Chapter 1 Reflections
1.What is a bit and what does it mean to say that "it's all just bits"? (Koan 1) Give examples of the things today that are stored in bits?
-"It's all just bits" is trying to say that everything in the world can be stored somehow in a bit form. Books, movies, music and anything else you can think of can and is stored in bits.
2.Describe, in your own words, Moore's Law.
-Moore's Law states that, every two years, the processing power for computers will double.
3.Someone offers you a summer job and offers you two pay rates: (1) $10 per hour for 40 hours per week for 30 days or (2) One cent on day 1, two cents and day two, four cents on day three and on (doubling each day) for 30 days. If you were trying to make as much money as possible in 30 days, which pay rate would you choose? What does this illustrate?
-You would make a extremely larger amount of money on the second pay rate over the first. You would make about $11,000,000 in the second and $20,000 in the first which shows the difference between the two. This illustrates how an exponential growth if given enough time can amount to huge numbers.
4.Give an example of how the digital explosion is "neither good nor bad" but has both positive and negative implications.
-The digital explosion has completely changed the modern world. For example, we now can stream a movie off of sites such as Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. However, we can also stream movies off of sites like putlocker. These sites show the good and bad of the privilege we've been given.
5."Advances in computing have generated and increased creativity in other fields." Comment on this statement. Do you agree? Can you give an example to support (or contradict) it?
-I do agree with some aspects of this statement. You could just look at Pixar Studios and see how computers have allowed for more creativity. You can see how much more animation goes into their films today than their films 15 years ago. On the flipside, the learning curve of these computers is steep. It takes a lot of practice to be proficient with these programs. The programs are getting easier and easier to use which does further the statement's point, but it shows that there is still work to be done.
Chapter 3 Reflections
1.What is a bit and what does it mean to say that "it's all just bits"? (Koan 1) Give examples of the things today that are stored in bits?
-"It's all just bits" is trying to say that everything in the world can be stored somehow in a bit form. Books, movies, music and anything else you can think of can and is stored in bits.
2.Describe, in your own words, Moore's Law.
-Moore's Law states that, every two years, the processing power for computers will double.
3.Someone offers you a summer job and offers you two pay rates: (1) $10 per hour for 40 hours per week for 30 days or (2) One cent on day 1, two cents and day two, four cents on day three and on (doubling each day) for 30 days. If you were trying to make as much money as possible in 30 days, which pay rate would you choose? What does this illustrate?
-You would make a extremely larger amount of money on the second pay rate over the first. You would make about $11,000,000 in the second and $20,000 in the first which shows the difference between the two. This illustrates how an exponential growth if given enough time can amount to huge numbers.
4.Give an example of how the digital explosion is "neither good nor bad" but has both positive and negative implications.
-The digital explosion has completely changed the modern world. For example, we now can stream a movie off of sites such as Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. However, we can also stream movies off of sites like putlocker. These sites show the good and bad of the privilege we've been given.
5."Advances in computing have generated and increased creativity in other fields." Comment on this statement. Do you agree? Can you give an example to support (or contradict) it?
-I do agree with some aspects of this statement. You could just look at Pixar Studios and see how computers have allowed for more creativity. You can see how much more animation goes into their films today than their films 15 years ago. On the flipside, the learning curve of these computers is steep. It takes a lot of practice to be proficient with these programs. The programs are getting easier and easier to use which does further the statement's point, but it shows that there is still work to be done.
Chapter 3 Reflections
- What is metadata? Give an example. -Metadata is the information about the document. An example is the name of the file.
- What is a model? -A model is the representation of an idea that omits some information.
- What's the difference between a raster image and an ASCII representation of a text document? -A raster image is based on pixels and colors while an ASCII representation is based on coding for letters.
- What are filename extensions? What are they used for? -Filename extensions are the three letters after the dot at the end of a filename. They indicate how the contents are to be interpreted by the computer.
- What is lossless representation? What is lossy representation? What are the trade-offs in using each representation? -A lossless representation is a representation that renders the exact same image. A lossy representation allows an approximation of the image to be rendered. Lossless keeps the same image but it requires more storage. Lossy doesn't give you the exact image but it can conserve space
- What is steganography and what is it used for? Describe in your own words the steganographic algorithm used in the activity. -Steganography is defined as sending hidden messages. It is used to secretly and discretely send messages without unwanted eyes seeing it. The method made code that counted words that started with vowels as 1 and others as 0. After 8 words the code was translated into a Roman Letter.
- What would you have to do to delete a document from your computer so that it could not possibly be read by anyone else? -You could use a wiping software or change the blocks, but the best for sure method is to physically destroy the hard drive.
- What is free and open source software? Provide an example.
Free Response: Open source software is software that people can openly look into the code and modify it. An example is the Firefox web server. - How has retouching become a controversial issue? Give an example. -Retouching has become controversial because the detail that retouching can go into can fool even the keenest eye. It is now extremely hard to tell the edited version from the original. A very controversial example today is modeling. A lot of models use retouching to distort their bodies.
- Would you rather own a camera (or camera phone) with a higher number of megapixels or lower? Explain. -It depends on the lens not the megapixels. The megapixels gauge how precise the image is but not necessarily the quality.
- Other than digital images, what might be an example of a computer model? Explain your answer based on the definition of a model. -An example of a computer model that is widely used is music. MP3 files are used all the time, especially with the music streaming capabilities that we have today. The computer interprets the code and outputs a music. We don't see behind the scenes.
- The code that implements App Inventor is open source and its impact on education is obvious. Find another example of open source software and describe its positive impact on education, business or society. -A widely used open source software is firefox. Ever since its inception it has dominated the web community. It is used by the more tech oriented and allows for extreme customization. This revolutionary software set the course for many open source browsers to follow. This could be a positive impact it itself but another impact is the almost unbelievable amount of customer to creator communication and applications. Mozilla, the creator of firefox, is extremely close to its fanbase and makes most of its major changes per the consumer's request. However, even without Mozilla making these changes, you can make them yourself with a couple clicks because of the tailor-made experience.
Chapter 2 Reflection
Chapter 4 Reflection
Chapter 6 Reflection1. Why should all Internet users be aware of copyrighted material? -Yes, because many users are unaware of material that is copyrighted and should avoid illegally accessing, sharing, downloading copyrighted material. The owner of the material is able to sue for copyright infringement if material is used improperly. Sadly, many people do not know when they are copyrighting materials. Because of this, people often do not realize that their actions are punishable.
2. What is a GB? How many bytes are in GB? -A GB is a gigabyte. It is made up of about a billion bytes.
3. What is the NET Act and what is its significance in the history of copyright? -The NET Act is known as the "No Electronic Theft Act." This act criminalized the act of making unauthorized digital copies, even if it was for private use only.The NET Act was the first time that the Internet had a significant increase of responsibility for copyright infringement. The NET Act was created to deal with the issue of privacy and copyright infringement.
4. What is a peer-to-peer architecture? Provide an example of at least one well-known peer-to-peer network. -Peer-to-peer architectures essentially make more efficient use of the network. In peer-to-peer architecture one user's computer contains the file and another user's computer is connected to that computer by the p2p service (Morpheus for example) for the purpose of getting a copy of that specific file.
5. What is the DMCA and why is it significant to copyright? -The DMCA is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This essentially made it illegal to evade copyright protection software.This caused, and is still causing, a lot of chaos in the market where Companies are being constantly sued for technological infringements.
6. What are Open Access and Creative Commons? How have they impacted the sharing of digital information? -Creative Commons is an organization that helps in the creation of digital information that can be openly shared, and used by anyone. It is an unlimited network for musicians, artistics, etc to share their work.
Free Response Questions
7. Before reading this chapter, were you aware of copyright infringement? When you put digital content (e.g. images, videos) in your apps, where did you get it from? Is it possible that you violated any copyright terms? Has the reading raised your awareness of how you use content found on the Internet? -I did not have a lot of knowledge about copyright laws and how easy it was to break them by simply downloading music online or using a picture on google images. However, I feel like as technology has surpassed these laws in the sense that it is far too easy to get these songs and images. People need to know that if you post something to the internet, it will likely be used by others. This reading has however, made me more aware of how to use content on the Internet and now I can be much more careful when citing sources.
8. In your opinion, are YouTube users violating copyright terms when they make lyric videos? Why or why not? -Lyric videos today usually always credit their music source and put below saying, "I do not own any content." This is because it is very easy for the video to get banned if they do not do this. Sharing is easy like an open access by sharing a link.
9. In your opinion, are computers that use DRAM violating copyright terms? Why or why not? -Personally, I don't think that computers that use DRAM are violating copyright terms because to run code, you need to store it into the memory. If this doesn't happen, it won't be functional.
10. Select one of the technical innovations described in the chapter and write an explanation of the technical details of this innovation. Try to use terms that someone unfamiliar with the innovation would understand. -One innovation is Peer to Peer architecture (P2P). This allows people who have files relating to music, games, and programs saved on a storage device to share with their friends, family or strangers. This allows people to access their shared files. It is very effective in creating a network of people that share the same interests, such as the same music artist or video game.
11. Visit chillingeffects.org and read about digital copyright issues. Write a paragraph describing your findings. -A digital copyright issue would be reverse engineering, and whether the copying of software would be considered copyright infringement or not. Copyright law has allowed these copies for reverse engineering as "fair use". But the issue is, how does one know if an individual is copying a software for reverse engineering or just stealing. They could say one thing, and their action can be another. Another issue with reverse engineering is that users are not aware to the terms they are being bind to. The Uniform Information Transactions Act (UCITA), would allow these kinds of contracts enforceable, and thus more difficult to challenge their anti-reverse engineering provisions. The point is Revere engineers must be careful in planning their work and whether they fit into the limited exception by the DMCA, because the exception is too narrow to be useful to engineers.
Chapter 5 Reflection
- What is an RFID tag and what does it do? A Radio Frequency Identification tag is a silicon chip that can tag things and transfer bits of information.
- What is an EDR and what does it do? An Event Data Recorder is a box that captures information about a vehicle. It captures information about speed, braking time, turn signals, seat belts, etc.
- Is it possible to identify someone, perhaps a patient, knowing just his or her gender, birth date, and zip code? Explain. Yes because this information can be used to easily narrow down the amount of people. You just need to find a database of names that you can use to track things down. There is a very low chance that people would have the same birthday, be the same gender, and live in the same zip code. These factors allow us to specify people.
- What is the difference between "big brotherism" and "little brotherism"? Big brotherism has to do with the idea of the government and large agencies being able to acquire all kinds of information about you. Little brotherism is when people just like you can access your information.
- How do you feel about "Big Brother" watching you? Do you think having security cameras everywhere is good or bad? I think that there should be some surveillance to have protection of the people, but there shouldn't be security cameras literally everywhere. If there are security cameras everywhere, people would not have any privacy. They would be constantly be watched and the government would be invading our personal lives.
- Is the Privacy Act effective? Explain. No because it is hard to have information that blocks out all information about people and is not difficult to access. People can find ways to trace back certain information to find people. Also, this act is not enforced very efficiently unless it has a huge impact. It has good intentions, but is not very effective.
- "The digital explosion has scattered the bits of our lives everywhere: records of the clothes we wear, the soaps we wash with, the streets we walk, and the cars we drive and where we drive them." (pg 20) Marketing companies use these data to build models of our preferences and use these models to recommend products to us ... In 1 or 2 paragraphs, address the question 'Am I willing to trade some of my privacy for the convenience of having a computer or a company recommend products to me? Why or why not? I think that there is not a big problem with this, given that only certain parts of your privacy are given away. If it is basic data like email and name, then it is not as big of a problem than giving your social security number. This basic information can probably already be found online easier, so what is the risk of giving it to a company. You can get rewards for giving them this information, such as helping you save money. It is beneficial to provide this information to the company if it is certain information and you as a user are benefitting from it.
- How do "we leave digital footprints and fingerprints?" Do you think this is important for everyone to know? Why or why not? We leave this footprints and fingerprints by putting things online that contain information about us. This information is now open to everyone. People should know that there information is open to anyone and they should be careful for what they put online. Once put online, it is very difficult to make it disappear. If you don't want others to access this information, then don't use it online.
- How has the social evolution affected privacy? Consider social networking. Social evolution has made privacy a lot more disregarded. It also has decreased the amount of privacy in the world. People are putting new information about themselves online any minute, especially on social networks. This information is now accessible to everyone. Companies also can access and sometimes distrivute this information about us. There is hardly anything in today's culture that is considered private and cannot be found somehow.
- What are our responsibilites as app developers with data that is gathered from apps we create? We have to make sure to inform the user of what data is being collected and how it is used. We cannot just steal information from the users without letting them know. We also have to make sure that the databases we use for this information are secure and cannot be easily hacked. We should not be distributing the information provided to us by the user. We have to look at both morals and laws when looking at our responsibilities pertaining to user data.
Chapter 4 Reflection
- Is Wikipedia considered Web 1.0 or Web 2.0? Explain. -Wikipedia is a Web 2.0 website.
- Should a researcher place absolute trust in a search engine? Why or why not? -Researchers shouldn't place absolute trust because different search engines have different results and also some things could be censored or just straight up false.
- "The architecture of human knowledge has changed as a result of search." What does this claim mean? -Instead of relying on other people's word for our information or memorizing many facts we can simply search for it in a matter of seconds.
- When you type a word or phrase into the Google search engine, what is the search algorithm that is being used? Does Google’s search engine search the web? Explain -Google gives results based on how relevant the site is to your search and the ranking of the site. It uses the web by searching through all of the different sites.
- What does it mean to “empty the cache”? -It means to clear the data contained in websites that you have been to.
- Think of a number between 1 and 100. If you tell me "too high" or "too low", I can guess the number in 7 guesses. How come? What algorithm makes this possible? -A binary search uses this process and allows you to guess it in 7 guesses.
- What is the PageRank algorithm? How does it work? -Pages that are ranked higher will show up higher on the list. This is based off of traffic of the site.
- What is a captcha and why are captchas important? -Captcha's are the test to determine whether the user is a robot or a human. They are important so you can flood a site with bots.
Free Response: - "The architecture of human knowledge has changed as a result of search." Do you agree? -Yes, I agree. The knowledge of the human race is growing exponentially and personal knowledge is growing as well. It is extremely easy to figure out a fact in today's world. When in the past you would have to ask around or go to a library.
- "Google emerged -- from this dilemma at least -- with its pocketbooks overflowing and its principles intact." Do you agree? -Yes, I do. Google is a business and it is taking advantage of the traffic on its product. I also believe that Google is fair with the ads it pushes on the user. It only displays ads that you would want to see and they do not pop up or block the screen. They are useful and discrete.
- What do you think about the differences between Figure 4.10 and Figure 4.11? -It demonstrates how censorship can skew an opinion of the topic. Relating back to question 9, now that people rely on searches to find answers they take what they see as absolute truth and sometimes this information is false. I believe unbiased and uncensored information is a human right in the digital age.
- Would you retain your search history or delete it? Why? -Due to the amount of data that search engines take in, clearing your personal search history is irrelevant. Google has your search history and uses it everytime you search no matter if you clear it or not. Obviously if someone is looking at your search history on your computer then maybe you should clear it but if you are clearing it for internet privacy's sake then it is pointless.
Chapter 6 Reflection1. Why should all Internet users be aware of copyrighted material? -Yes, because many users are unaware of material that is copyrighted and should avoid illegally accessing, sharing, downloading copyrighted material. The owner of the material is able to sue for copyright infringement if material is used improperly. Sadly, many people do not know when they are copyrighting materials. Because of this, people often do not realize that their actions are punishable.
2. What is a GB? How many bytes are in GB? -A GB is a gigabyte. It is made up of about a billion bytes.
3. What is the NET Act and what is its significance in the history of copyright? -The NET Act is known as the "No Electronic Theft Act." This act criminalized the act of making unauthorized digital copies, even if it was for private use only.The NET Act was the first time that the Internet had a significant increase of responsibility for copyright infringement. The NET Act was created to deal with the issue of privacy and copyright infringement.
4. What is a peer-to-peer architecture? Provide an example of at least one well-known peer-to-peer network. -Peer-to-peer architectures essentially make more efficient use of the network. In peer-to-peer architecture one user's computer contains the file and another user's computer is connected to that computer by the p2p service (Morpheus for example) for the purpose of getting a copy of that specific file.
5. What is the DMCA and why is it significant to copyright? -The DMCA is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This essentially made it illegal to evade copyright protection software.This caused, and is still causing, a lot of chaos in the market where Companies are being constantly sued for technological infringements.
6. What are Open Access and Creative Commons? How have they impacted the sharing of digital information? -Creative Commons is an organization that helps in the creation of digital information that can be openly shared, and used by anyone. It is an unlimited network for musicians, artistics, etc to share their work.
Free Response Questions
7. Before reading this chapter, were you aware of copyright infringement? When you put digital content (e.g. images, videos) in your apps, where did you get it from? Is it possible that you violated any copyright terms? Has the reading raised your awareness of how you use content found on the Internet? -I did not have a lot of knowledge about copyright laws and how easy it was to break them by simply downloading music online or using a picture on google images. However, I feel like as technology has surpassed these laws in the sense that it is far too easy to get these songs and images. People need to know that if you post something to the internet, it will likely be used by others. This reading has however, made me more aware of how to use content on the Internet and now I can be much more careful when citing sources.
8. In your opinion, are YouTube users violating copyright terms when they make lyric videos? Why or why not? -Lyric videos today usually always credit their music source and put below saying, "I do not own any content." This is because it is very easy for the video to get banned if they do not do this. Sharing is easy like an open access by sharing a link.
9. In your opinion, are computers that use DRAM violating copyright terms? Why or why not? -Personally, I don't think that computers that use DRAM are violating copyright terms because to run code, you need to store it into the memory. If this doesn't happen, it won't be functional.
10. Select one of the technical innovations described in the chapter and write an explanation of the technical details of this innovation. Try to use terms that someone unfamiliar with the innovation would understand. -One innovation is Peer to Peer architecture (P2P). This allows people who have files relating to music, games, and programs saved on a storage device to share with their friends, family or strangers. This allows people to access their shared files. It is very effective in creating a network of people that share the same interests, such as the same music artist or video game.
11. Visit chillingeffects.org and read about digital copyright issues. Write a paragraph describing your findings. -A digital copyright issue would be reverse engineering, and whether the copying of software would be considered copyright infringement or not. Copyright law has allowed these copies for reverse engineering as "fair use". But the issue is, how does one know if an individual is copying a software for reverse engineering or just stealing. They could say one thing, and their action can be another. Another issue with reverse engineering is that users are not aware to the terms they are being bind to. The Uniform Information Transactions Act (UCITA), would allow these kinds of contracts enforceable, and thus more difficult to challenge their anti-reverse engineering provisions. The point is Revere engineers must be careful in planning their work and whether they fit into the limited exception by the DMCA, because the exception is too narrow to be useful to engineers.
Chapter 5 Reflection
- What does it mean to say that the government would like to have a back door to the encrpted data on Apple's iPhone or Google's Android phone? They want to be the only ones given the key to unlocking encrypted data on these devices besides the manufacturers so that they could access the device if necesssary.
- What is the main argument for letting the government have a back door? That the government can use this information to track problems such as terrorism and hacking, allowing them to stop the criminals and warn people.
- What is the main argument against letting the government have a back door? That this is infringing on our rights to privacy. People argue that the government should be seperate from our personal information, so they should not be able to just break into our devices.
- Where do you come down on the issue -- i.e. what is your opinion? I don't think that the government should be able to have a back door to encrypted data on our devices. This is an infringement of our privacy that everyone has.