a website or download computer programs. Normally, I read the first two paragraphs then deem it boring and click the little “I agree” button at the bottom of the page. Not reading the fine print definitely leaves me liable. Another form of misuse is not checking the privacy settings at every website we use or not verifying that the website is providing/protecting whatever they say they are going to provide or protect. Basically, the culprit for a user’s misuse of the internet is laziness.  

Taking into account both sides of the story, I believe that internet users and website creators need to meet each other halfway in order to make the internet safe. This being said, I also believe that in most cases the users are to blame because we don’t take the time to look up how to use a website safely. If we did then we could keep the website creators accountable to make sure their websites are as safe as possible. 

Identity, Privacy, and Safety

Is having the world at our fingertips just too good to be true? Are online banking mechanisms worth risking identity theft? How much of your personal life is too much to disclose to the rest of the world? The purpose of this blog is to discuss the different aspects of identity, privacy, and safety in the digital world.

Being ignorant about these topics could be disastrous in the future. Thus, the need for this blog. When I take into consideration the different ways the internet can be used for wrongdoing, goose bumps work their way up my arm. If I were to think about how this topic makes me feel the word to describe it would be insecure. For example, I tend to rely on the internet 100% in every aspect of my life: school, social network, work, banking, etc. I’m afraid that relying so heavily on the internet could be like putting all your trust in a friend. Then, one day things go wrong and that friend stabs you in the back when you least expect it. This is why I believe we should take precautions when using the internet and be aware of the risks that come with it.