Today as I was reading up on Internet safety, I got to thinking, how vulnerable am I? I've shared some information on the Web; I feel no need to hide my blog posts and comments. But I don't want someone going to my hometown address and harassing my parents, nor do I want companies stuffing their mailbox with junk mail. So I stalked myself. I'm pleased to report that my full home address can't be found on my social networking sites or anywhere else on the public web, and I've eliminated one reference to my neighborhood within my hometown.
Do you have anything online open to public view that you wouldn't want a stranger to see? I encourage you to stalk yourself, before someone else stalks you. Try this with your kids, too, and teach them about Internet safety.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Mankind has Built Hands
Mankind has built hands
Of silicon and copper
Of myriad ones and zeroes
That reach across the world.
Hands serve and entertain us.
They beckon to temptation,
Applaud, or point in scorn.
Hands clasp in trust and friendship,
Build and hone tools together,
And even mend a patient's life.
As we reach across the world,
Do we lift our fellows up?
They still count on our hearts of flesh
To show compassion
With these hands mankind has built.
Of silicon and copper
Of myriad ones and zeroes
That reach across the world.
Hands serve and entertain us.
They beckon to temptation,
Applaud, or point in scorn.
Hands clasp in trust and friendship,
Build and hone tools together,
And even mend a patient's life.
As we reach across the world,
Do we lift our fellows up?
They still count on our hearts of flesh
To show compassion
With these hands mankind has built.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
It's Easy to Lie Online
Fooling computer systems usually takes some technical know-how, but using the Internet to fool other people is elementary. No authenticity checks keep me from setting up an email account under any name I choose to use, and then registering for social networking sites such as Facebook. Since I use any name, pictures, and information I choose, I could masquerade as practically anyone, imagined or real.
Adults as well as children need to exercise caution; some people we meet online may be disguising their identities or their true motives. A friend in need might ask to borrow money; an online friend, once she owes you money, might block you from ever seeing her log on again. In-person acquaintance reveals a person's tone of voice, facial expressions, and other nonverbal cues; only a great actor can fake these. Typing a lie is much easier.
There are some valid reasons, such as online dating, to meet and form friendships with people over the Internet. These activities require precautions. I'll emphasize this precaution: Before you entrust an individual with personal information that could be exploited, be sure that you have formed a sufficient friendship with that individual in person.
Adults as well as children need to exercise caution; some people we meet online may be disguising their identities or their true motives. A friend in need might ask to borrow money; an online friend, once she owes you money, might block you from ever seeing her log on again. In-person acquaintance reveals a person's tone of voice, facial expressions, and other nonverbal cues; only a great actor can fake these. Typing a lie is much easier.
There are some valid reasons, such as online dating, to meet and form friendships with people over the Internet. These activities require precautions. I'll emphasize this precaution: Before you entrust an individual with personal information that could be exploited, be sure that you have formed a sufficient friendship with that individual in person.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Cable will Evolve or Die
Cable companies have an obnoxious way of providing channels in inflexible bundles, giving customers the channels they want with the channels they don't want for themselves or for their children. The CNET News article "Can the Internet really compete with Cable TV?" looks at the recent proposal for FCC regulations that would force cable companies to offer channels separately. The article also explores the possibility that competition from the Internet makes such legislation unnecessary. With satellite TV and seasons of TV shows on DVD, there's hardly a need to bring up Internet TV as evidence that cable has competition.
Nevertheless, TV-like Internet services have the potential to be contenders. The hardware is already in place to bring Internet television on a level playing field with cable TV. When I watch a DVD with my friends, it's as often on a widescreen computer monitor as it is on a traditional TV set. The services themselves that come along more slowly. Large, long-established networks take a few years to use the latest technology, but those who catch on most quickly will have the edge. If Hulu.com flops, someone else will do Internet TV better. Meanwhile, cable TV had better adapt to what people want, or its present and future competitors will run it over.
Nevertheless, TV-like Internet services have the potential to be contenders. The hardware is already in place to bring Internet television on a level playing field with cable TV. When I watch a DVD with my friends, it's as often on a widescreen computer monitor as it is on a traditional TV set. The services themselves that come along more slowly. Large, long-established networks take a few years to use the latest technology, but those who catch on most quickly will have the edge. If Hulu.com flops, someone else will do Internet TV better. Meanwhile, cable TV had better adapt to what people want, or its present and future competitors will run it over.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Zero-Sum Myth
With so many manufacturing jobs being offshored to China, many blue-collar Americans fear for their jobs. Likewise, outsourcing to India has brought many white-collar Americans to realize how easily they can be replaced. At first glance, it looks perniciously selfish of companies to take jobs away from Americans just because foreigners can do them for less. It would seem that U.S. unemployment would skyrocket...but it doesn't. As Thomas L. Friedman points out in Chapter 3 of The World is Flat, the layoffs of hundreds in the U.S. due to outsourcing are offset by companies hiring increasing numbers of Americans, few by few. Jobs are leaving America, and yet America hasn't suffered a net loss of jobs.
Let's remember that this isn't the first time we've seen the economy give us a nonzero sum. The very rise of civilization is a powerful argument for a positive sum being possible. Recent decades have shown us tragic examples of self-inflicted negative sums. Mao's and Castro's regimes, though located amid adequate natural resources, imposed an inefficient command economy that had citizens waiting in breadlines for equal pieces of a distressingly small pie.
So how are the U.S. and its business partner countries turning up a positive sum? Efficiency and invention. Friedman argues that there are always marketable ideas waiting to be conceived, so the number of "idea-person" jobs in the world is limitless. I would add that, due to the innovator's need to mass-produce, the unskilled job market is also expandable. Simply put, innovators create jobs.
And they're creating jobs in China, where wages are a minute fraction of the U.S. minimum wage. This is a shrewd move, but is it ethical? They're getting a relatively small piece of the pie, but with increased efficiency, that pie is getting bigger. Furthermore, as more companies turn to China for labor, they will compete for workers by offering better wages and benefits. Before globalization, China was poor; with it, China is poor but it's being pulled up by more developed nations.
The U.S., as a prosperous nation, holds a position of responsibility in the global market. Since we have high wages, we'll need to start earning them or lose our jobs to lower-paid work. Since we have opportunities for education, we have not only a need but a duty to use them. Then we can set our minds to invent ideas that will lead the world to greater prosperity.
Consider the vast numbers of poor and illiterate people in the world, people who desperately need help to rise above their condition. Is there any shortage of work that ought to be done? With the economic merits of capitalism, the spark of innovation, and a healthy dose of altruism, much can be done. The world has risen this far; let's not limit ourselves now.
Let's remember that this isn't the first time we've seen the economy give us a nonzero sum. The very rise of civilization is a powerful argument for a positive sum being possible. Recent decades have shown us tragic examples of self-inflicted negative sums. Mao's and Castro's regimes, though located amid adequate natural resources, imposed an inefficient command economy that had citizens waiting in breadlines for equal pieces of a distressingly small pie.
So how are the U.S. and its business partner countries turning up a positive sum? Efficiency and invention. Friedman argues that there are always marketable ideas waiting to be conceived, so the number of "idea-person" jobs in the world is limitless. I would add that, due to the innovator's need to mass-produce, the unskilled job market is also expandable. Simply put, innovators create jobs.
And they're creating jobs in China, where wages are a minute fraction of the U.S. minimum wage. This is a shrewd move, but is it ethical? They're getting a relatively small piece of the pie, but with increased efficiency, that pie is getting bigger. Furthermore, as more companies turn to China for labor, they will compete for workers by offering better wages and benefits. Before globalization, China was poor; with it, China is poor but it's being pulled up by more developed nations.
The U.S., as a prosperous nation, holds a position of responsibility in the global market. Since we have high wages, we'll need to start earning them or lose our jobs to lower-paid work. Since we have opportunities for education, we have not only a need but a duty to use them. Then we can set our minds to invent ideas that will lead the world to greater prosperity.
Consider the vast numbers of poor and illiterate people in the world, people who desperately need help to rise above their condition. Is there any shortage of work that ought to be done? With the economic merits of capitalism, the spark of innovation, and a healthy dose of altruism, much can be done. The world has risen this far; let's not limit ourselves now.
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