Spam Diaries….

9-15-2011

Dear Diary,

I think I’ve met someone! He’s really sweet. He’s been sending me about 10 messages a day since the beginning of September and sometimes even more. His username is Chenhong17. When I opened his first message it had some interesting characters in it.  I think it’ was code for hey beautiful, what’s your name or something like that. Initially I wasnt buying all the messages but as days went on his messages kept coming and I figure he must’ve been very interested in me. What can I say?… I really do admire a man with persistence.  I think he lives in Hong Kong, which isn’t too bad. Maybe we can web chat or facetime…I’m going to check and see if he has an iPhone. Maybe we can even meet up somewhere in Europe…..

9-22-2011

I got this message from Julia with a username kissmeimcute today. She says she is 26 and looking for a good time. She even sent some photos of herself of which I haven’t had a chance to look at. Her message says that she wants a boyfriend and wants to start a big friendship. She also said that March is the best time for this.  I was thinking…. if March is the best time for this then why are you sending this email in September??? Maybe she just wants to get an early start on things. Maybe I should hook her up with my single guy friend, Tyrone.  I had lunch with him yesterday and he just got out of a 3month relationship.  She seems like such a free spirit. I’m going to forward him her link to see what he thinks.

By the way today wasn’t a good day on the lovefront for me….I think my new guy Chenghong 17 was a cheat. I started looking at his repeated messages and realized he may be seeing other people including a couple of my friends. His special messages that I thought were only just for me had 7 other email addresses on them. Well at least I tried…I think I’ll go watch a new movie tonight and use the coupon I got from Fandago FanMail.

9-23-11

The most embarrassing thing happened to me today. I was reviewing my email at work today and then I opened this email that said something about a sale. When I opened the email the first line starts off in big bold letters saying , “Max Gentleman Enlargement Pills”. Before I could close the email, my older male boss walks up peering at my screen . Needless to say he walked away with a look of surprise and embarrassment after he got a glimpse of my screen. I tried to orchestrate a cover up of the screen by repositioning my body, but I’m sure he could still read the bold letters that read, ‘Male Enlargement  Pills’. I don’t think that was quite the sale I was looking for….

Nevertheless it seems like things are getting serious between my friend Tyrone and the new girl Julia. He said the photos were rare and none like he had ever seen before…I guess it’s a match!

9-25-2011

Dear Diary,

Today is the best day ever! In addition to getting a message from this new guy, username princebolkiah1…Oh wow what if he’s a real prince! I just found out that I may become a millionaire!!!  I got this memo via email from a bank consultant in London at some ADB Banks…not sure who that is.  However, his message says that since an investor died and left $7 million in a bank account and because we have the same last name, I can accept the in heritance as soon as I verify a couple of details.

I was at dinner with friend when I got the message.  I screamed I’m rich! I’m rich! I’m really really reach  rich!  I never thought in a million years that I could open an email and instantly be rich. I still need to call my mom and tell her the news to see if she’s heard anything about a distant relative passing on and leaving some money.  I’m thinking maybe I should keep it a secret for a little while until I get the money?

First things first, I’m going to check to see what time it is in London and call this Mr. Watts to see if I can get my information to him in order to expediate expedite things.  As soon as I get the money I’m going on a shopping spree, buying a new car, new house, pay off student loans….Thank God I’m a Moss…LOL!

Tags: First Draft

10-1-2011

Dear Diary,

I’m really at a loss for words today, but I’ve certainly learned something very valuable….SPAMBOTS do exist!!!!! I’ve been carrying on a relationship for the past couple of weeks with something that isn’t even human. I didn’t even know these spambot things that are like robots even existed.  They are actually like robots and artificial intelligence technology that can instantly respond to you when prompted by a question.  Here I thought we were having such meaningful conversation. We talk and “his” responses were exactly the words that I wanted to hear. There were times when I asked certain questions and it seemed like his answer was kind of off, but I didn’t think it was a biggie since we had a lot in common (at least I thought).  He always seemed to like the same things that I did. I should’ve known when I asked him where he was from and his response was Silicon Valley?!?!? Like really? Sometimes even his responses were somewhat elementary but I just thought he was nervous. He even asked me to marry him!!!! How was that supposed to happen? What a fool I’ve been!!! Well on the flip side of things, if I ever get board or need some stimulating conversation, then there’s always a spambot there waiting for me….

9-25-2011

Dear Diary,

Today is the best day ever! In addition to getting a message from this new guy, username princebolkiah1…Oh wow what if he’s a real prince! I just found out that I might become a millionaire!!!  I got this memo via email from a bank consultant in London at some ADB Banks…not sure who that is.  However, his message says that since an investor died and left $7 million in a bank account and because we have the same last name, I can accept the in heritance as soon as I verify a couple of details.

I was at dinner with friend when I got the message.  I screamed I’m rich! I’m rich! I’m really really reach  rich!  I never thought in a million years that I could open an email and instantly be rich. I still need to call my mom and tell her the news to see if she’s heard anything about a distant relative passing on and leaving some money.  I’m thinking maybe I should keep it a secret for a little while until I get the money?

First things first, I’m going to check to see what time it is in London and call this Mr. Watts to see if I can get my information to him in order to expediate expedite things.  As soon as I get the money I’m going on a shopping spree, buying a new car and new house, pay off student loans….Thank God I’m a Moss…LOL!

9-22-2011

Dear Diary,

I received this message from Julia with a username kissmeimcute today. She says she is 26 and looking for a good time. She even sent some photos of herself of which I haven’t had a chance to look at. Her message says that she wants a boyfriend and wants to start a big friendship. She also said that March is the best time for this.  I was thinking…. if March is the best time for this then why are you sending this email in September??? Maybe she just wants to get an early start on things. Maybe I should hook her up with my single guy friend, Tyrone.  I had lunch with him yesterday and he just got out of a 3month relationship.  She seems like such a free spirit. I’m going to forward him her link to see what he thinks.

By the way today wasn’t a good day on the lovefront for me….I think my new guy Chenghong 17 was a cheat. I started looking at his repeated messages and realized he may be seeing other people including a couple of my friends. His special messages that I thought were only just for me had 7 other email addresses on them. Well at least I tried…I think I’ll go watch a new movie tonight and use the coupon I got from Fandago FanMail.

9-15-2011

Dear Diary,

I think I’ve met someone! He’s really sweet. He’s been sending me about 10 messages a day since the beginning of September and sometimes even more. His username is Chenhong17. When I opened his first message it had some interesting characters in it.  I think it’ was code for hey beautiful, what’s your name or something like that?!?!? Initially I wasn’t buying all the messages but as days went on his messages kept coming and I figure he must’ve been very interested in me. What can I say?… I really do admire a man with persistence.  I think he lives in Hong Kong, which isn’t too bad. Maybe we can web chat or facetime…I’m going to check and see if he has an iPhone. Maybe we can even meet up somewhere in Europe…..

Tags: digital text, spam diaries

More info…more problems

Lately news and media outlets heavily focused their headlines on topics related to “WikiLeaks”. There were so many posts and news stories about it that I could help but do a search of this topic in Wikipedia. According to Wikipedia, the site is “an uncensorable system for untraceable mass document leaking”. WikiLeak exist to anonymously provide information on organizations, such as reports on U.S. Intelligence. Once considered classified and top secret information, it’s now being publicized for all the world to see because of the internet.   Coincidently, this matter comes up just as the discourse shifts to shifting models of public and private.  For the topic of this post, I will further discuss information privacy and some it’s challenges.

“Information privacy” as defined by Professor Alan Westin at Columbia University is  ““…the right of individuals, groups and institutions to determine for themselves, when, how and to what extent information about them is communicated to others”. An important aspect of this definition is the ability of the person or institution to determine exactly what information is made public.  It is the will of the people to determine who and what people know about them that is being compromised.  Passively sharing data is becoming more common with internet users. Increasingly merchant websites and social networking tools are collecting more information about your online activity.  Many are unaware that when you visit online sites, you leave an electronic record of your movements tracking our online activity. Why is this important to others?  It could be sold or used for gain by third parties, such as companies or government agencies, to let them know your online habits.  Personal information can be considered a highly value commodity.

Some of the key challenges with information privacy is the growth in information mining, new developments in information and communications technologies, and legislative deficiencies.First, information mining by companies as discussed before is becoming more profitable for entities considering there’s more information out there to obtain on just about anyone. There’s more data now than ever before. For instance, according to a report on ReadWriteWeb, “8 years ago only 5 exabytes of data online and recent estimates put monthly internet data flow at around 21 exabytes of data”. More information brings more problems.

Next, there’s the good and bad of new developments with regards to information and communications technology. Companies that provide services are able to better track our behavior to provide and improve the quality of product of services, but there’s still a growing concern over whether sometimes the commercial use of location data compromises consumer privacy.  Locational devices, such as GPS locators, are being used in some criminal court case proceedings.  There’s a rising debate on the privacy rights of citizens in the historical locational information that is being tracked and whether it violates our 4th   amendment rights.

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In closing, I will briefly mention the challenge of legislation.  We don’t have proper and current legislation in place to properly deal with the matters at hand. Legislation needs to play catch up with the evolving technology landscape and stop trying to retrofit the laws.

Time to Draw the Line…

In the article, “On Locational Privacy, and How to Avoid Losing it Forever“  the writers define locational privacy as the following:
“Locational privacy (also known “as “location privacy”) is the ability of an individual to move in public space with the expectation that under normal     circumstances their location will not be systematically and secretly recorded for     later use”.

“Expectation” is the key word here. As a private citizen of the US, I would expect for my whereabouts to be my own private business and not subject to scrutiny or attention by anyone unless I authorize it. However based on the amount of location devices out there these days that expectation for privacy is being compromised.  More than ever it seems the thing to do and more and more devices are coming out to get you to let others know what you are doing, such as GIS, Foursquare, Places,  google maps, etc. For example, several sites such as, Just Spotted, have been appearing that will track the location and whereabouts of celebrities in their personal lives.  Just Spotted actually uses the massed information of tweets, blogs, and news articles online to track exactly where a particular celebrity is in the world. Clearly this is overly obsessive behavior but there are actual fans out there that value that information.   This raises the question of How much location information is OK to share, and who should have access to it?

On the other hand the good thing about it is when there’s an issue of national security, locational devices can assist the government in tracking these threats more efficiently than before.  Where to draw the line as it relates to locational privacy will probably be one of the most important issues the global governments and citizens will have to make going forward. However, as the writers did by publishing this article, starting the conversation and creating awareness of the potential threats due to location services  technology  is a start.

A Generation of Criminals

The discussion this week has taken us on a journey to learn more about the shifting models of creation and participation in art & pop culture.   We watched a video “RIP: A Remix Manifesto”,  that provided insight into the world of video mashups and music downloading.   Video mashups are  a new and exciting phenomenon, changing the way in which the music industry is doing business and the construction of copyright legislation. The process of video mashups involves taking a collage of songs and creating a new song from them.   The video presents the discourse on the revolution of the copyright laws due to evolving trends in the industry. On what side of the argument, there’s the “copy-right” in which it is important that copyright laws be in place to protect the original creators of the music or song. Initially, copyright laws were to made to encourage  creation yet today with all the legalities, it actually discourages what it originally set out to do. However, the alternative view is from the “copy-left “, which views the music used to make video mashups as this public domain that must be protected in order to ensure future innovation and further creativity.

I do understand reasons why the copyright laws are becoming more involved in protecting music to protect the artists and profits.  On the other hand, I do understand that it is important to protect our freedom of speech and future innovations. The concept of mashups is to cutup and integrate parts of the old song in order to make something entirely new. Simple math to me says if you take A+B and then you get C, then that is a totally different product.  Since video mashups create something new that otherwise wouldn’t have been in existence then the creator shouldn’t be accused of copyright infringement because it is something completely new. Initially, copyright laws were made to encourage creation yet today with all the legalities, it actually discourages what it originally set out to do making me and the rest of those in my generation criminals.

Stop All the Noise!

This week, we watched a brief presentation, “May I Have your Attention Please”, written by Linda stone that provided insight into historical developments of all the madness behind this noise; this feeling of being tied down to our phones and feeling like we constantly have to answer email. According to Linda, “Our truth is we really operate in a noisy world and we try to stay on top of everything.” If I were a member of Linda’s audience during this presentation, I would have been in her “Amen Corner” because I definitely have experienced experienced the noise in my life and feeling this need to divide my attention amongst multiple things just to get things done.

I recently decided that I wanted to take a vacation to get away from all the noise. This noise being the feeling of stress I feel that I have to always be connected or available for people to reach me. The information provided this week, made me reflect on the purchase of my smartphone and how it has affected my life. When I forget my phone sometimes, I feel this sense of freedom and peace that I don’t have to be tied down to respond to anyone nor urgent matters.  In March of this year, I finally decided to join the rest of the world and get a smartphone so that I could check email and correspond with family, friends, clients, etc. when I’m away from my computer.  I am one of those people that feels as if my quality life is often compromised by technology and it makes me feel enslaved. However on the flipside it does allow me to be more accessible and allows me to multitask in getting things done more efficiently. Also I have to admit my smartphone has become an indispensable part of my life. But I have to wonder is this worth all the “noise”?

Not long ago, Microsoft introduced a new phone on the scene to rival the Iphone, Android, and other smartphones, called the Windows 7 phone. Microsoft 7 phone ads said “It’s time for a phone to save you from your phone”.

In this ad, people are constantly driven to divide their attention between technology and other tasks which is exactly what Linda discusses in detail in the presentation. Microsoft’s intention for producing this phone was to save us from our phones and I definitely applaud them in their efforts.

Now I think, Microsoft may’ve been ahead of it’s self because people with smartphones are enslaved to it and don’t want to spend less time on it, but would like to spend more. However, based on Linda’s presentation and studies, I believe one day this will be the case that we will become so overwhelmed by all the noise of having to be connected that the desire of humanity will grow to yearn for peace by escaping all the noise.

Wikified

This week we read an interesting essay, DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism written by Jaron Lanier. I found his essay to be profound and thought-provoking. His article discusses the consequences of this new online collectivism by using Wikipedia as an example.  He presents the controversy in the following statement, “The problem is in the way the Wikipedia has come to be regarded and used; how it’s been elevated to such importance so quickly”.  As a society, we should be cautious of sites like these of which Lanier refers to as meta-sites because of several reasons. We as a society have started to treat such sites like Wikipedia as valid sources to do our research as an alternative to going to the original source.

I’ve used Wikipedia like so many others as a reference source to look up a certain topic or thing. In fact, when you do search for something online, most often Wikipedia is the first source to appear. It appears right there bearing all details about whatever you want to find out about a certain person, thing, or place. He refers to sites such as Wikipedia as ‘meta-sites’. Meta-sites are sites that are gatherers of knowledge or information from multiple sources.  These multiple sources providing the information are the voices of people from multiple sites gathered from all over online.  The content on topics from Wikipedia undergoes the process of being ‘Wikefied’. “Wikified” is where the content for a particular topic is gathered from multiple sources online.  When content is Wikified, one of the main issues that Lanier discusses is that it lacks personality. He makes this clear in the following statement,  “Accuracy in a text is not enough. A desirable text is more than a collection of accurate references. It is also an expression of personality.”  Wikipedia’s process of taking content from its original sources takes away from the authenticity because without a sense of personality, you can’t get the full meaning of the text.  

Source: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/lanier06/lanier06_index.html