Facebook is Using You – claims that our information is being tracked and stored in large databases, which eventually are used either for our benefit or mostly for our disadvantage.
What type of evidence and appeals does the author rely?
This essay uses some representation as evidence. For instance, Lori Andrews notes that, “a company called Spokeo gathers online data for employers, the public and anyone who wants it. The company even posts ads urging ‘HR Recruiters – Click Here Now’” (p.552). Her evidence represents reality because at some point, I have also seen Spokeo’s ads. The essay also implements emotional appeals as techniques, which are made apparent when Andrews relates how mined data has been used against people battling for child
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custody or defending themselves in criminal cases (p.552). What types of reasoning do they rely on?
This essay relies on a deductive reasoning. The essay exposes how in the 1970s, banks, insurers, and other institutions, failed to offer their services to inner city neighborhoods. Banks officials drew a red line on a map to indicate where they wouldn’t invest, which drastically reduced home loans to African-Americans even if they were wealthy (p.553). Since this essay is using deductive reasoning, Andrews deduce that Weblining is the practice of denying people opportunities based on their digital selves.
Are there any logical fallacies?
Andrews presents an argument from an unidentified authority. As an example, she states that the Internal Revenue Service searches Facebook and MySpace for evidence on tax evaders, and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services search photos and posts to confirm family relationships (p.552). Says who? The essay also
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oversimplifies the following statement, “Weblining is the practice of denying people opportunities based on their digital selves. You might be refused health insurance based on a Google search you did about medical condition. You might be shown a credit card with a lower credit limit, not because of your credit history, but because of your race, sex or ZIP code or the types of Web sites you visit.” This statement makes me sick because first of all, there are many factors taken into account when screening an individual. The “Weblining” term is irrelevant because not everything revolves around how much people use their computers (not to mention that institutions know that “stalking” is the worst method to judge an individual). Second, everyone knows that institutions ask for people’s SSN in order to offer their services. Since we are talking about this redlining concept, I know that Andrews wants to set up an analogy when she relates the 70s redlining practices against African-Americans with today’s Weblining trend. Sadly, I don’t take it as more than a false analogy. The 70s segregation practices are not in any way related to what is happening now. In those times, banks obviously had racial bias towards African-Americans, however, that does not suggest that nowadays people will be denied opportunities based on what they search for. In fact, people can hide themselves in the internet effectively. Counter arguments? No. Every paragraph supports her essay. Why I disagree “Facebook is Using You” clarifies how institutions and businesses collect people’s personal information to either show their ads or use their information against them.
One negative example illustrates how employers rejected candidates based on data found outline (p.552) – which by the way is not supported in any paragraph. Let me support Andrews’ essay. According to Forbes Magazine in the article, “The 10 Skills Employers Most Want In 20-Something Employees,” The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) ran a survey where it asked 200 hiring managers what skills they prioritize when they hire. They agreed on 4 points which are teamwork, problem-solving, the ability to plan, and the ability to communicate. No matter how people did in school or what they have studied (including what they search for in the internet – I’m looking at you Lori Andrews). Recruiters said that if people demonstrate that they have those skills through their cover letters, resumes and interviews they will be hired. Overall, the essay emphasizes stereotyping in data aggregation, how people are mistreated because of their actions in the web, how people are “weblined,” segregated from the opportunities, and judged because of being themselves. What Andrew’s argument fails to recognize is that people are not that naive. People are able to change their IP addresses whenever they want. Hotspot Shield a well-known software company has an article fully committed into changing the IP address for a
more anonymous experience. If that is not enough, people can set up their own VPN (Virtual Private Network). VPNs are what enable companies and schools to share files and explore the internet securely as explainded by Eric Geler contributor at PCWorld in his article titled, “How (and why) to set up a VPN today.” Still not enough? This might completely invalidate Andrews’ argument. Besides IP changes and VPN set ups – which should be more than enough – there is one last ultimate option to protect people’s data against “Webling,” pop-ups, mined material, data aggregation, everything else out there. Ready? It is called Tor, a stealth-mode browser. As stated by theguardian newspaper, “Tor is a non-profit organization that conducts research and development into online privacy and anonymity.” In simpler words, Tor is a browser that stop people, government agencies, and corporations from tracking people’s browsing habits. How it works? A normal connection (the ones Andrews refer) goes from your computer through a server to finally arrive to its destination. However, Tor reroutes people’s searches through multiples servers, which also holds different IP addresses, located in different parts of the world to finally arrive to its destination. Easy complete security accessible to the users.
As the passage of time continues inventions and traditions come and go, and with them the feelings and memories of those around them. Some of these people will let go willingly, because they had nothing special about them, and they are quickly forgotten. Others, however, hold significance to the societies of their time. In Dearly Disconnected, author Ian Frazier shows the more physical side of this, how old pay phones hold sentimental value to him, and probably to many others in the city. On the other hand,Defining a Doctor, with a Tear, a Shrug, and a Schedule by Abigail Zuger shows the difference between two doctors, one with modern values and one with traditional values, and how ideas and cultures are hard to let go. In both of the essays,
uses logos strongly by providing not only his viewpoint from a business perspective, but also a conceding viewpoint that works in his favor. Edmond references work that involves children, and claims that “the hiring process” of such employees is the most ethically sound time to discover if the prospective hires engage in “inappropriate social media communication with minors” (Edmond Jr. 133). Typically, in the hiring process, a background check is done on the prospective employee. However, a background check won’t necessarily reveal if they commit undesirable behaviors in their private lives. Therefore, Edmond strengthens his logos immensely by referencing a particular scenario where his claim works. Edmond also addresses individuals who believe that having access to an employee’s Facebook is a “horrible invasion of privacy” by stating that sharing personal information on Facebook is similar to “shouting your private business” in public (Edmond Jr. 134). In his comparison, Edmond reveals to his audience that sharing on Facebook can have harsh side-effects, as would shouting in the street. Since Edmond is able to reference a contingent argument and still get his point across, his logos receives another boost. Logos acts as an essential part in Edmond’s essay, and works efficiently to prove his
Watkins begins his essay with a personal experience from a trip he took to New York City to not only grab the reader’s attention, but also to appeal to the reader’s emotions and really engage them in the essay. He uses this personal experience as a basis for his argument that mobile phones are increasingly becoming more popular that laptops and computers because there were none for sale on the street he was walking down. The credibility of this claim is not necessarily valid because walking down one street cannot determine this. Watkins ends the paragraph with a remark saying that it has not been long since African Americans became a viable market for mobile phones (p. 170). This statement, although not
Glenn Greenwald, a talented and widely read columnist on civil liberties for the Guardian newspaper, failed in his attempt to alarm his readers to the flagrant and widespread violations of American privacy. Although his article was full of facts, documentation, and quotes from top rank officials, the article did not convey any sense of wrong doing or outrage. Rather it was dull, lacked passion and a sense of persuasion. In fact, the only attention grabbing part in the whole article is the title.
"The Triumph of Technique – The Logic of the NSA." LibrarianShipwreck. WordPress.com, 22 June 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.
If more research about America’s racist history was conducted, there could be a more accurate understanding of our current society, specifically race relations. It is imperative for a nation to acknowledge and understand it’s past in order to truly progress. America tends to hide its history because of guilt. This guilt leads to the teaching of revised history, which is detrimental to contemporary society because it leaves out crucial events that should have been learning instances. For example, if people do not understand or even know what redlining is or how it affected black people, then they would not understand black people’s current status in America. Redlining is the practice of denying services, either directly or through selectively raising prices, to residents of certain areas based on the racial or ethnic makeups of those areas. Redlining was exercised through financial services such as banking and insurance services. Banks denied black people mortgages because of racism. This impeded the development of black wealth. A person who doesn’t know this history may blame the current economic state of black people on laziness or incompetence, but in reality the systemic oppression of racism is to blame. Research and data could be used to debunk harmful myths associated with black
The book Click here, written by Denise Vega, is a mellow book. This novel is about a girl named Erin and her friends. When a girl named Serena called Erin and her best friend jill and name she punched serena in the face, which led her too and set the principal's office on the very first day of school. The news spread around the school like wildfire. Once the news died down Erin finds herself in trouble again. Erin made her own website and said some embarrassing thing on there, thinking no one would ever see them. Her website was posted on the school web page and soon everyone found out about it. The setting of this story is at a school similar to ours. The setting affects the story by how the scenarios happen.
“Human beings are not meant to lose their anonymity and privacy,” Sarah Chalke. When using the web, web users’ information tend to be easily accessible to government officials or hackers. In Nicholas Carr’s “Tracking Is an Assault on Liberty,” Jim Harpers’ “Web Users Get As Much As They Give,” and Lori Andrews “Facebook is Using You” the topic of internet tracking stirred up many mixed views; however, some form of compromise can be reached on this issue, laws that enforces companies to inform the public on what personal information is being taken, creating advisements on social media about how web users can be more cautious to what kind of information they give out online, enabling your privacy settings and programs, eliminating weblining,
middle of paper ... ... constitution-to-conduct-domestic-surveillance MacAskill, G. G. (2014, April 28). NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20main-2%20Special%20trail:Network%20front%20-%20special%20trail:Position1 O'NEIL, D. E. (2014, April 20). White House Begins New Effort to Defend Surveillance Program .
In the today’s economy, the websites of professional businesses and organizations are a good example of segregation that has actually been expanding rather than shrinking. In fact, shockingly, most of these professional sites are “Black Only” instead of “White Only.” In the traditional era, segregation experienced in the United States in the organization only featured “White Only” and “Colored” signs hanging in shop windows, but now are declared “Black Only.” In this perspective, numerous organizations unanimously promote, hire and trade with other Blacks. These organizations are violating the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. among other brave black and white men who advocated for non-discriminating country (Orfield 64).
Welcome to Facebook. Make yourself comfortable as with each status, piece of information, and picture, you are slowly, but surely, more and more under the power of others. Why, you might ask? Isn’t Facebook just a great, flexible, free blog that one can use to create a virtual identity and keep up with everyone? Well, remember how they say that knowledge is power? Exactly. Everyday, you and your friends give Facebook the power to know your likes and dislikes, where you are from, colleges attended, pictures with you at every stage, and even where you are right now. Think about the new Timeline design: you have provided Facebook with all the information needed to map out your own life from birth to where you are now. Let’s take a look at Michel Foucault’s insights on Panopticism and you might think twice about who really has the power on this social network and if you are a Facebook user, or being used…
Facebook privacy and security have many benefits, problems, and challenges. There is a benefit for every security setting on Facebook but the real concern comes along when it comes to facing the problem and how this problem goes into different steps of challenges, and how we can fix that problem in order for privacy not to be a huge issue. A person that has access to Facebook wants to share their everyday moments to the world such as sharing personal posts, photos and videos, and that’s what Facebook is basically known for.
With more than 500 million active users, the site is a warehouse of personal information. Personal profiles allow users to provide information about their name, age, hometown, relationship status, activities, job, school, and more. They can connect with the others’ profiles and become ”friends”. Combined with a profile picture, you can pretty much learn anything you want to know about somebody over Facebook (should they choose to provide the information). However, what many users fail to realize is that in most cases this information is not only available to their “friends”. Though users can change their privacy settings to limit with whom their profile information is shared, the site gathers and stores more than most of us want to acknowledge. For instance, the Facebook “Like” butto...
The 21st century has brought a lot of modern ideas, innovations, and technology. One of these is social media. The invention of Facebook has completely changed the way we communicate with one another. Instant messaging, photo sharing, and joining online groups have created a way for families and friends to connect. Some argue that Facebook is the greatest invention however, while it is seemingly harmless, Facebook has created an invasion of privacy. The accessibility of Facebook and its widespread use has created privacy problems for users, teens, and interviewees by allowing easy control to viewers.
The issues caused by online privacy are growing with the increase of Social Networking Sites. Virtually all Social Networking Sites have ‘public’ as their default privacy setting, however that is not what the majority of users prefer. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project & American Life, 80 % of the users go to the effort to change their settings to private. With the increasing awareness of cyber – crime and the need for privacy, users have now started to rethink their actions online. Carefully selecting whom among your Facebook friends see your personal information, and who should be restricted, blocked or unfriended.